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Svein Jorgensen is CEO of Praxis Housing Initiatives, one of New York City’s largest providers of transitional housing to formerly homeless people, including those living with the most formidable barriers: HIV/AIDS, substance use disorder and/or serious mental health challenges—as well as individuals and families with children for whom the barrier to sustainable housing has been poverty, compounded by the lack of affordable housing.

Having joined this non-profit organization in 1996, Svein oversees a staff of 145 and manages an annual budget of $21.4 million. He has responsibility for all of Praxis’ Initiatives, Inc. including its development from the ground up of a growing portfolio of apartment buildings that increase the organization’s capacity to house individuals and families. Jorgensen supervises site managers and oversees facilities’ compliance with regulations by the New York City Department of Buildings, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Fire Department and the Department of Environmental Control.

Previously he managed the Martha Washington Hotel, a 451 room hotel in midtown Manhattan where he had responsibility for operations, overseeing a staff of 34 and a budget of $3 million.

A graduate of Farranferris Seminary, Jorgensen was born in Norway and raised in Ireland. He immigrated to the US in 1986. He was recognized by Irish/America magazine as one of its 100 Irish Americans for 2008. An avid soccer fan, he lives in Queens with his wife and daughter.