Elece Hempel, Gen H’s Board Chair, has been the tireless and tirelessly enthusiastic Executive Director of Petaluma People Services Center since 2011. Not your typical Executive Director, she knows the names of most of the folks PPSC serves and you’ll find her interacting with PPSC clients as much as with board members, and at program sites as much as in her office.
Elece started her career in the private sector by helping startup-businesses.
In 2004, Elece shifted her focus to community work in Petaluma. PPSC provides a large range of support to vulnerable populations. Those programs include fair housing services and a regional homelessness prevention program, where Elece sees the negative impact of housing scarcity and high costs. Elece has long been a vocal advocate for the development of more housing, particularly affordable housing.
Just like during the 2017 and 2019 wildfires, Elece and PPSC sprung into action at the onset of the COVID-19 health crisis, adapting its services to vulnerable seniors, and creating new programs to ensure no one feels isolated. Elece does not stay shut in her Executive Director office.
Elece, who previously served as President of the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce, and a number of area nonprofit boards, was plucked to participate on the “incubation” team of the cross-sector housing leadership group that became Generation Housing. She was then asked to be the Chair of the founding board. On the importance of Gen H, and why she’d add the board chair position to her already crowded plate, Elece said, “housing affects everyone in our community, and if you spend anytime with me you know it is ALL about community.”
In her off time, Elece usually can be found at a community event, spending time with her big blended family that includes 13 grandchildren, hiking Boggs Mountain with Alan, and their bad boy puppy Cuba.