Georgia Mjartan, outgoing Our House director, and Ben Goodwin, incoming director.
Little Rock nonprofit Our House announced Monday that its longtime executive director, Georgia Mjartan, will resign effective Sept. 15, and that Ben Goodwin, its assistant director, will replace her.
Mjartan has led the organization, which helps homeless and near-homeless families and people succeed in the workforce and in school, for 12 years.
Mjartan is moving with her husband, Dominik, to South Carolina, where he has been hired as CEO of South Carolina Community Bank in Columbia. Dominik Mjartan had been CEO of Southern Bancorp Community Partners, a nonprofit loan fund that works in partnership with Southern Bancorp Inc. of Little Rock, where he was also executive vice president.
The family is moving to South Carolina in a month.
Drew Weber, the president of the Our House’s board of directors, said in an Our House enewsletter that Georgia Mjartan “visionary leadership” has helped the nonprofit “grow into a dynamic, high-impact organization that is making a huge positive change in people’s lives, and in our entire community.”
Georgia Mjartan’s work at Our House has earned her awards and accolades and brought national attention to the nonprofit’s mission in Little Rock. Earlier this month, the organization marked the fifth anniversary of its Central Arkansas Family Stability Institute, aimed at preventing homelessness through early intervention. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette profiled the program on Aug. 2.
“I’ve had the chance to bear witness to transformation time and time again over these last 12 years,” Georgia Mjartan said in the enewsletter.
“I am grateful to our board and our leadership for allowing me to leave this organization in such trustworthy and talented hands,” she added. “Ben has an incredible intellect, is highly capable, but most importantly, his heart is in this place. He loves our clients and our mission, and he has demonstrated his dedication to our cause and to the community.”
Goodwin said he has worked alongside Georgia Mjartan for eight years and that he was “thrilled and humbled” at the chance to lead the nonprofit.
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