THE REVEREND DR. RICHARD TOLLIVER

President & CEO 

 

The Rev. Dr. Richard L. Tolliver has been an ordained Episcopal priest since December 1971. He has served parishes in New York City , Boston and Washington , D.C.  He became Rector of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church, Chicago , Illinois in June 1989 and retired in June 2017.  In March 1990, he founded St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corporation (SERC), a not-for-profit community development corporation devoted to revitalizing the housing stock of Washington Park , the neighborhood in which the church is located.

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To date, SERC has constructed or renovated over 700 units of housing located in 31 buildings at a cost of over $106 million.  St. Edmund’s also houses the Chicago International Charter School, Washington Park Campus, which has 450 students enrolled in grades K-8.

 

Rev. Tolliver has earned five university degrees, including a Ph.D. in Political Science from Howard University and has been awarded two honorary doctorates and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Development Program in Real Estate (AMDP) at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.  He has served on numerous religious, corporate, civic and cultural boards. 

 

He is the recipient of numerous awards and has received international recognition for his efforts to revitalize Chicago ’s Washington Park neighborhood.  He is also a former Associate Country Director of the United States Peace Corps to the East African Country of Kenya and Country Director, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

 

Rev. Tolliver serves as the Co-Chairman of the Housing Subcommittee of the MidSouth Collaborative which is a part of the Community Antiviolence and Restoration Effort (CARE) created by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. 

CECELIA HUNT

Deputy Director

 

Cecelia Duster Hunt currently serves as the Deputy Director of St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corporation.  Ms. Hunt is responsible for running day-to-day operations, negotiating land acquisition, overseeing new developments, asset management of the housing portfolio, and supervising third party agents.  

 

Prior to joining SERC, she was the Development Coordinator for Redevelopment Services Corporation, a consulting firm specializing in affordable housing development.  In that capacity, she prepared funding applications for clients in Illinois and Indiana, monitored construction progress and processed construction draws.   She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor and the University of Illinois - Chicago, respectively.

 

She was also awarded a Certificate of Completion from the Urban Developers Program - jointly sponsored by the Chicago Rehab Networks and the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago.