2021 Mover & Shaker Honoree
Thomas (Tom) Lenz is a Chicago-based consultant with Consult HLT and the Catholic Leadership Institute. He provides strategic planning, civic engagement, and facilitation services to a wide range of non-profit clients, governments and churches. Tom has founded or led non-profit organizations that create affordable housing, promote community revitalization, expand interfaith collaboration, and bring schools and health providers together in poor communities.
Tom Lenz was Voice of the People’s Executive Director from 1980 to 1988, leading a dynamic team, building strong alliances with the Harold Washington administration, forging new affordable housing partnerships and engaging tenant leadership in innovative ways.
He’s had an impactful career of making things happen, including at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), in support of affordable housing and disability rights in Lake County, and in consulting for change with prominent non-profits, governments, and institutions, including the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Tom has a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and Master of Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois Chicago. He was also a Rotary Scholar at the Technical University of Berlin. He is the father of three adult sons and one grandson and lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife, Suzanne.