Richards leaves SAHA for News-Leader post

After three years as the executive director of the Springfield Apartment and Housing Association, Lynn Richards has left her position. Richards' last day with SAHA was Oct. 26.

Richards will next go to work for the Springfield News-Leader, she said, serving as an account executive in the sales department.

But sales are something she's familiar with, she noted, because "selling" the association to prospective members is just what she's been doing for the last three years.

She also represented the organization in front of government officials and civic organizations.

SAHA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the betterment of the rental housing industry.

"I totally believe in what the association does, and I'm still going to be an active member, since I'm going to go to work for a company that is a member," she said. "I was really looking for something with a little more stability and room for advancement. I'm real goal-oriented, and there's no place else to go (for me) in SAHA."

During Richards' tenure with SAHA, membership increased and the association's financial picture improved. Last year, the organization also won two Paragon of Excellence awards from the National Apartment Association, for government relations and education. SAHA was the only association among 175 across the nation that received two of the awards.

The search already has begun for SAHA's next executive director, which SAHA hopes to have in place within the next month.

(The preceding article originally appeared in the Oct. 24 issue of the SBJ Daily Update, a special e-mail publication available to subscribers only.)