Passing the Leadership Baton
Pickel Retiring From DeSales Community Development
Reinhart Named as Successor
Photo credit Lindy Drew / Humans of St. Louis
Assistant Director Becky Reinhart (left) and Executive Director Tom Pickel
Long-time DeSales Community Development Executive Director Tom Pickel has announced that he plans to retire at the end of this year. His departure will cap a 35-year career with the non-profit.
Under Pickel’s leadership DeSales has grown to be one of the region’s largest community development organizations. It is a leading developer of affordable housing and its Fox Grove Management branch manages over 1,300 units of multi-family housing. DeSales employs a staff of 50. Other highlights of Pickel’s tenure include:
From 2006 to 2019 DeSales collaborated with the Garden District Commission and Missouri Botanical Garden to bring about the dramatic revitalization of the Botanical Heights neighborhood.
In 2011 Pickel was one of the co-founders of the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis and served as the group’s first president.
Since 2016 DeSales has helped to generate redevelopment of vacant commercial and industrial properties in the Fox Park neighborhood, including the headquarters campus of non-profit Rung for Women that opened in 2020.
“I have been incredibly lucky over the years to be able to work with so many great people dedicated to making St. Louis a better place,” said Pickel. “I think we have shown that thoughtful, inclusive community development is essential to improving the quality of life for all people in our region.”
Succeeding Pickel as Executive Director will be Assistant Director Becky Reinhart. Reinhart joined DeSales in 2017 as Director of Community Programs and was promoted to her current position in 2019. The organization’s board of directors voted unanimously to name Reinhart to succeed Pickel at a special meeting on January 12.
“We are very fortunate to have someone of Becky’s caliber ready to step up and take over from Tom,” said DeSales President David Rodgers. “We look forward to a smooth and stable transition in leadership.”