Jennifer Hancock - West End Opportunity Partnership

Board Secretary & Development Committee Chair

Business/Organization Represented:
Volunteers of America Mid-States

Jennifer Hancock is the President and CEO of Volunteers of America of Mid-States. Jennifer earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Kentucky and earned her license to practice independently in 2001.

Jennifer has served in many capacities during her more than 25 years of professional leadership in the nonprofit sector and her 17 years advancing the mission of VOA. Under her leadership, VOA has become a nationally recognized expert in providing family-focused and results-oriented solutions for the opioid and addiction crisis. Working closely with a wide range of elected officials and community leaders, the organization has earned consistent recognition for providing best-practice care in more than 30 programs across four states.

Since becoming CEO in 2015, Jennifer has led VOA through unprecedented growth and now oversees a $61MM budget and a team of more than 650 professionals. In addition to addiction recovery services, VOA also delivers solutions in the areas of veteran services, including suicide prevention, housing and homelessness, public health, comprehensive care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and a Restorative Justice program that helps to keep youth out of the criminal justice system. Her love for bringing diverse stakeholders together to solve complex social problems and seeing the tangible and many positive outcomes of the mission of VOA is what drives her most.

Jennifer is active in the community, serving on many boards, including as Chair of Impetus for a Better Louisville, University of Louisville Board of Overseers, University of Louisville School of Public Health, Smart on Crime, West End Opportunity Partnership, Louisville Economic Development Alliance, AdventHealth Hospital, 1 Clay County, You Decide, Kentucky!, and as an Advisory Council Member of Young Professionals Association of Louisville. She was recently honored to have her experience in the addictions field featured in Newsweek Magazine. Jennifer received the 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 Business First Power 50 Awards and the 2022 Enterprising Women Award.