New Executive Director // Shawn Hollenkamp

In September, Shawn Hollenkamp accepted the position of Executive Director at Woodward Academy, a return to campus for a company that he has spent the last 14 years of his career. After graduating from Iowa State University in 2001 with a degree in Child and Family Services, Shawn began his career at Woodward Academy in 2002 like many others, as a youth counselor.

Over the course of his career, Shawn has held many positions on campus including operating the daily shifts on campus in a Group Leader role, to supervising a dorm as Program Director. In 2006, Shawn was promoted to Group Living Director, a position he held until 2013 when he was once again promoted to Executive Director of Woodward Community Based Services (WCBS). Located in Des Moines, WCBS was “founded in response to the growing need to serve children, adolescents, and their families in their home community.”

When Shawn took over at WCBS, they were operating five separate community based programs. Under his leadership and with a great team, WCBS expanded their services and cast a wider net across the state to serve more needs. Tracking and monitoring, out-patient school based therapy, substance abuse treatment, and family peer support services were all added. WCBS also received a grant called Community Based Interventions, and a contract to be the Boone County Juvenile Court Liaison. Most recently, WCBS had been approved to provide residential in-home services for adults who are Severly Mentally Impaired (SMI).

Upon his return to campus, he is excited to meld his group living and community based experience into one, and he is excited to be back on the campus where his career started 14 years ago. The position opened after Ryan Santi, Executive Director from 2013 - 2016, was promoted to Vice President of Operations within Sequel Youth and Family Services. He will now help build facilities across the country within the Woodward Academy model.