Our Executive Staff
Danny Herron
President and Chief Executive Officer
Danny Herron is originally from Gallatin, Tenn., where his father, the late Dan P. Herron, was principal at Gallatin Senior High School for almost 30 years. After graduating from Gallatin Senior High, Danny attended the University of Alabama and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1980. He was a member of several honorary societies, including Chi Epsilon Honor Society, the Capstone Engineering Society, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Danny later attended the University of South Carolina, completing graduate courses in civil engineering. He is also a graduate of the Southeastern School of Commercial Banking.
Danny began his career as a civil engineer with Duke Power Company in Charlotte, N.C. In 1987, he became vice president of Republic Properties, a Brentwood-Tenn.-based real estate management company. In 1993, he entered the banking industry as president and CEO of First Southern Savings and Loan, which became Cumberland Bank in 2004. Under Danny’s leadership, Cumberland Bank grew to 14 branches in seven Middle Tennessee counties with more than $700 million in total assets. The bank was recognized in a study by Middle Tennessee State University as one of the fastest growing businesses in Middle Tennessee. In May 2007 Greeneville, Tenn.-based GreenBank acquired Cumberland Bank, and Danny served as regional president for the $2.5 billion east-Tennessee bank in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, he returned to real estate as president of Enterprise Construction in Franklin, Tenn. Enterprise has developed more than 1,000 residential lots and more than 100,000 square feet of commercial real estate in Williamson County.
Danny is a member of the Tennessee Bankers Association and the Nashville Area and Williamson County Chambers of Commerce. He has also participated in Leadership Brentwood. Danny currently serves on the boards of directors for the Operation Andrew Group, a not-for-profit organization based in Nashville, and Christian Leadership Concepts, a faith-based ministry in Brentwood, Tenn. He has previously served on the boards of directors for the Brentwood YMCA, Hope Clinic for Women and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he was a member of the Business Advisory Council at Tennessee State University.
Danny and his wife, Susan, have two children, Mary (24) and Rob (22), and one grandchild, Sophie (2). Danny serves as an elder at Christ Presbyterian Church and has also served on the school board at Christ Presbyterian Academy, where his children attended and Susan is a first grade teacher.
Lucile Houseworth
Chief Administrative Officer
Lucile joined Nashville Area Habitat in June 2009. She brought with her nearly three decades of experience in the financial services industry. Previous employers include Renasant Bank, where Lucile served as the corporate director of marketing, and SunTrust Bank, where she held numerous positions in marketing, service quality, risk management, strategic planning and retail delivery during her tenure.
Lucile also has an established history of community involvement, including long service on the board of the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee and as the outreach committee chairman for the Vanderbilt University Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. She also volunteered previously on Nashville’s Friends of the Zoo board and for the Nashville chapter of the American Heart Association.
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Lucile graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in economics and later from the Harvard Business School. She and her husband, Mark Magnuson, a research scientist at Vanderbilt University, have lived in Nashville for more than 20 years. They have one teenage daughter, Kelsey.
John Roberts
Chief Financial Officer
John is originally from Lansing, Mich. He holds a bachelor of science degree in engineering from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Prior to joining Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity as chief financial officer in March 2010, John had volunteered on Habitat home builds since 2002. He is a seasoned executive with broad business acumen, gained through a dynamic career that has included key assignments within industry leading organizations such as Deloitte, General Motors and Fortune 1000 national homebuilder K. Hovnanian Homes. John also brings successful entrepreneurial start-up experience and proven ability to address opportunities and risks while managing effectively with limited resources using a hands-on approach.
At Deloitte, John’s contributions included leading large client service engagements within the manufacturing and homebuilding industries. In his most recent role at Deloitte, he managed more than 130 information technology professionals as national director for firm information systems. At General Motors (GM), John served on the corporate controller’s staff, with assignments in North American operations budgeting and product program analysis. He was also a business unit controller at GM’s Saturn subsidiary, as well as department chief-of-staff on GM’s industry-government relations staff. At K. Hovnanian Homes, John reported to the CEO, established an internal consulting staff, and was responsible for company-wide business process improvement initiatives as well as Total Quality Management focused on improving homebuilding operations.
Those who have worked with John describe him as a natural leader and team builder who is comfortable at the helm and able to manage in a wide range of complex situations. His strengths include critical thinking, problem solving, and staff development.
John is an active member of St. Stephen Catholic Community and lives in Mount Juliet with his wife Robin, son Christian, and daughter Hannah.
Ralph Knauss
Chief Operating Officer
Ralph Knauss is a seasoned real estate development and construction professional with nearly 30 years of experience. Over the past 13 years, Ralph has been involved in the planning, entitlement, design, development and construction of some 48 retail shopping centers spanning 18 states. These centers included the successful delivery of more than 60 different national tenants totaling in excess of 12 million square feet of gross leasable area (GLA) and approximately $900 million in design and construction costs. In addition to his retail development experience, Ralph also has experience in mixed use, single/multi-family residential and industrial development.
He has successfully overseen federal and state highway improvement projects, site development projects in excess of 200 acres, bridge construction, marina construction, dredging, flood control structures and canals, single story, mid rise and high rise building construction, airport construction, storm water, waterline and sanitary sewer infrastructure improvements, Subtitle D and C&D landfill construction and maximum security prison construction. Ralph has also served in a consultant capacity to owners, developers, contractors and sureties (bonding companies).
Cheryl B. Davis
Chief Development Officer
Cheryl joined Nashville Area Habitat in October 2010, with twenty years of experience in non-profit fundraising. Previous employers include the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation, where she served for eleven years heading development efforts, completing her tenure as executive vice president. While there, she was responsible for all aspects of development, including establishing endowments for educational institutions in Moscow, Katanga (Africa), Banska Bystrica, Costa Rica, and Spain, among others. Other previous employers include United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, Easter Seals of East Georgia, Permian Basin Area (Community) Foundation (TX), Midland Community Theatre (TX), and Providence Memorial Foundation (El Paso, TX).
Cheryl has extensive experience in volunteer service, including serving as course instructor, foundation chair, and chapter president for the Nashville chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). She previously served in similar roles for the AFP chapters in Augusta, Georgia, and Midland, Texas, where she was a founding member of the Permian Basin Chapter. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Vanderbilt University Wesley Foundation. Previous service includes being on the boards for The Augusta Players (GA), Midland Festival Ballet (TX), American Heart Association (Midland, TX), Crisis Pregnancy Center (Midland, TX), and Southwest Repertory Organization (El Paso, TX). She was recognized by her peers as the Fundraising Executive of the Year in 2008 by the Nashville Chapter and in 1995 by the Permian Basin Chapter in Midland, Texas.
Originally from Pleasant View, Tennessee, Cheryl graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a double major in Psychology. She has two children, Sam (15) and Grace (11).