Steven R. Lewis, who has a lengthy career with Head Start programs across the nation, is the new chief executive officer of the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission.

Lewis will start his new job in late August, Fresno EOC Board Chairman Oliver Baines told the commissioners in a letter obtained by GV Wire.

Lewis was one of four finalists interviewed for the job in late June. The three others reportedly were from Oakland, Elk Grove, and Indiana.

“Steven brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit leadership, community engagement, and early childhood education,” Baines’ letter says.

Lewis, a native of Baltimore, worked at Head Start programs in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kansas City, Missouri, and Colorado Springs, where the website for that city’s Community Partnership for Children Development lists his favorite book as “The Cat in the Hat.” He also served as a nonprofit management consultant for a decade.

Lewis has an MBA from LaSalle University and a master of science in social work from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. He is also a graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Business Head Start Management Fellows Program.

According to Baines’ letter, Lewis and his wife have three sons.

Still Recovering from Financial Fiasco

Lewis is taking the helm of an organization founded as part of President Lyndon Johson’s War on Poverty to provide bootstrap and educational opportunities to low-income Fresno-area residents.

The goal of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was to obtain equality of opportunity in education, employment, health, and living conditions for every American. The act created 900 Community Action Agencies, including Fresno EOC.

Fresno EOC’s failing finances were spotlighted in the fall when Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, who appointed himself to the commission seat formerly held by his mother Amy, wrote an open letter saying that the organization was “hemorrhaging” money and had burned through its substantial reserves.

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Arambula urged the board to conduct a forensic audit, and the board agreed to such an audit for 2024. The board also decided not to renew the contract of then-CEO Emilia Reyes and brought back former CEO Brian Angus as the interim chief.

Angus revealed in May that deficit spending had chewed up the organization’s $8 million reserves fund. He made a number of cost-cutting decisions, including staff reductions, changing pension benefits, and hiring an outside company, Charter Impact, to oversee financial services.

He also scrambled to line up a $5 million loan to keep the organization afloat while it was being restructured. Angus was replaced in July by Salam Nalia, who had retired in 2020 as chief financial officer but returned as interim deputy CEO in January to help Angus get the organization back on a firmer financial footing.