Pam Kestner, Senior Principal

Pam Kestner

Homelessness Solutions Team

Pam Kestner has spent over 22 years involved in efforts to effectively reduce homelessness at the local and state levels. Before joining LeSar Development Consultants, she served as Chief Deputy with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. As Chief Deputy, she focused on developing and implementing Virginia’s first statewide rental assistance program to ensure tenants remained housed and landlords remained whole during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pam’s role also focused on eviction prevention, creating affordable housing for vulnerable populations specifically through collaborative efforts across the housing and health sectors.

Pam also worked in the Virginia Governor’s office for five years primarily shepherding the commonwealth’s plan to end homelessness, which utilized Pam’s skillsets of facilitation and consensus-building through a collective impact approach to achieve significant outcomes in reductions in homelessness statewide. Prior to her appointment within the State of Virginia Executive Branch, she served as President and CEO of the Council of Community Services, a nonprofit health and human services planning agency in Roanoke, VA. Pam holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Emory & Henry College and an MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University.