Scott Turner, the associate pastor of Plano megachurch Prestonwood Baptist Church. was recently nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Turner’s resume displays a hodgepodge of careers.
Turner started his post-grad career with nearly 10 years in the National Football League (NFL) with the Washington Commanders (then the Redskins), San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos.
In between seasons, Turner interned for former California Congressman Duncan Hunter, who he worked for full-time after retiring from the NFL. After returning to Texas, where he grew up in Richardson, he became chief inspiration officer for data management corporation Systemware, Inc.
Turner later served as a state representative in the Texas House, followed by the inaugural position as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He currently serves as CEO and founder of the Community Engagement & Opportunity Council and Chief Visionary Officer of multifamily housing development company JPI.
“I am pleased to nominate Scott Turner, from the Great State of Texas, as the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Scott is an NFL Veteran, who, during my First Term, served as the First Executive Director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council (WHORC), helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities. Those efforts, working together with former HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, were maximized by Scott’s guidance in overseeing 16 Federal Agencies which implemented more than 200 policy actions furthering Economic Development. Under Scott’s leadership, Opportunity Zones received over $50 Billion Dollars in Private Investment!”
— President-elect Donald Trump in a news release earlier this week
Turner received an honorary doctorate from Dallas Baptist University in 2016 for “outstanding Christian leadership” and, after working as a guest pastor for several years, became an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church. Turner will have to go through the Senate vetting process before taking office in January.
“Scott Turner has a well-established commitment to community development and was a vocal advocate for investing in underserved communities in the first Trump administration. We look forward to working with him in the years ahead,” National Housing Conference CEO and President David M. Dworkin said in a news release. “He has been a vocal advocate for the Opportunity Zone program and we anticipate working with him to extend and expand the program to incentivize the construction of housing affordable to first-time home buyers, especially first-generation homebuyers.”
