Meet The Team
Dennis L. Haut
FOUNDER AND CEO
Dennis L. Haut, Chief Executive Officer, Board President and Founder, started Unity House in 2004. He currently oversees the organization and its personnel which includes 9 House Managers, General Manager, Chief Operations Officer, Intake Coordinator, Social Media and Office Assistant, and Maintenance Man, and oversees all grant funded projects. For more than 18 years, he has successfully served as the face of Unity House by attending committee meetings, public events, and creating relationships with key organizations and funding sources. Dennis has performed and/or appointed the staff to perform all functions of the day to day business including case management, grant applications, fundraising, and policy and procedure creation and changes. He attends weekly House Meetings and has successfully assured good communication between all of the Unity House houses.
Drawing on his 8 years of experience and training as Supervisor more than 50 people at the Rock Island Arsenal, he provides guidance and training to staff as needed, approves major purchases, oversees the resident monthly fee payment, assigns work to and overseeing as well as approving the hours of all Unity House Employees. Utilizing his 25 years of experience with rebuilding houses and working with contractors, Dennis gets bids for work needed and assigns work to maintenance men and contractors, and assures all jobs are completed correctly and on schedule. He ensures the safety of the houses by overseeing the completion and documentation of performing monthly whole house inspections, inside and out, and assuring all the houses stay up to code for the City of Davenport.
Dennis received the Jefferson Award in 2015, the "Good Neighbor Award" in 2015, and the Housing Iowa Award in 2017. While working for the Department of the Army, he received the Department of the Army Achievement Medal for his service in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and many other Sustained Superior Performance Awards and Excellent Performance Awards. Recently he completed a Wastyn & Associates Leadership class.
Eric "Hippie" Hoffmann
INTAKE COORDINATOR / GENERAL MANAGER
Eric P. Hoffmann, Intake Coordinator, has excelled in completing the intake of the new clients for Unity House for more than five years. He completes all the paperwork in the files from "cradle-to-grave." He also serves as the general manager of the seven houses, overseeing all the house managers and providing training and trouble shooting. He also serves as the House Manager for our largest house, overseeing up to 15 residents to assure that each adheres to all of the rules and guidelines. A recovering alcoholic with more than 12 years of sobriety, he can successfully interact with the residents with empathy and compassion. Eric has attended a webinar for working with LGBTQ+ teens in residential care, receiving CE Credit Hours Certification and attended the seminar for statewide prison re-entry which helps with the process of transitioning inmates back into society. He has attended and received a certificate for Youth Substance Prevention.
Paula A. Hahn
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR
Paula A. Hahn, Office Administrator, came to Unity House after 12 years as office manager at an appraisal firm and 17 years of experience working for major cosmetic companies. She came to Unity House in November 2018 after her son lived at one of Unity House's homes. She is responsible for bookkeeping, payroll, residents' dues, banking, and budgets. She has some grant writing experience and recently completed additional grant writing training. She also represents Unity House at Shelter and Transitional Housing Council meetings and Coordinated Services meetings, among other community service meetings.
Kelly R. O'Brien
ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR/ SOCIAL MEDIA
Kelly R. O'Brien, Administrative Director/ Social Media, came to Unity House with an associate degree in travel and tourism and more than 12 years' experience in management, specializing in business development, customer service and social media. She has generated leads through inbound and outbound marketing and social media methods and successfully organized and managed several community events. With Unity House since March 2019, Kelly represents Unity House at Shelter and Transitional Housing Council meetings, Coordinated Services meetings, and other community service meetings. She has attended the state-wide prison re-entry meeting and Census training program and has actively increasing Unity House's online and social media presence though Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Alignable, Instagram, press release, the Unity House website and Nextdoor site.
Kelly increasingly advances her skills with on-line training and webinars for fundraising and online innovation. She has worked closely with our website designer and will update and maintain the website. She now writes some grants and receives additional grant writing training when available. Kelly initiates "GoFundMe" programs and gathers information on projects, including photography of all 7 houses in the before and after stages of grant projects. She is also actively working on some
Rebecca R. Mueller
B.S.W., CADC
DRUG AND ALCOHOL COUNSELOR
(563)349-3206
Rebecca R. Mueller, B.S.W., CADC, , has been with Unity House approximatly 2 months. She attended Scott Community collage just for general studies with an emphasis on social work and Psychology. After that she attended Teikyo Marycrest University where she studied social work practices and Human Behavioral Classes. Here she achieved her Bachelors in Social Work. She has many field experences such as: Bridge House , Annie Whittenmeyer Campus and Trinity Regional Health Systems, Rebabilitation Department. She has received training from Family Resiurces Inc. on the Domestic Violence Advocacy Program as well as training from the Center for Alcohol & Drug Services in the Counselor Trainee Program. Rebecca has a lot of community involvment including the following: volunteer work for the West End Alano Club for 6+ years also has served as Secretary on their Executive board for a total of 4 years.
Navi
SECURITY/ EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
