{"id":74220,"date":"2026-02-11T12:08:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T17:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/?p=74220"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:27:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T20:27:51","slug":"bussw-alum-danielle-ferrier-chief-executive-officer-of-heading-home-named-2026-commencement-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/bussw-alum-danielle-ferrier-chief-executive-officer-of-heading-home-named-2026-commencement-speaker\/","title":{"rendered":"BUSSW Alum Danielle Ferrier, Chief Executive Officer of Heading Home, Named 2026 Commencement Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danielle Ferrier, (SSW\u00a0\u201999) MBA, LICSW, a BU School of Social Work (BUSSW) alum,\u00a0and current chief\u00a0executive\u00a0officer\u00a0of\u00a0Heading Home,\u00a0one of\u00a0Massachusetts’\u00a0leading providers of emergency shelter, transitional, and\u00a0permanent\u00a0housing for children and adults currently or formerly experiencing homelessness, \u00a0will be the featured speaker at this year\u2019s BUSSW commencement ceremony for the Class of 2026.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ferrier\u2019s\u00a0social\u00a0work\u00a0leadership skills\u00a0and\u00a0experience\u00a0in the human services\u00a0sector\u00a0stretches more than\u00a025 years\u00a0across public and nonprofit sectors. As CEO of Heading Home,\u00a0she\u00a0has\u00a0established\u00a0the organization as a\u00a0leading service provider,\u00a0expanding its reach\u00a0from serving 1,400 clients in 2017 to\u00a0more than\u00a08,000\u00a0in 2025.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Relying on her clinical expertise, business acumen and experience, Ferrier has progressively strengthened the organization’s clinical and programmatic practice, financial standing and overall reputation throughout her tenure, while improving operations to better respond to urgent community needs. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, in May 2023, following the criminal indictment of a shelter provider CEO in the Lawrence area, Heading Home safely and effectively executed a rapid response takeover of a dozen shelters and residences that served hundreds of non-English speaking residents, including dozens of children, and staffed primarily by bilingual, bicultural staff.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More recently, Ferrier deftly positioned Heading Home to take on a frontline role during the Commonwealth’s escalating family homelessness crisis. She leveraged her deeply held social work values to focus on the needs of the Massachusetts residents and newly arriving migrant families, while using her leadership role to influence policy makers, including working with the Governor and her team to ensure that the requisite and appropriate services and supports were available. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She also expanded\u00a0<\/span>Heading Home\u2019s\u202fSupportive\u202fHousing\u202fprogram, which provides access to safe, stable, long-term affordable housing and supportive services\u202ffor formerly homeless individuals and families with disabilities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ferrier has made it her life\u2019s mission to protect those who are most vulnerable, with a special passion for children and child welfare. She is actively engaged with numerous boards and task forces, providing expert counsel around cases related to the clinical impact of foster care and programs designed to work with young-parenting adults, and regularly provides requested insight and expertise on human services and housing to local leaders and media. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before\u00a0joining\u00a0Heading Home,\u00a0Ferrier\u00a0was\u00a0deputy\u00a0commissioner for Clinical Services & Program Operations at the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families.\u00a0She spent the first part of her career working in child welfare, developmental disability, and mental health nonprofit programs.\u00a0She\u00a0worked as a\u00a0practicing clinical therapist for\u00a0more than\u00a015 years,\u00a0where\u00a0her training and primary practice\u00a0focused on\u00a0\u201chigh-risk\u201d children, youth, and families,\u00a0with a clinical specialty in trauma and attachment.\u00a0Ferrier\u00a0was responsible for\u00a0developing\u00a0Youth Harbors,\u00a0an innovative\u00a0program\u00a0based in high schools designed to prevent unaccompanied high school students from becoming homeless,\u00a0and\u00a0to rapidly house youth who\u00a0are homeless.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her work has been recognized with the Outstanding Career in Social Work award from BUSSW in 2024. The award acknowledges and honors a BUSSW graduate who, throughout their career, has consistently demonstrated exceptional contributions to the profession and the community-at-large. Marylou Sudders (SSW \u201878), former secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health & Human Services, nominated Ferrier, noting, \u201cFrom her earliest days as a superb social work clinician working with children and youth who have experienced trauma and marginalization and learning about brain development, Danielle pivoted that clinical experience into positions of social work leadership in both the public and private sectors for 16 years and in the classroom as a lecturer at BUSSW for 9 years.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to earning her MSW from BUSSW,\u00a0Ferrier holds a Master of Business Administration from Simmons School of Management.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The BUSSW 2026\u00a0Commencement ceremony will be held Thursday, May 14,\u00a02026,\u00a0at 4:00 PM at the Walter Brown Arena at Boston University. Graduates will include students from all MSW programs (Charles River campus, Off-Campus, Worcester\u00a0Hybrid,\u00a0and the Online program) and doctoral candidates.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>More details on the BUSSW ceremony can be found on the <\/span>school\u00a0website.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A nationally recognized social work leader to deliver the keynote address at the Boston University School of Social Work 2026 Commencement ceremony. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25622,"featured_media":74221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7428,7435,4057],"tags":[],"profile-tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25622"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74220"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74350,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74220\/revisions\/74350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74220"},{"taxonomy":"profile-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile-tax?post=74220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}