Keenan is passionate about solving housing. He has held paid roles in affordable housing at the for-profit, nonprofit, and local-government levels, solving for market inefficiencies and barriers to entry through partnerships across government, nonprofits, developers, owners, and managers. Prior to joining Conlon Public Strategies, Keenan consulted privately for apartment developers, including South Shore Partners and Tripalink, on building out the affordable housing side of their business and partnering with homeless services funding streams.

Before consulting, Keenan was a project coordinator for the South Bay Cities Council of Governments, a Los Angeles County 501(c)4 agency. In that role, he managed million-dollar contracts and relationships, including a 50-slot shared housing program and 20-slot Time- Limited Subsidy program. He also wrote the core copy of a Good Neighbor Pledge to sustain commitments to service coordination and housing resources in LA County, which was adopted by 100+ cities in response to the Supreme Court’s Johnson v. Grants Pass ruling.

After leaving government, Keenan began a PhD program at UChicago, where he studies the intersection between how affordable housing is financed and the social impact outcomes of its tenants. He placed second in the UChicago Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) where his nonprofit, Functional Housing, received seed funding to advance their housing solution.

Keenan began his career at a consumer goods startup, scaling customer facing teams from 8-40 heads to keep pace with revenue growth from $100 to $400 million across three years.

Community

Keenan was a Kreisman Housing Fellow for the Resident Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.) and is an active member and volunteer in the Englewood community. He has experience supporting mental health at all early age levels (pre-k, elementary, middle, high school, college) through program management and mentorship, and has previously served on the boards of Teens In Public Service (TIPS) and Bikerowave (Community Bicycle Cooperative).

Education

Keenan is a PhD Student at the UChicago Crown School of Social Work Policy and Practice. He previously attended UCLA, where he earned a Masters of Social Work (MSW), and was also a student-athlete in undergrad at Occidental College.