NAME: Laurie Fritz, FHC, CPO
COMPANY: Kansas Housing Resources Corp.
POSITION: Director of Contract Administration
Laurie Fritz grew up on a farm in western Kansas, in a small town of about 1,400 people. She had never been on an airplane, rented an apartment or even visited a big city. So, when it came time to go to college, she accepted a scholarship to Washburn University of Topeka, a city with more than 100,000 residents.
She still lives in Topeka, and the family still has the 2,000-acre farm.
While in college, Fritz began studying elementary education but earned a degree in business administration. Fritz admits she doesn’t remember why she decided not to pursue teaching. Still, as the director of contract administration for the Kansas Housing Resources Corp. (KHRC), where she has worked for the past 23 years, she creates and leads training courses for staff and owners, among her other duties. She is also a NAHMA-certified trainer.
“After graduation, I joined Lady Foot Locker in their management training program with dreams of managing a retail location. During my time at Lady Foot Locker, I met my future husband, who managed the men’s Foot Locker,” she said. “Working for Lady Foot Locker gave me the management skills needed to transition to property management, where I managed 314 units of affordable housing. From this opportunity, I transitioned to work with KHRC.”
Fritz and her husband, Brian, have been married for 30 years and have two daughters: Hannah, who is married and has two children of her own, and Ava, who is a high school junior. Her daughters were born 10 years apart, which created an interesting dynamic.
“One year I was co-signing for something for my oldest daughter while signing my youngest up for preschool,” Fritz said. “My oldest wanted a sibling so bad. She was always so good to her younger sister.”
Fritz says her father, who passed away last year, was the biggest influence on her career even though he was a third-generation farmer. Her mom drove the school bus in town. The family raised cattle and various crops. Fritz and her two sisters raised sheep for the annual 4-H fair. Today, the family leases the land. Fritz manages the farm’s expenses, while her older sister, who still lives near the farm, keeps an eye on it. Her younger sister lives in Texas.
“I watched my dad work at the family farm where he had spent his life working. As time passed and the agricultural world changed, I watched my dad shift and adjust to ensure his family was taken care of. In years when the drought robbed the crops of their profitability, he shifted to the livestock market to provide. He even operated a dairy farm for a time to help fill in the financial gaps,” she said. “Watching him shift and change made me realize this is what the families in our affordable housing units have to do as well. I realized how hard the parents and guardians have to work to provide for their families and how important it is to make sure these families can access the safe, affordable housing they need and the dignity they deserve.”
Fritz said her upbringing taught her how to take care of the resources you are provided, and she sees parallels in her work at KHRC. She said Kansas Housing is always thinking about how best to use the resources they have to help families in need. She said her life has come full circle.
Jennifer Jones is the senior director of communications and public relations for NAHMA.