Project Oz founder to retire as CEO

Posted on August 27, 2018
Peter Rankaitis will step down from the organization he founded in October, and Lisa Thompson will be elevated to CEO. (Project Oz)

By Greg Halbleib

BLOOMINGTON – The executive director of youth services organization Project Oz is retiring, 45 years after founding the non-profit.

Peter Rankaitis has announced he’ll step down on October 15.

Rankaitis founded Project Oz while attending Illinois State University in 1973 after a grant he wrote during a class was unexpectedly awarded. He began operations in a borrowed building on Washington Street in Bloomington providing services to prevent youth under state care from being placed out of state. Since then, Project Oz has expanded to school-based prevention and early intervention services, housing solutions for runaway and homeless youth, workforce development training and 24-hour crisis response.

Current Project Oz Vice President of Operations Lisa Thompson will become the new executive director after 23 years with the organization. Thompson began with Project Oz as an Illinois State University intern in 1995.

A retirement celebration for Rankaitis will be held in October.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected]. 

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