Huffman hired as new Tesh CEO

Tesh has a new leader.

The Coeur d'Alene nonprofit - which offers life and job skills training, counseling and child development services to Kotoenai County residents with disabilities - announced Thursday that Frances Huffman has been hired as Tesh's chief executive officer.

Huffman served as the Coeur d'Alene School District's director of special services from 2008 until her recent retirement.

"I tried to convince her to stay, but I understand that when opportunity knocks, it's hard to turn down," said Matt Handelman, superintendent of Coeur d'Alene schools.

Handelman said Huffman has become a point person in the state, someone educators from other areas contact regularly for advice.

"When you talk to people around here, they say she has really turned the department around. She's done so many amazing things, created partnerships and programs for kids. She's invaluable," Handelman said. "The only saving grace is that we're going to be partnering with her now."

Huffman will be following J. Russell Doumas in the position of CEO of Tesh, Inc. Doumas recently retired after nine years at Tesh and a career dedicated to individuals with disabilities. Doumas and Huffman have been collaborating for several years on the Project Search program, which provides work skills training to assist young people as they finish up high school and prepare to transition into the community. Kootenai Health, the Coeur d'Alene School District and Idaho Vocational Rehabilitation are also partners in this program.

In her new position, Huffman will report to Tesh's volunteer board of directors. She will have overall strategic and operational leadership responsibility for Tesh clients, staff, programs and funding.

Huffman has more than 35 years of experience in special services and speech pathology. She has been with the Coeur d'Alene School District, where she also served as an assistant principal and speech and language pathologist, for the past 10 years.

She holds a bachelor's degree in communication disorders from Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho, and a master's degree in speech and language pathology from Idaho State University.

Handelman said the school district is interviewing candidates to replace Huffman, who was unavailable Thursday for comment.