Stepping Stone, a local nonprofit alcohol and drug recovery agency, has named Marc D’Hondt as its new executive director, effective April 18.

D’Hondt replaces Cheryl Houk, who retired at the end of December after serving in that position since March 1989.

As the new executive director, D’Hondt is responsible for the overall operation of Stepping Stone and is the agency’s liaison to the county of San Diego, the California Endowment, Family Health Centers, Health and Human Services and other government and community-based agencies and organizations.

His appointment follows an out-of-court settlement in which former employee Eric Martin was awarded approximately six month’s salary and unemployment eligibility, for a threatened sexual harassment suit against D’Hondt and the organization, sources said. Houk said an outside investigator was brought in to interview current employees and others who may have had insight into the allegations. The investigation was inconclusive as to whether or not the sexual harassment took place.

D’Hondt said he was not involved in the negotiations of the settlement, and that he is frustrated he cannot openly talk about the accusation against him due to legal reasons.

“The people who truly have been with me through this whole process have been remarkably supportive,” he said. “… The social service community has been remarkably supportive. They’ve been disappointed in how it’s been handled.”

Stepping Stone’s board of directors says it is confident D’Hondt is prepared to successfully lead the organization. Gil Eastham, who took over as board president in December, said the board was unanimous when they decided to offer D’Hondt the position. He said he has not received any negative feedback from the community regarding the appointment or the sexual harassment accusation against D’Hondt.

“Everybody that I talked to has been extremely positive and congratulatory and very hopeful for the future of Stepping Stone, and thought we did the right thing,” Eastham said. “I’ve heard no negatives whatsoever about this from anyone, and I don’t anticipate we will.”

Eastham said the national search for an executive director started last fall after Houk’s retirement announcement and continued into the January. After the board established goals and objectives, D’Hondt worked as interim executive director from December through the beginning of April, Eastham said.

“What we decided was it would be imprudent financially to bring on a new executive director prior to the next fiscal year,” Eastham said. “… What we did was we worked through some very significant issues and problems that he was able to address, and then we did a full appraisal interview at the end of the three-month period, which was January, February, March. So at the beginning of April, we did an appraisal review and it came out really, really good.”

Eastham said that in executive session during an April 18 meeting, the board looked at the appraisal review, considered that the goals and objectives had been met and agreed to offer D’Hondt the position.

According to Stepping Stone board vice president Kurt Carlson, at least “a couple hundred” applications were received since last fall for the executive director position. Eastham said that pool of applicants was narrowed down to about 12 “A-level” candidates, including one other internal Stepping Stone employee, who was the only other person interviewed from those candidates for the position of executive director.

“As we thought about it at the board meeting … it was the fact that, given the opportunity to hire in-house with somebody still qualified, we didn’t see anybody more qualified than Marc,” Eastham said.

Hiring an outside candidate for the executive director position most likely would have been more expensive, Eastham said.

“We were able to get Marc at a rate that we can afford in our current budget, which allowed us to move this year,” he said. “I don’t think we could have hired this year if we would have hired out of house, not to mention the many, many hours that it would have taken.”

Eastham said Stepping Stone had to budget based on the anticipated income from a number of grants that have not materialized so far this year.

“That’s where Marc really shined because he was able to pull the budget together, make the ends work, bring in more income, and decrease expenditures in a way that allowed us to be fiscally sound throughout the year,” he said. “That’s one of the things that an executive director needs to do.”

D’Hondt said one of his main goals as executive director is to become less reliant on public funding since monies have been shrinking year after year. Currently, 88 percent of Stepping Stone’s budget relies upon public funding, but D’Hondt ideally wants to lower that to about 50 to 60 percent in the next five years by relying more on planned giving and fund-raising efforts. Also, he said one of his more immediate goals is to sustain and grow the Sexual Behavior Relapse Prevention Program, which is funded through a California Endowment grant extension until September. D’Hondt said the Discovering Sexual Health in Recovery program is also important, and he wants to extend its availability to the general community outside of Stepping Stone’s clients.

In the next five years, D’Hondt wants to see increased self-sufficiency and more emphasis on direct services. He said budget deficits have forced Stepping Stone to cut four positions since Jan. 1, but the organization has since been able to hire back a direct service counselor under the aegis of Prop. 36, which allows first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders to receive drug treatment instead of incarceration.

D’Hondt has been with Stepping Stone for 10 years, previously serving as operations director/associate director from 2003 to 2005, and most recently as interim executive director in 2006. Earlier in his career at Stepping Stone, he served as a program counselor/housing specialist from 1996 to 2001, and was the director of support services from 2001 to 2003. D’Hondt has a bachelor’s degree in behavioral sciences and a master’s degree in pubic administration.

D’Hondt was previously a client of Stepping Stone from 1993 to 1994. He came to the organization to address a methamphetamine addiction.

“What I got was a sense of self-acceptance and a sense of the importance of others and the importance of the community,” he said.

Stepping Stone is one of only three nonprofit residential alcohol and drug recovery facilities in the state specifically targeting the GLBT community. The agency operates a 28-bed long-term residential recovery facility and a day recovery program, and provides sober living opportunities as well as homeless outreach, referrals, education, prevention and social support programs.