Caritas names new Chief Operating Officer
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By TRAVIS MORSE
tmorse@morningsentinel.com
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS — Caritas Family Solutions recently announced that it has named Erin Hamilton as the organization’s new Chief Operating Officer.
According to a Caritas news release, Hamilton is a “familiar face and trusted leader” who will be stepping into the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer at Caritas. Hamilton has been working for the nonprofit for three years as Executive Director of People and Culture, and is looking forward to making an impact in the new COO role.
“When I think about Caritas, we’re changing the world one person at a time,” Hamilton said. “We’re improving lives and communities. It’s really a selfless organization and that’s where I want to be. We’re not a stagnant organization. Oftentimes in social services, things tend to seem slow, but that’s not the case here. We’re led by people who want to grow and make a difference.”
Caritas is a nonprofit social service agency that serves more than 6,500 individuals annually across Southern Illinois from offices located in Belleville, Carterville, Mount Vernon, Waterloo, Olney, Glen Carbon, Alton, and Effingham, as well as satellite locations in Highland and Sparta.
In her new role as COO, Hamilton will lead and oversee four teams at Caritas — the People and Culture team, the OTI team, the Quality team, and the Facilities team — while continuing to improve quality support and resource delivery.
Hamilton identified Caritas’ mission of strengthening the social and emotional well-being of individuals as a key component that drew her to the organization, and she hopes to continue to uphold that message, the news release states.
“We built the human resource department as a service group. I’m looking forward to spreading that mindset across all services and really pushing that narrative of making it easier for the people doing the work so they can focus on caring for the people we serve,” Hamilton said. “Overseeing the HR team has really helped me build deep relationships, and we’ve already established that we can do hard things together. It’s really all about relationships.”
Throughout Hamilton’s career, she has demonstrated an expertise in HR, leadership development, communication, and management. In her previous role at Caritas, she created a new philosophy of HR, pushing a culture change built on integrity, partnership, and mission alignment as well as implementing new HR strategies, the release states.
Hamilton assumed her new role as COO on Feb. 1, 2026.
About Caritas Family Solutions
Founded in 1947, Caritas Family Solutions is a nonprofit social service agency whose mission is to strengthen the social and emotional well-being of individuals and families in order to create healthy relationships, loving homes, and strong communities. Services include adoption, foster care, pregnancy care, Intact Family Services, residential treatment for children healing from abuse and/or neglect, as well as a youth emergency shelter.
Caritas also offers behavioral health services, including substance use treatment, professional counseling, independent living and employment services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and mental health housing and supportive services, the release states.
For more information, visit www.caritasfamilysolutions.org.
