United Way Suncoast Leadership
Office of the President
Jessica Muroff
Chief Executive Officer
Heather Navratil, Director, Governance & Strategic Initiatives
Jessica Muroff, one of the area’s most recognized and successful nonprofit and civic leaders, serves as United Way Suncoast’s chief executive officer.
Muroff joined United Way Suncoast in November 2019 after establishing a record of transformative change as the CEO of Girl Scouts of West Central Florida (2015-2019) and the CEO of Frameworks of Tampa Bay (2013-2015). She has extended her list of professional achievements since assuming the top role at UWS, an organization committed to creating lasting community change in its five-county region: Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, and DeSoto.
In her relatively short tenure at United Way Suncoast, Muroff has helped UWS refresh its brand, galvanized the community in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, and guided the creation of a new strategic vision for the organization.
The colorful rebrand, done in partnership with ChappelRoberts, earned raves for its distinct and bold colors, and it coincides with the adoption of a new mantra: United We Rise, United We Win. The new brand exemplifies how United Way Suncoast unifies its communities, and the bold look reflects Muroff’s belief in bold solutions.
Her leadership proved a beacon in the spring of 2020 as she underscored United Way Suncoast’s role as a convener and helped the organization raise $1.9 million in six short weeks to elevate pandemic relief. Every dollar raised for COVID assistance went back out to United Way Suncoast’s strategic community partners and other nonprofits.
Internally, Muroff has played a pivotal role in reorganizing the UWS staff and reinvigorating its culture. Muroff and her leadership team drew high marks in a staff employee survey for creating a welcoming workplace environment that UWS employees would overwhelmingly recommend.
The new strategic vision, a collaborative effort involving Muroff, staff, and board members, will help UWS lead the region in delivering a transformational impact and creating a meaningful difference. It also reflects a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity, values that Muroff personally and professionally embraces.
Muroff’s latest list of UWS accomplishments points to a brighter future for the organization, but they don’t come as a surprise to those who have followed her ascension as a Suncoast leader. She’s utilizing the same skill set that has helped her enjoy success at other stops: nonprofit executive experience, business savvy, and community care.
In her four years at the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida, Muroff led a nonprofit that served nearly 19,500 girls and nearly 8,500 adult members in Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Marion, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, and Sumter counties. Her efforts included creating Camp CEO, a leadership seminar that allowed aspiring teenage girls to network with some of the region’s top women leaders. At Frameworks of Tampa Bay, she helped the social and emotions learning advocacy group increase the number of youth served, developed new partnerships, and increased community recognition.
Muroff also has worked on the corporate side as a Raymond James Financial manager of account services, marketing director at Saks Fifth Avenue, and account executive at Roberts Communications.
Operations
Kelly Kavanaugh
Chief Financial and Investments Officer
Jamie Zale, Administrative Assistant
United Way Suncoast welcomes Kelly Kavanaugh as its Chief Financial and Investments Officer. Kavanaugh is responsible for the financial performance of the organization, oversight of community investments, and organizational data reporting. She will plan, implement, and direct all financially related activities. Kavanaugh recently served as BizOps Chief Financial Officer for CLA (CliftonLarsenAllen) serving the nonprofit industry sector. Kelly maintained a portfolio of up to a dozen non-profit organizations where she served in the capacity of CFO. Kelly is ideally suited to serve United Way Suncoast’s five-county region. She was born in Sarasota Memorial, grew up in Pinellas County and now resides in Tampa after earning a BS in accounting from Florida State.
Resource Development
Kari Goetz
Chief Development and Marketing Officer
Daria Harrison, Administrative Assistant, Resource Development
The change aligned with Goetz’s 20-plus years of marketing leadership. She previously served as the Vice President of External Relations at the Florida Aquarium and the Director of Marketing at the Tampa International Airport.
Community Impact Officers
Bronwyn Beightol
Chief Impact Officer
Dawn Stuart, Senior Administrative Services Manager, Tampa Bay
As Chief Impact Officer for United Way Suncoast, serving Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, Hillsborough and Pinellas, Bronwyn Beightol provides vision, thought leadership, direction and oversight for United Way Suncoast. In September 2022, Beightol’s Chief Impact Officer duties expanded to include oversight of United Way Suncoast’s community impact work throughout its five-county footprint, including education, financial stability and support services.
“Bronwyn shares the organization’s vision for fostering impact that improves the lives of community members,” said United Way Suncoast CEO Jessica Muroff. “She recognizes that connecting with neighborhoods and giving people the freedom to rise is at the heart of United Way Suncoast’s mission.”
Now in her 16th year with United Way, Beightol took over the organization’s regional efforts in early learning and youth success in early 2022. Under her leadership, United Way Suncoast rebranded its regional early learning approach as United We Learn and amplified its commitment to quality childcare and literacy.
Beightol’s work has enhanced the organization’s, placing 22 funded paraprofessionals in classroom across the region. She and her team have strengthened United Way Suncoast’s Quality Childcare Initiative to include 45 schools in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Many of the new advances involve replicating the initiatives Beightol helped craft in Manatee County, including the award-winning Big Plan and Campaign for Grade-Level Reading efforts.
A resident of Manatee County for more than 15 years, Bronwyn has spent more than two decades in the social impact sector leading innovative, community-level change initiatives to advance the common good. In the public sector, Bronwyn had a more than 10-year career working in publishing with Sterling Southeast, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the New York Times locally at the Herald-Tribune.
Emery Ivery
Chief Impact Officer – Financial Stability & Support Services
Dawn Stuart, Senior Administrative Services Manager, Tampa Bay
As the Chief Impact Officer for United Way Suncoast, Emery Ivery provides regional leadership in developing strategies to address the root causes of community issues, thereby creating lasting community change in the Tampa Bay region. Emery has nearly 30 years of experience working at United Way, including senior-level management positions in Tacoma, Wash., Orlando, Fla., and his hometown of Cleveland.
Marketing and Communications
Ernest Hooper
Senior Vice President for Communications
Jamie Zale, Administrative Assistant
As the Senior Vice President for Communications, Hooper oversees all external and internal communications for United Way Suncoast including paid, earned, shared and owned media. He also supervises the marketing/communications team and works in tandem with Chief Advancement and Marketing Officer Kari Goetz to guide United Way Suncoast’s marketing efforts. He stewards the organization’s brand reputation and awareness.
Hooper assumed his current position in September 2022 after joining United Way Suncoast in March 2021.
“Ernest has made an incredible impact on our organization,” United Way Suncoast CEO Jessica Muroff said at the time. “I am thrilled to have his leadership at the helm of our communications and marketing efforts as well as having him join our executive leadership team.”
Prior to joining United Way Suncoast in March 2021, Hooper spent 15 months as the director of communications for the American Cancer Society’s Southwest Florida region. He may be best known as a longtime community columnist and editor for the Tampa Bay Times, where he worked for 27 years, four months and 23 days (yes, he counted).
Human Resources
Jennifer McIntosh
Chief Talent Officer
Jamie Zale, Administrative Assistant
As Chief Talent Officer for United Way Suncoast, Jen leads the talent function and ensure strategic emphasis is placed on advancing the organization’s culture, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, and a host of other initiatives to ensure the organization’s, our employees’, and our communities needs are best served. She is passionate about building diverse teams and fostering workplace cultures that contribute to individual and organizational success.
Jen began her career in the mental health field, contributing at a leadership level to several facets of operations including human resources, quality improvement, and risk management. Her experience also includes many years of providing global human resources leadership for a non-profit membership association in the higher education industry.
Senior Team
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