Robert H. "Bob" Brown, President & Chief Executive Officer Robert H. Brown has served as President and CEO for Heart of Florida United Way since March 2006.  A skilled non-profit administrator with more than 37 years of experience, his affinity to help those in need and becoming part of a larger organization that would have an even greater impact is what enticed him to take the helm of Heart of Florida United Way.    Prior to joining United Way, Brown served as President and CEO of Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida for more than five years.  During that time, he was widely credited with increasing the quality and expanding the scope of services of the organization.  Two of the programs initiated under his leadership include the First Steps Program, which was designed as the first step back to self sufficiency for chronic homeless men with a substance abuse issue; and the Child Development Program, which was established to provide an on-site, full-time licensed child psychologist and trained assistants to assess every child who came through the doors and to initiate therapy when necessary.  Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida is the only homeless shelter to contain a Child Development Program to date.   Additionally, Brown lead efforts for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation for 19 years.  During that time, he directed chapters in several cities including Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, and San Francisco.  He later served as national Vice President for March of Dimes Major Chapters.  Brown also served as the national Executive Director of The American Foundation for AIDS Research, Executive Director for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and was a founding partner and President of the consulting firm Brown, Nordin and York Inc.   Brown is an active member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Health & Public Affairs at the University of Central Florida, the United Way of Florida Board of Governors, the Orange County Membership and Mission Review Board as Immediate Past Chair; Vice President of The Kimball Foundation on the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors, the University of Central Florida Civic Partners Advisory Board, the Senior Resource Alliance’s Delta Leadership Council and the Planning Committee for the Central Florida Small Business Summit.   In addition, he’s a member of the Committee of 100 of Orange County, the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Donor Forum of Central Florida.  He’s also served on the Orange County Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Council; is Past President of  the Orange County Homeowners Association Alliance; has chaired the Orange County Emergency Food & Shelter Program; Health Care Center for the Homeless Board of Directors and the Orlando Mayor’s Working Committee on Homelessness. Brown has been married for 23 years to Mary Recchia-Brown, who is also extremely active in the Central Florida community. They live in South Bay under the command and control of a Bichon Frise named Dudley. Jill Hamilton, Vice President, Marketing & Communications Jill Hamilton joined Heart of Florida United Way in October 2006 as Vice President, Marketing & Communications.  A native of Central Florida, she spent the previous five years in a similar role at the Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families, a part of Arnold Palmer Hospital, and an agency supported by HFUW, where she led marketing and development efforts.   In addition, Hamilton spent five years in sales/marketing with the Orlando Magic and nearly 10 years in magazine publishing in various posts, including publisher and advertising director, with publications such as Women’s Sports and Fitness, and Orlando Magazine. An active member of the community, Hamilton has served on many boards and volunteer task forces, including the community-wide domestic violence and child abuse prevention task force convened by Chief Judge Belvin Perry and Dick Batchelor.  Currently, she’s a board member of the Women’s Resource Center and an advisory board member of Harbor House, a local domestic violence shelter.  She is a past president of the Florida Magazine Association and a past Chair and member of the Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Task Force, and the Delta Domestic Violence Prevention Task Force, as well as others. Hamilton made the switch from for-profit to nonprofit work after climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa with a team that raised $100,000 for the international relief organization CARE.  Moved by the work of CARE and her experience in Africa, Hamilton returned to school to obtain a Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling.  Subsequently, she maintained a small private practice in counseling while working in social marketing at The Howard Phillips Center where she developed expertise in children’s advocacy issues, and specifically child abuse and domestic violence prevention.   She played a key role in bringing a national initiative to Central Florida to help support and protect our community’s children. The “Is It Good for the Children?” campaign was created in Kansas City through a Robert Wood Johnson grant and Hamilton negotiated the licensing opportunity for Central Florida.  The campaign encourages everyone to ask the question – Is it Good for the Children? – before making any decision.  Community partners have included the Orlando Magic, the United Way and WKMG. Hamilton received her M.A. in Mental Health Counseling from Rollins College, an M.A. in Communications from the University of Florida, and a B.A. in Public Relations from the University of Florida.   She is married to Spence Buss and they live in Winter Park.   Joan Nelson, Vice President, Community Impact Joan Nelson first joined Heart of Florida United Way in 1997 as Director of Resource Management.  She was responsible for the fund distribution process, where she oversaw recruitment and training of community volunteers who made recommendations for the distribution of approximately $12 million to more than 150 social service programs.  After a short period away from HFUW, she returned in 2001 to a joint position between HFUW and the University of Central Florida, as the Director of Research and Evaluation/Campus Director of the American Humanics Certificate program for UCF.  The University and Heart of Florida United Way have had a long and successful collaboration and Nelson’s efforts and leadership contributed to this success. In February 2007, Nelson was promoted to Vice President of Community Impact, an expansion of the current business model that will ultimately take Heart of Florida United Way and our community partners and agencies, through a process of identifying key community issues, focusing on the root causes and with the community’s full involvement, identifying the strategies to find and measure lasting solutions.   Prior to re-joining HFUW, Nelson held a position with the Children’s Home Society as the Director of Program Operations.  Nelson has also been an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work and Public Administration Department for the University of Central Florida since Spring 2002.  She chairs the Orange County Partnership Committee, a committee of the Orange County Commission on Aging. She represents Heart of Florida United Way on the Seminole County Alliance and the Orange County Central Receiving Center Governing Board. Nelson has also been widely published - most recently in the American Journal of Evaluation as a co-author for an article titled “Evaluating Performance Systems in Nonprofit Agencies: The Program Accountability Scale (PAQS)” and Nonprofit Management & Leadership as a co-author for an article titled “Predictive Factors in Creating Successful Outcome Evaluation Plans.” Nelson received her MBA from Rollins College, a Masters in Social Work from UCF and a B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.    She has two grown sons and has lived in Winter Park for 24 years.   Larry Olness, Vice President, Community Services Larry Olness joined Heart of Florida United Way in May 2005 as Vice President of 2-1-1.  Since then, his role expanded and he became Vice President, Community Services, as the Volunteer Center and the Gifts In Kind Center were added to his responsibilities.  Previously, Olness spent nine years at the United Way of Dane County in Madison, where he served as Program Manager for Statewide 2-1-1 on behalf of the state of Wisconsin.  During this time, he represented Wisconsin on the National 2-1-1 Partnership that successfully petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to approve the use of 2-1-1 throughout the United States.  Additionally, he initiated the Midwest Regional Assembly consisting of six Midwestern states to address border, telecommunications, and data issues as well as exploring multi-state funding opportunities.  During this time, he designed, developed and implemented a statewide 2-1-1 system that serves over five million residents in 72 counties to this day. Olness became involved with United Way after creating a food pantry through a number of churches in the Madison, WI area.  He became a member of the First Call for Help Board of Directors, which later became 2-1-1, and found ways to drastically improve the process to provide better direction to the area’s residents in need.  At that time, he was asked to lead the 2-1-1 charge for United Way of Madison. Today, Olness is active with a number of local and national initiatives, such as Disaster Committee Chair for the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS); board member for the 2-1-1 Assembly; board member for the Community Assistance Network Steering Committee and a representative for Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster via AIRS. Olness grew up in Wisconsin, served seven years in the U.S. Army and attended the University of Wisconsin.  He and his wife, Shellie, have four daughters and reside in Oviedo. M. Leigh Smith, Interim Vice President, Resource Development M. Leigh Smith joined Heart of Florida United Way in June 2006 as Vice President, Special Projects.  This position encompasses the assessment of the organization’s technology and optimization of its staffing structure.  Currently, Smith is also serving as Interim Vice President, Resource Development, overseeing the campaign development team. Smith arrived to Heart of Florida United Way from Key West, Florida, where he served as the Dean of Administrative and Business Services for Florida Keys Community College and Executive Director of the Florida Keys Educational Foundation.  Previously, he held various positions with United Way Silicon Valley in San Jose, California. Smith’s broad range of experience in public, private and nonprofit sectors guided previous United Way endeavors, which included establishing new business development programs targeted to regional and ethnic markets, directing fundraising and disaster recovery campaigns, developing and managing market-driven community impact strategies, and directing local and national media communications programs.  He developed regional strategic scanning initiatives, using thorough assessments of area-wide economic data, demographic trends, geographical growth patterns, and agency service history, which aligned community needs and priorities with donor areas of interest. In addition, Smith worked as a consultant with the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits creating assessment and leadership models for training nonprofit CEOs in key areas of professional development.  He also published a number of works, most recently including “Special Topics in Information System Class – Building the Human Component First” in June 2005 and “Creative Problem Solving – Software and Portals” in June 2004 – both for the Association of Small Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) Conference. Currently, Smith is a board member for the Gordon J. Barnett Memorial Foundation and a volunteer with the Victim Service Center of Orange County.  He has been an active board member/officer, mentor and volunteer with diverse organizations, such as the South Florida Regional Planning Council, PACE Center for Girls, the Montessori Children’s School, the Key West Artificial Reef Project and the Performing Arts Centers for Key West.  Raised in Bradenton, Florida, Smith is a Vietnam veteran and a graduate of Florida State University with two degrees, an MBA in Marketing and a Master of Social Work with an emphasis on Counseling/Human Behavioral Assessment.  He and his wife, Julie, live in Mount Dora.       HFUW Board of Directors HFUW Campaign Cabinet Leadership Registry Job Listings Gifts in Kind Center Click below to give or get help   United Way Volunteer Center Streamline your volunteer program with Heart of Florida United Way's Volunteer Center!  Click here to learn more.