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Executive Biographies

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 40 years of experience, Bob joined United Way to have an even greater impact in helping people in need.

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 scope of the organization’s programs.

Two programs initiated under his leadership include First Steps, designed to encourage self-sufficiency among chronically homeless men with substance abuse issues; and the Child Development Program, which provides an on-site, full-time licensed child psychologist and trained assistants to assess every child served and initiate therapy when necessary. Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida is the only homeless shelter to operate a Child Development Program to date.

Additionally, Brown led 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 president and founding partner of the consulting firm Brown, Nordin and York Inc.

In October 2008, Brown was recognized as the Orlando Business Journal's Most Influential Business Man for a Nonprofit. Active in the community, he’s a member of the Central Florida Regional Commission on Homelessness, the Dean’s Advisory Board for the UCF College of Health & Public Affairs and the United Way of Florida Board of Governors. He is also one of 20 United Way CEOs serving on the U.S. Task Force on United Way's Economic Model & Growth.

Brown has been married for more than 20 years to Mary Recchia-Brown, who is also active in the community. They live in South Bay under the command and control of a Bichon Frise named Dudley.

Jill Grevi, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

A respected member of the executive team, Jill Grevi is responsible for the fiscal oversight of approximately $26 million in total resources managed each year by the organization.

Her additional responsibilities include guiding United Way’s financial planning strategies, developing and implementing new policies, and managing administrative operations, such as human resources and facility management. As an advisor to the United Way Board of Directors, she also reports on new business ventures, banking and investment strategies and budget matters.

In addition to dollars raised by the annual fundraising campaign, organizational resources for which Jill has oversight include funds managed through the United Way Stewardship Program, as well as two programs Grevi helped implement – the Ryan White Part B/General Revenue program, which serves low-income AIDS/HIV patients; and the United Way Gifts in Kind Center, which collects and distributes donated goods that help local nonprofit agencies conserve precious dollars.

Committed to fiscal transparency and responsible stewardship, Grevi’s high professional standards have ensured a history of impeccable public audits, which reinforce United Way ’s reputation as the gold standard for charitable giving – locally and nationally.

An accounting graduate of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Grevi began her career in the commercial real estate and insurance industries. Guided by her passion for helping others, she joined United Way as Finance Director in 1991. Two years later she was named Vice President of Finance at Consumer Credit Counseling Service, a United Way funded agency that helps families and individuals reduce debt and build financial stability.

After three years of working with the agency, she returned to Heart of Florida United Way and has continued her tradition of running a first-class accounting operation, which continually receives accolades from United Way board members and the accounting community.

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. She currently serves on the board of the Women’s Resource Center. In addition, Hamilton 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 Investment

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. She has been responsible for HFUW's role in the introduction and ongoing training of Outcome Based Evaluation training for agencies and programs serving central Florida.

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 Investment, with the responsibility of implementing an expansion of the current business model called Investing In Results (IIR). The IIR process focuses resources for programs and initiatives that address the root causes of problems in order to move the needle and create lasting change in the community.

In addition, Nelson has served as an adjunct professor in UCF's School of Social Work and Public Administration departments, and she has taught at California State University, San Bernadino. Active in the community, she has served with numerous groups, including the Orange County Partnership Committee, the Orange County Commission on Aging, Seminole Community Alliance, the UCF School of Social Work Community Advisory Committee, the UCF Nonprofit Management Advisory Board, the Orange County Central Receiving Center Governing Board and the Wraparound Orange Continuum of Care Committee.

A published author, Nelson co-authored an article entitled "Evaluating Performance Systems in Nonprofit Agencies: The Program Accountability Scale (PAQS)," which appeared in the American Journal of Evaluation. Another co-authored article, "Predictive Factors in Creating Successful Outcome Evaluation Plans," appeared in Nonprofit Management & Leadership. In 2009, Nelson was honored with the National Network for Social Work Managers Exemplar Award. In 2010, she received the UCF Outstanding Alumni Award for the School of Social Work.

Nelson received her MBA from Rollins College and earned 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 28 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, Vice President, Development

Leigh Smith joined Heart of Florida United Way in June 2006 as Vice President, Special Projects to assess the organization’s technology and staffing structure. Currently, Smith is serving as Vice President of Resource Development, overseeing the annual fundraising and business 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.

Smith is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals' Central Florida Chapter and serves on boards for the Gordon J. Barnett Memorial Foundation and the Mount Dora Music Festival. He has been an active board member/officer, mentor and volunteer with diverse organizations, such as The Victim Service Center of Orange County, 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 an MBA in Marketing and a MSW in Counseling/Human Behavioral Assessment. He and his wife, Julie, live in Mount Dora.