Executive Committee
The committee is chaired by the president and is comprised of the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer and acts on behalf of FCH in managing the affairs of the organization during the intervals between board meetings.
Board of Directors
The board of directors is elected by the membership annually to hold 3-year terms. The main purpose of the board is to represent its members by managing the financial and policy decisions of the organization.
Executive Director
The Executive Director operates under the direction of the Board and represents the Coalition in the community. The Director is responsible for the day to day operations and coordination of the organization.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Daniel Ramos
Position with FCEH: President and Executive Committee Member
As president of Florida Coalition for the Homeless, Daniel Ramos oversees the yearly advocacy plan for the 27 Continuums of Care throughout the state of Florida and is responsible for coordinating and organizing activities to generate financial support and legislative cooperation. Daniel has been involved working with non-profits for almost 20 years, before transitioning to local government where he currently works as the Operations Supervisor in the Division of Human and Veteran Services. He holds his Master’s degree in organizational Leadership and is currently working on a Doctoral degree in Organizational Leadership. Daniel began his career in New York working with youth in group homes and adolescent crisis units. He then moved into working with single adults experiencing homelessness in recovery from substance use issues. He moved to Florida about 13 years ago with his beautiful wife of 20 years and their three amazing children where he continued his work serving families with children experiencing homelessness, and is currently working on serving homeless single adults. Daniel is currently leading the efforts of expanding the coordinated entry system to serve those at risk of homelessness. He has served as a board member on the Community Back to School Bash’s Executive Committee serving over 12,000 students with school supplies and has served as an Executive Committee member of the CoC in PBC. He also currently chairs the Unmet Needs subcommittee of the CoC.
Laura Lee Gwinn
Position with FCEH: Vice President & Executive & Operations Committee Member
Laura Lee Gwinn has served the Homeless Coalition of Polk County (HCPC) since 2013. Prior to her current position as Executive Director, Gwinn served as HMIS Project Manager and as Chief Operating Officer for HCPC. She oversaw the planning and implementation of the CoC’s Coordinated Entry system, the merger of two CoCs in Polk County, and the development of a five-year strategic plan for the CoC. In addition, Gwinn serves on the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee for Polk County the Polk County Homeless Youth Task Force.
Prior to joining HCPC, Gwinn worked primarily in technology and healthcare fields. She received her B.S. in Information Technology from the University of South Florida.
Don Anderson
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Operations Committee Member
Don joined the Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County as CEO in December 2017. His background includes 30+ years of senior-level management experience in all facets of business including strategic planning and positioning of businesses and products, fundraising, product development, sales management, operations, and team building, for not-for-profit organizations and technology-focused companies. His roles have ranged from Associate Director of Advancement to President/C.E.O. with both large and small organizations ranging from startups to $9B businesses. Geographically, his experience includes extensive U.S., European, Caribbean, Central and South America, and Asian travel. His education includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and an M.B.A., both from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
Victoria Brown-Searle
Position with FCEH: Secretary, Executive Committee & Operations Committee Chair
Victoria Brown-Searle is a CoC & Administrative Coordinator who works for the Volusia-Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless. Victoria started her career as an Americorps VISTA working with both Volusia-Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless and the Florida Coalition for the Homeless to build capacity and a social media presence for both coalitions. Once her contract ended, she continued to work for both coalitions in an administrative role. In 2016, when her role of admin staff ended, she continued to help support FCH as a volunteer. Victoria holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Central Florida.
BOARD MEMBERS
Socrates Aguayo
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Partnership Committee Member
Socrates has spent a greater part of his career building sustainable partnerships between community organizations, social care providers and health systems. He is presently Director of Public Policy at Unite Us, an SDOH focused technology company that integrates health and social care. In this role he oversees government and regulatory affairs for the Southeast US.
Prior to joining Unite Us he worked at Anthem (Florida Medicaid) where he led statewide initiatives and population health programs focused on social drivers of care like housing. Socrates has also worked for Public and Private Hospital Systems, as well as federal and local governments, including time at the NYC Mayor’s Office (Bloomberg) where he worked as a health policy analyst.
Socrates holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University, and a BA from Hunter College in Political Science. He lives in Palm Beach County with his wife, two daughters and brand new puppy.
Donald Beard
Position with FCEH: Board Member
Donald has served in his current position as the CHOP Peer Specialist for the Sulzbacher Center in Jacksonville, FL since August 2015 and has worked at Sulzbacher for 10 years. He also serves as a Peer Specialist for Project Save Lives with Gateway battling the opioid epidemic. Donald is a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist and a Certified Behavior Health Technician. Donald began working in substance abuse and mental health in 2008 after realizing his calling was to use his own personal experience with addiction and homelessness to help others. He does this by serving as a role model and providing encouragement, hope, assistant guidance, and understanding. Donald has 17 years of sobriety and is always willing to share how he got this far. He was awarded the I.M. Award for Outstanding Service to Clients from the Sulzbacher Center in 2016 and was also featured as a success story in a major agency event, “Transformations”, in 2013 and 2019.
Brittany Coronado
Position with FCEH: Board Member
Brittany Coronado is a Business Intelligence Analyst and the owner of Informed by Data, LLC. Brittany conducts data analysis by examining pre-existing data to discover information. With the information provided, Brittany uses science to build models that will help organizations make more informed decisions.
Brittany began her career in 2009 as a housing case manager and later became the system administrator for the St. Johns County HMIS. Brittany saw the difficulty of navigating such a complex system and wanted to understand the “why”. Often, we are driven by best practices and attempt a one-size-fits-all approach. Communities should understand why they are different and develop an approach that fits their needs. This has driven Brittany to solve complex problems and discover new ways to make a difference.
Brittany is certified in Advanced Leadership helping to address communication, critical and creative problem solving, cultural intelligence & diversity, emotional intelligence, resilience & confidence, and collaboration. Brittany also anticipates her A.S. in Data Analytics by February 28, 2022, and will continue to further her education with a B.S. in Data Analytics.
James Dunbar
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Operations Committee Member
James Dunbar is a senior director overseeing outreach, prevention, and community programs at Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa, Florida. His work impacts the lives of as many as 30,000 homeless and at-risk people annually. Prior to Metropolitan Ministries, James served to alleviate homelessness in Tampa for over twelve years through volunteering and creating his own non-profits to increase family support. James spearheaded the development and expansion of Metropolitan Ministries‘ hunger relief programs through the development of collaborative meal site partnerships that serve over 1.5 million meals each year. He created family support centers to assist in preventing families from entering into homelessness. Most recently, he developed an innovative, multi-county mobile outreach team leveraging AmeriCorps staffing to offer direct housing navigation through street outreach. Additionally, James has coordinated the community response to varying emergencies and disasters including hurricanes and COVID-19 homeless prevention and recovery. James holds a master’s degree in organizational strategic leadership from Palm Beach Atlantic University with an emphasis on strategic planning and leadership development. Throughout college and into his professional career, James has lived with the calling expressed by Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Christine Durrance
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Operations Committee Member
Christine Durrance is a homeless and housing subject matter expert (SME) with more than 12 years of experience in public and nonprofit management, housing and homeless policy and programming, social determinants of health, and health equity initiatives. Ms. Durrance currently serves as Simply Healthcare’s Housing Program Manager in the State of Florida, leading social determinants of health initiatives serving homeless and at-risk of homeless members. Previous experience includes serving as a national, U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) technical assistance (TA) expert working nationwide to improve federally funded housing and homeless crisis response systems, and working in health, homeless, and housing sectors in both local government and Pinellas County’s Continuum of Care (CoC).
Amy Foster
Position with FCEH: Board Member
Amy is a passionate community advocate. Her career has been dedicated to empowering girls and women and advocating against inequities for our most underserved and at-risk communities while focusing on holistic systems change. Prior to joining the Homeless Leadership Alliance of Pinellas as the CEO in December 2020, she was the Executive Director of the Guardian Ad Litem Foundation of Tampa Bay for 6 years, where she increased resources and support for children in foster care by more than 500%. Prior that that, Amy served as the National Collaborative Network Manager for the National Girls Collaborative Project to increase gender equity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. During her tenure, Amy provided professional development to 43 states to build public/private cross sector partnerships focused on collective impact. Her prior experience includes ten years with Girl Scouts, where she managed volunteers, created curriculum and training, and developed additional funding streams. Amy is a Member of the City of St. Petersburg City Council and serves on a number of committees. She volunteers for local community organizations and has served in leadership for the Junior League of Clearwater-Dunedin. From Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Amy received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Sociology from Centenary College of Louisiana. Amy also serves as a volunteer Guardian Ad Litem to teens. This passion for young adults led Amy to adopting her daughter Elena after she aged out of foster care in 2015.
Jaylene Jimenez
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Operations Committee Member
Jaylene Jimenez is a Junior at Palmetto High School. She resides at Rob’s Group home located in Youth Haven. She aspires to become an attorney. Because of her vibrant personality and smile that lights up any room, people gravitate towards her. She is very caring, works hard, and welcomes structure and discipline.
Victoria L. Mallette
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Partnerships Committee Chair
As Executive Director of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, Victoria L. Mallette is responsible for directing and implementing Miami-Dade County’s Community Homeless Plan, the local Continuum of Care’s approach to ending homelessness. She provides administrative, contractual and policy formulation assistance related to homeless services, and oversees a $60 million budget, in collaboration with a 27-member Board of Trustees.
Michael Overway
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Operations Committee Member
Michael Overway is the Executive Director of Hunger and Homeless Coalition of Collier County and CEO at Continuum Care | Consulting. Michael has led in the growth of HMIS data systems and Continuum of Care programs in Southwest Florida for the past 11 years. “Continuum of Care systems are meant to support the community as it seeks to reform and set programs and projects into motion that provide quality, clarity, and transparency for the end-user.”
Brian Postelwait
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Operations Committee Member
Brian is the Chief Operating Officer at Homeless Services Network, Inc., the lead agency facilitating the planning and investment towards the goal of ending homelessness in Central Florida. Brian has over twenty years of experience as social sector executive — leading organizations delivering homeless persons access to housing, healthcare and employment opportunities through a variety of successful social enterprises. A 2017 import from Vancouver, Canada he was recognized as one 40 Under 40 CEO’s, Canadian Social Entrepreneur of the Year by Trico Foundation, and was pinned with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Since moving to Orlando, he has worked tirelessly build systems assisting homeless persons in the midst of our housing affordability crisis, seasonal hurricanes, and the recent COVID19 pandemic. Brian has quickly gained a reputation for facilitating collaborative action to ensure Central Florida remains focused on caring for those without a home.
Christopher Swigon
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Operations Committee Member
Chris has worked in many different states, with many different homeless organizations, and partners. He is committed to ending homelessness not only in the state of Florida but throughout the entire country. Why he’s committed to ending homelessness: "I have worked with individuals and families for many years that have suffered from insecure housing and homelessness. I am in awe of the resiliency of those individuals, many of which just need that one person or organization to believe in them and give them the opportunity which starts with a safe and secure place to live. I have seen first-hand the positive impacts on an individual’s health, wellbeing, cognitive functioning, quality of life and length of life that housing can have on those individuals and how it can change their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Success starts with stable housing!"
Courtney Walker
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Operations Committee Member
Courtney Walker is currently serving as the Interim State Coordinator for the Florida Department of Education’s (FLDOE) Homeless Education Program (HEP). She has been with the program for four and a half years. Ms. Walker has been with FLDOE for nearly 16 years previously working in the Office of Healthy Schools, Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction, and the Migrant Education Program. In her current role, Courtney assists local school districts serving students that are experiencing homelessness through addressing identification and barriers to regular school attendance and academic achievement.
Ms. Walker is a graduate of Florida State University earning a Bachelor’s in Information Studies and Master’s in Educational Policy with certification in Program Evaluation. She has a passion for all needs of children and youth being met especially students that are overlooked and underserved. In her spare time, Courtney enjoys spending time with her family and friends across Florida, traveling, writing, exploring the outdoors, and mentoring.
Sarah Yelverton
Position with FCEH: Board Member & Advocacy Committee Chair
Sarah Yelverton, Executive Director of Homelessness & Housing Alliance began her career in homelessness assistance as the finance director for the Okaloosa Walton Homeless Continuum of Care in 2010. Sarah immersed herself in the contracts and absorbed as much information as was available on the homeless assistance system. Through her efforts, Sarah was soon promoted to shelter manager at Opportunity Place in Fort Walton Beach. There she implemented strategies to move her shelter clients into permanent housing and increasing their ability to remain stably housed.
Sarah serves as the Chair for the Okaloosa Walton Crisis Intervention Taskforce, which is focused on integrating law enforcement, behavioral health, and correctional facilities.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Leeanne Sacino
Position with FCEH: Executive Director
Leeanne has 20 years of experience working in the field of homelessness. She most recently held the position of Assistant Director for a CoC Lead Agency. Leeanne holds her Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Project Management. She began her career working in nonprofit finance and grant management but found her true passion working directly with clients as the program director of an emergency shelter and transitional housing facility. Leeanne has a wide array of experience in non-profit finance, grant management, HMIS, and the implementation of a coordinated entry system. She also has direct service experience with housing families with children, chronically homeless individuals, and veterans.