Archives: Team Members

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Barbara Morrison-Rodriguez, PhD

As the Chief Evaluation and Innovation Officer for the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County (JWB), Dr. Barbara Morrison-Rodriguez oversees JWB’s evaluation team and is responsible for developing, streamlining, and implementing program metrics across JWB’s portfolio. She also oversees JWB’s newest result area for Early Childhood Development, and plays a critical role in the Zero to Three Campaign. 

Prior to joining JWB’s executive leadership team, Dr. Morrison-Rodriguez served as President and CEO of BMR Consulting, LLC, since its founding in 2001. Her consulting was primarily focused with nonprofit organizations and foundations in the Southeastern United States, as well as with federal agencies such as the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) and its grantee programs. In that role, she provided evaluation and accountability consultation and training for grantees of several foundations primarily in Florida and has trained more than 800 nonprofit organizations in evaluation. Her areas of expertise include program evaluation, strategic planning, strategic grant making, program development, and Board development. 

In her 55-year career, she has been on the faculty of multiple colleges and universities, including Hunter College (CUNY); the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (NYC); State University of New York (Albany); the University of South Carolina (Columbia), where she held an endowed chair in Social Welfare; and the University of South Florida (Tampa), where she was Associate Dean of the Florida Mental Health Institute. In her career as a civil servant, Dr. Morrison-Rodriguez served as Director of Long-Term Care for the New York State Office for Aging and Associate Commissioner for Long-Term Care and Geriatrics at the New York State Office of Mental Health.  She co-authored a textbook on research methods and has published several articles in the areas of research, aging, child welfare, and services to racial and ethnic minority populations.

She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Social Welfare Research from the Columbia University School of Social Work in New York City and her B.A. in Sociology from Douglass College, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  

 

Laura Peele

As the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County (JWB), Laura Peele provides leadership, supervision, and oversight of JWB’s Information Technology (IT) strategies, policies, and personnel to ensure that IT investments and operations align with and successfully support the organization’s mission as well as strategic and tactical plans.

She is responsible for overall technology strategy and operations including technical strategies, resources, budgets, polices, and operations. Ms. Peele plans, directs, and supervises the work of managerial and professional IT and facilities staff, assuring that JWB effectively maintains current technology and adopts innovative technologies as appropriate.

The latter is an aspect of her job that she is deeply passionate about and widely recognized for having mastered. Ms. Peele prides herself in ensuring that JWB is an early adopter of the most cutting-edge technology that supports innovation and efficiency in JWB’s operations, leading to improved community impact.

Ms. Peele holds a B.S. in Technology Management from St. Pete College and has been a Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO) since 2016.

Deeply committed to the mission, she has more than 30 years of experience with JWB, serving in a variety of roles, which have allowed her a unique perspective after watching the organization’s growth and evolution over decades. After initially joining the JWB Human Resources department, she moved into IT and progressed steadily through the ranks as she led a series of firsts: From creating and administering a five-county software system for the Florida Children’s Services Councils (CSCs) and leading the effort to create the organization’s first data warehouse to secure all JWB data to leading the infrastructure side of JWB’s transition to a remote workforce in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Born in New York, Ms. Peele has been a Pinellas resident since the third grade and considers it an honor to serve Pinellas County children and families. She and her three children are, as she says, proud products of the Pinellas County School district. She also pours her support into the community through volunteer work: As Captain of the Ye Krewe of Sir Henry Morgan, a Gasparilla krewe, she leads more than 150 members in community service and philanthropic support of local schools and cancer organizations, including National Cancer Society, Children’s Cancer Center, and Moffitt Cancer Center.