\u201cOur board of directors is thrilled for Jessica to bring her exceptional background and expertise to this role at the Community Foundation,\u201d Paul Hudson, Community Foundation board chair who has also been serving as interim CEO, says in the statement. \u201cFor 45 years, our foundation has worked to achieve a united community through maintaining our role as a trusted philanthropic partner. As a seasoned CEO and strategic decision-maker who understands our generational approach to community investments, Jessica will build on our successes, carrying forward our mission of achieving impact through philanthropy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muroff has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit, philanthropic and business sectors. At the United Way, which serves five counties in West Central Florida, she oversees a team of 63 employees. During her tenure, Muroff, according to the statement, \u201cled a comprehensive organization transformation by prioritizing community impact through modernized grantmaking and collaborative initiatives and partnerships grounded in data while stewarding $51 million in fiscal assets, including a notable unsolicited donation of $20 million by the philanthropist MacKenzie Scott<\/a>.\u201d (United Way Suncoast covers Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, and DeSoto counties.)<\/p>\n Muroff was selected after an extensive national search conducted by Kittleman, a Chicago-based executive recruitment firm that specializes in nonprofit leadership. Before joining United Way Suncoast, Muroff was chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of West Central Florida and in the same role of Frameworks of Tampa Bay, a social and emotional learning nonprofit organization serving youth. Muroff, the release states, is a member of the University of South Florida\u2019s Women in Leadership & Philanthropy and the CEO Council of Tampa Bay and is a graduate of Leadership Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is an honor to have been selected to lead this extraordinary organization and steward the charitable wishes of the generous people of this community,\u201d Muroff says in the release. \u201cThe culture of compassion, integrity and quality within the Foundation is unmistakable, and the community\u2019s commitment to a brighter future is deeply inspiring. I look forward to building on the Community Foundation\u2019s many strengths and partnerships while working alongside our community to develop innovative solutions to the region\u2019s ever-evolving challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the last 15 years, the Community Foundation, the release states, has grown assets under management from $190 million in charitable dollars to more than $600 million and is forecast to double to more than $1 billion over the next decade. Muroff, the organization adds, will be charged with developing and executing an ambitious and innovative plan to drive these efforts.<\/p>\n Jessica Muroff<\/p>\n Courtesy Image<\/p>\n Muroff will be the third leader of the Community Foundation, which was established in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council to connect donors with nonprofit organizations. Jerde was preceded by Stewart Stearns, who led the foundation from 1988 to 2010.<\/p>\n A passionate outdoor adventurer, Muroff, the foundation says, seeks out challenges that mirror her approach to leadership \u2014 climbing mountains, running marathons and pursuing bold goals with grit and purpose<\/a>. In addition, Muroff and her husband Owen LaFave, Pinellas County market president of the Bank of Tampa, choose a new competition-based skill to learn with a clear goal in mind each year<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on sister site BusinessObserverFL.com.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A familiar name in nonprofit and human services in the region, Jessica Muroff, has been named CEO of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-42427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Jessica_Muroff_t850.jpg\" "\\"Jessica")
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