Board of Directors

Our consultants and Board are key to our Value Proposition. As former CEO’s, CFO’s and other Senior Managers, our Board and consultants possess vast experience in all functional areas of business, including finance, branding, recruiting, marketing, organizational development, and fundraising. In addition, our consultants are adept at applying their experience to the nonprofit sector, where we know business and process can be more challenging.

Barbara Gray

Barbara Gray, Board Chair

Barbara Gray has over 25 years of senior management experience in healthcare at the local, regional, and national levels. Her work has included operations management, organization development, and start-up/turnaround success. She has served as Senior VP at Caring Foundations, VP of Hospice Operations for Vitas Healthcare, and COO of Dimension Health, among other companies.

Barbara has steered organizations to be responsive to community needs. She has consistently demonstrated the ability to deliver outcomes that include high customer and employee satisfaction, improved revenue, increased operational and administrative effectiveness, enhanced compliance with regulations, and strict adherence to sound and ethical business practices. Working with both for-profits and nonprofit organizations, Ms. Gray has built cohesive, productive teams by reinforcing corporate values and standards, establishing goals, and implementing plans to reach them.

Barbara’s consulting practice has focused on strategic planning, compliance program assessment, operations review and improvement, and pre-merger due diligence/post-transaction integration.

Ms. Gray obtained her BA from the University of Florida, an MA in College Teaching from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Compliance from George Washington University.

Joel Greenbaum

Joel Greenbaum, President & CEO

Joel Greenbaum, President and CEO

Joel Greenbaum brings a diversity of both private and public sector experience to ESC- Florida. After college, Joel worked as a professional musician/arranger/composer in New York City. He received a National Endowment for the Arts Award to compose a piece for jazz ensemble and orchestra. While in NYC, he built and served as President of Evergreen Recording, a professional recording studio, where he worked on recordings with artists such as John Lennon, Herbie Hancock, Harry Belafonte Hugh Masekela, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and many more.

After volunteering with various nonprofit organizations, Joel decided to reconcile his social conscience with his work skills. As a result, he transitioned into nonprofit management, where he served as the Executive Director of Youth Resource Development Corporation in Poughkeepsie, NY. While there, Joel was at the forefront of the national service program, AmeriCorps, and was a founding member and Treasurer of the New York State Corps Collaboration, a statewide collaboration of youth service and conservation corps, and the 4th largest AmeriCorps Program in the country. Joel later moved with his family to Fort Lauderdale, FL, where he worked as the Executive Director of Leadership Broward Foundation.

In moving to Florida, Mr. Greenbaum’s childhood love for the sport of tennis was rekindled, and he jumped back into the private sector, where he founded and served as President of Match Point Tennis, a retail and e-commerce tennis store with 3 locations in South Florida. In 2017, after operating Match Point Tennis for 16 years, Joel sold the business so he could once again utilize his unique skill set, passion, and experience to assist South Florida’s nonprofit community. Joel brings his expertise and experience to ESC-South Florida in business development, leadership training, board development, strategic planning, marketing & communications, and fundraising, among others. Mr. Greenbaum obtained a B.S. from New York University and holds several additional nonprofit certifications.

Hanna Fink

Hanna Fink, Corporate Secretary

Hanna Fink is a results/team oriented executive with extensive nonprofit sector experience in problem solving and leading and managing people, programs, and facilities in highly complex and diversified organizations. Ms. Fink has spent the past 25 years working in the South Florida community for a national health and social service organization. Having invigorated the volunteer base, she orchestrated one of the largest walk-a-thons in the U.S. along with being responsible for planned giving, major gifts, and numerous special events,. Ms Fink’s ability to lead and manage while developing relationships with key stakeholders in the community has been critical to her success.

Previously Ms. Fink was the Executive in a multi disciplined full service Community Center serving 7,500 individuals and a local development corporation in an historic neighborhood. She recently completed a comprehensive course through the Society of Certified Senior Advisors (SCSA) earning the designation of Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)®, The SCSA is an international organization that has trained more than 30,000 professionals to meet the changing needs of a growing senior population. Currently involved in the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, serving as an advocate for seniors and populations who are unable to advocate for themselves.

M.S.W. Wurzweiler School of Social Work-Yeshiva University, New York, and an M.B.A. from Pace University, New York.

Kathy Octavio

Kathy Octavio, Board Member

Kathy Octavio is an experienced, multi-faceted CIO and executive manager with over 35 years experience in the oil and gas industry. She was a founding partner and CIO of a successful oil and gas start-up company after holding senior executive positions in different vertically integrated business units and then in corporate headquarters in a major international oil and gas company. She started her career in its Research and Technical Development affiliate.She has proven success in IT, strategic planning, management and governance, business process analysis and alignment, outsourcing relation design and assuring IT service levels. She also has the ability to provide strategic direction and guidelines, leveraging IT so it becomes a fully client-oriented function contributing to meeting the organization’s strategic goals.

Ms. Octavio is bilingual (English and Spanish). She holds a PhD in Environmental Systems and a MSc and Eng. degree in Civil Engineering from M.I.T. and a BA in Physics from Clark University.

Amelia Waters

Amelia Waters, Board Member

Amelia Waters is currently a Managing Partner with EDSO Edge. She has a track record of simplifying and scaling systems and processes, leading change to deliver operational excellence and organizational alignment. Amelia is passionate about developing leaders and high-performing teams through coaching and mentorship.

Amelia’s professional experience includes tenures with Nice Healthcare, American Health Associates, Magic Leap, and 10 years with Kaplan, Inc. as the Executive Director of Business Strategy & Leadership Innovation.

Ms. Waters is a graduate of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, where she earned her Master’s of Business Administration. She is also a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of 20+ speculative fiction novels (published as Jade Kerrion). Amelia has been a Senior Consultant with ESC-FL since May 2023, serving as an Executive Coach with PIRC and participating in the Strategic Planning project with Greater Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Laura Yorks

Laura Yorks, Board Member

Laura Yorks is a retired Management Consulting/Software executive with expertise in the Insurance, Healthcare, and Financial Services industries. She is also experienced in working with government entities and merger/acquisition activities. Laura’s professional experience includes serving as an Associate Partner with IBM Global Business Services, and Regional Consulting Director with Pegasystems. Ms. York has a BA from Emory University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University Graduate School of Industrial Administration (with concentrations in Finance and Accounting).

Laura has been a Senior Consultant with ESC-FL since December 2022, serving as an Executive Coach for Holy Ground PBC and participating in projects such as the Wayside House Strategic Plan, the FC3 Strategic Plan, and the Armory Art Center Strategic Plan.

Frank P. Cupido

Frank P. Cupido, Treasurer

Frank P. Cupido joined Executive Service Corps- Florida after a near 40-year career in the telecommunications industry. Frank began his career with Northern Telecom where he led the financial support for Northern Telecom’s Japan subsidiary and helped secure a $500 million contract with the national Japanese telecom carrier, NTT. Frank held finance and business development roles with Hughes Network Systems. After Hughes, Frank joined Bechtel Telecommunications where, as the account director for the AT&T Wireless account, he helped build it into one of Bechtel’s largest customers. While based in Nashville, Frank was the Treasurer for the St. Bernard’s School for Exceptional Children. Frank is on the Board of Speak Up for Kids in West Palm Beach, which supports Florida’s Guardian Ad Litem program.

Frank attended Culver Military Academy. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and an MBA in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Frank has been a Senior Consultant with ESC-FL since February 2020, participating in projects such as the Second Chance Society Strategic Plan, the Armory Art Center CEO Search, the Community Foundation of Broward Software Evaluation Project. Frank served as the Lead Consultant for The Pride Center at Equality Park COVID-19 Re-Opening Plan and the Administrative Services and Management Structure Assessment for Coast to Coast Legal Aid.

Ken Stenicky

Ken Stenicky, Board Member

Ken Stenicky has served as a Senior VP with Chase Merchant Services and VP for New Market Development for Visa, where, under his direction, his team was responsible for converting cash and checks to electronic payments in the following industries: Healthcare, Insurance, Utilities, Telecommunications, Government, Mass Transit, Quick Service Restaurants, Movie Theaters, and other small ticket industries. Since retiring, he has been active with several different nonprofits in the Miami area.

Mr. Stenicky has a B.S. in Finance & Economics from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Ken has been a Senior Consultant with ESC-FL since September 2022, leading efforts such as the Strategic Planning project with Second Chance Society.

Melanie Hillenbrand

Melanie Hillenbrand, Past President & CEO, Board Member Emeritus, Founding Member of ESC-FL

Melanie Poznoff Hillenbrand, a voracious reader, crossword puzzle enthusiast, and political aficionado, passed away on March 28, 2025, at the Preserve in Pompano Beach, Florida. She was born on September 7, 1949, to H. Melvin and Anne Burns Hillenbrand in St. Louis, MO. Melanie grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and graduated valedictorian from Lourdes Academy. True to her adventurous spirit, she attended Creighton University in Omaha and earned her BA in Journalism from Boston University. She loved big cities and the pursuit of education, later earning an MBA in Human Resources from DePaul University.

Melanie spent over 20 years in leadership and training roles with several large insurance companies, traveling the world while based in Chicago and New York City. Before founding her own consulting firm focused on executive development, she held senior roles in leadership and organizational development at Mercer HR, KPMG, Bellevue Hospital, CNA Insurance, and the BlueCross Blue Shield Association. She was also a pioneer in facilitating 360-degree feedback and assessment tools such as MBTI and DiSC.

NYC lost its charm for Melanie on 9/11, when she helped a colleague down 70 flights of stairs in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. They exited just minutes before the tower collapsed. Within a year, she and her husband Glen relocated to Florida, drawn by its warmer climate and slower pace.

After Glen’s passing, Melanie was embraced by a special circle of friends who brought her comfort, compassion, and unwavering loyalty. She remained deeply committed to helping others, especially through her work with ESC-FL. Melanie was one of the six retired C-suite executives who revitalized the dormant nonprofit in South Florida affiliated with the National Executive Service Corps, now known as ESC-FL. She served as ESC-FL’s first President/CEO and a dedicated board member. Her considerable skills, leadership, and passion helped countless nonprofits across South Florida build capacity and drive success, including Executive Service Corps- Florida itself.