Children First leaders will attend UCLA Head Start management program
Jessica Rogers, Children First’s vice president of Philanthropy, and Sharon Haynes, Children First’s director of Strategic Initiatives, have been selected to participate in the UCLA Head Start Management Fellows Program, one of the most prestigious leadership development opportunities in the early childhood education field.
Hosted by the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the program brings together senior Head Start leaders from across the country for an intensive 12-day residency focused on strategic planning, fiscal operations and organizational leadership.
It is part of the National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Operations (NCPMFO), funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Head Start.
Rogers and Haynes were selected based on their leadership experience, strategic vision and commitment to improving outcomes for children and families. Together, they will develop a customized Management Improvement Plan to directly address a strategic challenge or opportunity at Children First.
Children First is Sarasota County’s exclusive provider of Head Start and Early Head Start services.
Williams Parker adds partner
Williams Parker, Sarasota’s largest law firm, has elevated Christopher M. Nigro to partner, effective July 1, 2025.
Nigro has over 16 years of experience as a litigation attorney. He assists clients with a wide range of dispute resolution matters, with a particular focus on complex commercial litigation. His strategic approach and commitment to achieving favorable outcomes have consistently benefited the firm’s clientele.
Before joining Williams Parker, Nigro was an assistant state attorney for the 12th Judicial Circuit Court in Sarasota, gaining courtroom experience. He then transitioned to a private practice, concentrating on civil litigation.
He has tried over 40 jury trials to verdict.
Psychologist wins ‘Best Study’
A local forensic psychologist, Dr. Robert M. Gordon, Ph.D., has been honored by the International Psychoanalytic Association with its award for the “Best Published Study in North America” for the year.
Dr. Gordon, of Osprey, will receive this prestigious award in Lisbon, Portugal, during the IPA’s annual congress in August.
His groundbreaking research, titled “An Empirical Study of Gauging Political Leadership: Comparing Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy,” was published in the International Journal for the Advancement of Scientific Empirical Psychoanalytic Research in 2024.
The study introduces a scientifically validated method for assessing the mental fitness of political leaders. Using this measure, 50 mental health experts evaluated the psychological functioning of the three leaders.
President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin received very low ratings, with Trump deemed dangerously unqualified, while Volodymyr Zelensky received the highest marks. Importantly, statistical analysis showed the results were not biased by political affiliation.
Dr. Gordon hopes that this kind of objective evaluation could help voters make more informed decisions about a candidate’s qualifications for leadership.
CenterPlace elects board member
CenterPlace Health, a leading provider of accessible, high-quality health care services in the Sarasota County area, has elected Dr. Linda Stone, M.Ed., Ph.D., to its board of directors.
Dr. Stone has worked in public health and related public service programs for low-income, culturally diverse populations since 1979.
In 2016, she assumed the role of CEO at what would become CenterPlace Health. She was charged with ensuring the timely, efficient and successful transition of a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that served about 25,000 patients from a public entity co-applicant arrangement with the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County (DOH-S) to a community-based not-for-profit 501(c)(3).
Dr. Stone holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Florida, a master’s degree from Stetson University and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Florida.
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