CEO Children’s Council Convened to
Provide Expert Business Guidance
for the Children’s Homes
Pictured above are members of the 2010 CEO Children's Council. From left to right are Brad Bryant, David Wilkins, Bill Grigsby, Rob Harper, Rich Braund, Kevin Jones, Ed Crenshaw, Stephen Wells, Jerry Haag, Paul Azinger, Ron Braund, Todd Woodward, Don Whitman, Edwin Watts, Danny Langston, and Gray Keller.
LAKELAND - The Florida Baptist Children’s Homes recently convened its first ever CEO Children’s Council. This small group of successful business CEOs gathered at the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes’ headquarters in Lakeland to apply their many years of business experience and expertise to come up with ways to strengthen the Children’s Homes’ ministry.
Ed Crenshaw, CEO of Publix, and his wife Denise graciously hosted this first time event. Denise hosted the CEO’s wives at her home for a great time of fellowship. Ed hosted a brief golf outing in the morning before the Council convened with their business meeting that afternoon.
“The Children’s CEO Council is an effort to build relationships and learn from the expertise of some of the best and brightest in the business world. All of these individuals took valuable time away from their businesses to provide input as to how we can improve our ministry and accomplish our mission with excellence,” said Dr. Jerry Haag, president of the Children’s Homes.
“We used the concepts from the book Good to Great to frame our discussion. This process worked exceptionally well as we presented our needs to the group. In that process some of the major needs of the organization were discussed along with what it would take to meet some immediate needs in priority areas. ”
The CEO Children’s Council focused their discussion in three major areas: brand development, overcoming systemic constraints, and building for the future. The discussion about brand development focused on ways to improve the awareness and recognition of the Children’s Homes as well as ways to strengthen its reputation among key constituencies.
The Council also discussed some of the obstacles that all childcare organizations will be facing over the coming years and what can be done to get ahead of those obstacles. However, much of the discussion focused on how the Children’s Homes can be best positioned to be a leader in childcare services over the next 105 years the way that it has in the last 105 years.
“There was some passionate and heartfelt discussion among the CEOs that focused not just merely on what could be done to provide for children, but what could be done to truly help children thrive!” remarked Haag.
“In addition, we had a lot of great input in terms of various strategies that could be employed to accelerate the expansion of our ministry both domestically and internationally. We also covered a lot of nuts and bolts issues related to priority infrastructure needs.”
One of the many highlights of the meeting was a presentation by Paul Azinger on the strategies he employed to win the Ryder Cup and how some of those same strategies can be applied to business and the Children’s Homes’ ministry.
Brad Bryant, another world famous golfer currently playing on the Champions Tour, spoke about his family’s personal experience on one of the Children’s Homes’ international childcare mission trips to the Children’s Malnutrition Center in San Juan, Guatemala.
The CEOs will continue to meet throughout the year to consult and provide assistance in the areas of domestic expansion, international expansion, branding, and advocacy. A special thanks to these fine gentlemen and their wives for their gifts of time, talent, and treasures, which are being put to work for some of the neediest and most disadvantaged children in the world!
Members of the 2010 CEO Children’s Council
Paul Azinger, Professional Golfer
Dr. Ron Braund, Family Business Transitions
Rich Braund, Family Business Transitions
Brad Bryant, Professional Golfer
Ed Crenshaw, CEO Publix Corp.
Bill Grigsby, Vice President, Edwin Watts Golf
Dr. Jerry Haag, President, Florida Baptist Children’s Homes
Rob Harper, Founder, Land South Holdings
Kevin Jones, President, Mid Florida Credit Union, and Board of Governors, Jacksonville Federal Reserve Bank
Gray Keller, Principal Consultant, Intentional Solutions, LLC
Danny Langston, President, COO Flightline Group, Inc.
Edwin Watts, Edwin Watts Golf, LLC
Stephen Wells, CEO Magnum Opus Ventures
Don Whitman, Florida Baptist Children’s Homes Trustee
David Wilkins, Global Managing Director for Public Service Growth & Strategy, Accenture
Todd Woodward, President, Mosaic Wealth Management Group