The keynote presenter at the South Lake Chamber of Commerce Breakfast meeting was President & CEO of The Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida, Jamie Merrill.
Jamie became President & CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida (BGCCF) in August 2023. A resident of Lake County, Jamie has spent the last 16 years in the senior living and healthcare industries, culminating in the position of Chief Operating Officer of Sonata Senior Living in Orlando.
Previously, she served as Senior Vice President of Operations for Brookdale Senior Living, directing the operations for 72 senior living communities across Florida. Merrill serves on several local and national boards, including Florida Senior Living Association, The University of Central Florida Senior Living and Hospitality, and Argentum Women in Leadership, and was awarded the 2022 McKnight’s Woman of Distinction.
A graduate of Wayne State University, Merrill and her husband Blake are parents of two children Cayman and Cole. In her spare time, Jamie enjoys traveling, boating, and spending time with family. Jamie couldn’t be more excited about joining BGCCF’s leadership team and leveraging her operations expertise to serve their Club members and employees with passion and excellence.
As CEO, Merrill leads Florida’s largest Boys & Girls Club organization. Currently, BGCCF operates 40 Club sites in 6 counties—Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Brevard and Nassau. Last year, the organization served more than 11,000 children, offering them academic support, extracurricular enrichment and positive adult role models during non-school hours. The Clubs are located in neighborhoods that rank, on average, at the 80th percentile for household poverty, nationally.
