‘Fresh eyes’: Donna Deegan puts her stamp on Jax Kids Hope Alliance Board

Image via City of Jacksonville

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan is putting her own people on the city’s Kids Hope Alliance board, as she seeks to make the organization align with her administration’s priorities and move away from the Lenny Curry era.

She will be replacing board members Tyra Tutor, Jenny Vipperman and Marvin Wells, as well as former Jacksonville City Council candidate Rose Conry and Rebekah Davis, the wife of defeated mayoral candidate Daniel Davis.

Only Kevin Gay, who has worked on Deegan’s transition, and Marsha Oliver, who was once a spokesperson for the Curry administration, will remain on the seven-person panel.

The new nominees include Lawrence E. Dennis, a VP at Mainstream Development Educational Group and former Regional Superintendent for Duval County Public Schools.

Meredith Chartrand Frisch, a board member for The Chartrand Foundation, Women’s Giving Alliance and KIPP Jacksonville, is also up for City Council consideration. 

Another nominee, Connie Hodges, is the former President and CEO of United Way of Northeast Florida.

Cynthia Ball Nixon, the Chief Financial Officer of the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition, is also nominated. She previously was a Senior Director for both the Kids Hope Alliance and Duval County Public Schools.

Realtor J. Carson Tranquille , a former division chief for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, rounds out the nominations. Tranquille ran for City Council in 2019, losing to Deegan’s choice to head her Neighborhoods Department (Al Ferraro) by more than 40 points.

“One of the top priorities of my administration is to bring back a reimagined and reinvigorated Jacksonville Journey. We need fresh eyes who will move the Kids Hope Alliance towards that vision,” Deegan said. “I’m excited to nominate these accomplished leaders who bring decades of experience building safe and healthy neighborhoods.”