INTEGRITY: Doing what’s right, even when no one’s watching.
COOPERATION: Working together to make lasting change.
ACCOUNTABILITY: Taking responsibility for our mission and each other.
RESPECT: Treating every person with dignity and empathy.
EMPATHY: Listening and leading with compassion.
Nancy Ramey, Chairperson
Eric Ebbert,
Vice Chairperson
Mike Kindt, Treasurer
Phil Beauchamp
Clay Biddinger
Adam Bouchard
Haley Crum
Wanda Fyfe
Jennifer Garbowicz
Carol Hague
Donald Hall
Lanette Kirby
Dr. Fred Lenz
Wally Pope
Dr. Carrie Shulman
Kyle Shulman
Kate Tiedemann
Tom Whiddon
Barbara Green, Founder
Ashley Lowery, President & CEO
Katerina Gerakios-Siren, EVP of Operations
Michele Backus, VP of Finance
Satina Thomas VP of Housing
Tawny Swain - Castle, VP of Clinical Services
Service Center
Vertical Garden
Veterans Clubhouse
Fairburn Veterans Apartments
HEP West
Veterans Apartments
Empowerment Garden
Workforce
Development Center
Fairburn Veterans Apartments
Everybody's
Tabernacle Church
Kitchen & Dining Hall
Emergency Shelter
for Men & Women
HEP Thrift Store
Workforce
Development Center
The Salon at HEP
Baty Villas Permanent
Supportive Housing for Families
Additional Off-Campus
Housing
HEP’s work has been recognized across Tampa Bay and beyond for our innovation, impact, and compassion.
INCLUDES:
Downloadable Media Kit, Logo and Brand Assets, Press Contact
Nancy retired from her position as Shareholder and CFO of ProVise Management Group, LLC in 2024 after spending the last 24 years of her career in Financial Planning. She was a Certified Financial Planner professional with experience in estate planning and charitable giving. She graduated from Florida State University and subsequently earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before her career at ProVise, she was a Shareholder and Controller for a privately held company in Northern California responsible for accounting, claims, and customer service.
Nancy has served on the HEP Board since 2019 and became Chairperson in 2025. She is a member of HEP’s Women Who Care Giving Society and is on HEP’s Finance and Resource Committees, and other special event committees. Nancy is on the Board of Directors for the Morton Plant Mease Healthcare Foundation, where she is involved in several committees and planned giving groups, including Women in Philanthropy. Nancy is a former member of both the Financial Planning Association of Tampa Bay and served on their Board of Directors for over five years, as well as the North Carolina Certified Public Accountants.
Nancy lives in Tarpon Springs with her husband, Bob, and they have three daughters. Nancy enjoys playing golf with Bob and her two sisters, hiking, reading, and traveling.
Eric is the CEO of ProVise Management LLC and joined the firm in 2000 after five years managing the financial assets of a Tampa entrepreneur and his family. He has experience in estate planning and charitable giving as well as managing equity and fixed income investment portfolios. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, Eric also earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a BA in Economics from Hamilton College.
Eric joined the HEP Board of Directors in 2019 and currently serves as HEP’s Vice Chairman. He recently completed a term as a Chairman of The Forman School, a Connecticut college prep boarding school that teaches bright students who learn differently. He has been a member of the Charles Schwab Advisor Services Advisory Board and was a gubernatorial appointee and vice chairman of the District 6 Community Health Purchasing Alliance. In the community, he is a past member of the board of The Spring of Tampa Bay and The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay’s Professional Advisory Committee. He also completed the Leadership Tampa program.
Prior to entering the financial advisory field nearly three decades ago, Eric worked for IBM in San Francisco and Tampa, and was Sports Editor for a Connecticut newspaper. He and his wife, Blythe, live in Tampa with their two sons.
Now retired, Mr. Beauchamp offers an extensive background in the health care industry having served Morton Plant Hospital and Morton Plant Mease Health Care as President and CEO for over a decade. He led many strategic planning initiatives within the hospital, which allowed the organization to undertake remarkable growth. He also established the Morton Plant Mease Physicians Advisory Council, providing a forum for the hospital and its physicians to discuss future health care challenges as a collaborative team.
In addition to his career with Morton Plant Mease, Mr. Beauchamp was president and CEO of Sarasota Memorial Hospital as well as ImageAmerica, and has served a number of organizations throughout Florida including Ruth Eckerd Hall, American Red Cross of Tampa Bay, the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce and HEP. Mr. Beauchamp held the rank of captain in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps.
Mr. Beauchamp holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Rhode Island. He earned a Master of Hospital and Health Care Administration from the University of Minnesota where he received the American Surgical Trade Association Award for highest academic average in Public Health.
He serves on the following HEP Board committees: Executive, Quality & Outcomes, and Resource Development. He is an active member of his church and enjoys spending time with his family.
Mr. Biddinger offers an extensive background in the financial industry with over 35 years of experience. He was the founder, Chairman and CEO of Sun Financial, and previously founded and led Sun Financial Group as well as Bay4Capital. Mr. Biddinger has also served as President and CEO to GATX Technology Finance, Inc. and to GE Technology Finance.
As a founder of Kenyon Energy – a provider of sustainable energy services specializing in the development, construction and successful operation of solar facilities across the nation – Mr. Biddinger currently serves as the company Chairman.
In addition, Mr. Biddinger serves as Chairman/Managing Partner of the Biddinger Family Foundation and his family partnership Tomstemark, LP. He has served as a Board Member to Florida Doctors Insurance Company, CMR Associates, LLC, and Florida Banks, Inc., and is a member of the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF).
Mr. Biddinger earned his BS in Business Administration from Rollins College, and has three sons.
Haley is the Co-President, FrankCrum and President, FrankCrum Staffing, a company that offers professional employer services to businesses of all sizes. FrankCrum provides payroll and tax solutions, workers’ compensation insurance, employee benefits, HR support, risk management, compliance guidance and commercial insurance. Her career at FrankCrum started when she began working as a Customer Care Representative while studying for her Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL.
Haley also leads FrankCrum Staffing as President, an enterprise that has served both hiring managers and job seekers for more than 39 years. Haley earned her law degree from Stetson University College of Law and serves as in-house counsel. She is a member of National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) Board of Directors, as well as a member of Florida Association of Professional Employer Organizations (FAPEO) and the American Staffing Association (ASA). Haley is very involved in the community, and has been a member of HEP’s Board of Directors since 2016. Haley lives in Palm Harbor with her wife Shelby and their two children.
Nancy retired from her position as Shareholder and CFO of ProVise Management Group, LLC in 2024 after spending the last 24 years of her career in Financial Planning. She was a Certified Financial Planner professional with experience in estate planning and charitable giving. She graduated from Florida State University and subsequently earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before her career at ProVise, she was a Shareholder and Controller for a privately held company in Northern California responsible for accounting, claims, and customer service.
Nancy has served on the HEP Board since 2019 and became Chairperson in 2025. She is a member of HEP’s Women Who Care Giving Society and is on HEP’s Finance and Resource Committees, and other special event committees. Nancy is on the Board of Directors for the Morton Plant Mease Healthcare Foundation, where she is involved in several committees and planned giving groups, including Women in Philanthropy. Nancy is a former member of both the Financial Planning Association of Tampa Bay and served on their Board of Directors for over five years, as well as the North Carolina Certified Public Accountants.
Nancy lives in Tarpon Springs with her husband, Bob, and they have three daughters. Nancy enjoys playing golf with Bob and her two sisters, hiking, reading, and traveling.
A former police officer with the Clearwater Police Department, Mrs. Fyfe has dedicated her life to philanthropic projects within her community. She is a founding member of HEP, having written and produced the necessary documents to allow HEP to classify as a 501c3 nonprofit organization within the State of Florida. She has also served as a volunteer director of Kids Who Care, which consists of youth-volunteers aged 12-18 who dedicate hours towards helping to meet the needs of low-income and homeless people.
Mrs. Fyfe is a committed and active member of Everybody’s Tabernacle, a non-denominational community church in Clearwater, which helps to support the HEP mission. She dedicates much of her time to Everybody’s Tabernacle Sunday School, which welcomes all ages of children and adults. Sharing her love of music, Mrs. Fyfe has been a member of the traveling Abundant Life Choral Group, performing gospel songs at public meetings and events. She has also worked with Plus One giving society, focused on empowering women and girls to make a difference in their community.
Mrs. Fyfe serves of the following HEP Board committees: Building & Grounds, Directors & Governance, and the Otis C. Green Memorial Golf Tournament Committee. She is also an Endowment Trustee. She resides in Dunedin, FL; she and her late husband Bruce Fyfe have a son, Alec.
Carol Hague is a seasoned professional having lived and worked in Pinellas County for 50 plus years. She was a legal administrator for 40 years, serving as Chief Operating Officer at Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns, LLP for the last 22 years of her legal career. She was an adjunct instructor at St. Petersburg College for 30 years and was instrumental in placing hundreds of students in careers. In 2013, as a Board Member of the Chamber, Carol was instrumental in founding ACHIEVEHERS professional women’s group under the auspices of the Clearwater Chamber. ACHIEVEHERS legacy thrives to this day with the infusion of youthful talent and passion driving its evolution. In 2015 Carol left the legal profession and accepted the position of President/CEO of the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce and served until her retirement at the end of 2019. In retirement Carol serves as a volunteer Board Member for the NFPs: Jolley Trolley of Clearwater, Homeless Empowerment Program and West Coast Players. She is also the support human to two miniature Schnauzers: Skylark and Cooper.
Mr. Hall served 33-years with the Clearwater Police Department, retiring at the rank of Deputy Chief of Police. Mr. Hall served in various positions within the Police Department, before rising to the rank of Deputy Chief. He completed numerous senior management courses, and holds a Master Degree in Public Administration from Troy State University and a Bachelors Degree in Criminology from Florida State University.
In addition to the Police Department, Mr. Hall served his country in the United States Naval Reserves for 20-years, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
He has served on the HEP Board of Directors since 2017.
Mrs. Kirby is the Founder and President of Solutions for Life’s Events started in 2021 to help people get their life organized, and affairs in order. Lanette was a client service specialist for ProVise Management Group, LLC for over 15 years. She is a Premier Program Investment Advisor, specializing in managing financial portfolios of premier clients.
Mrs. Kirby has been an HEP Board Member for more than a decade, and she serves as President of the Board at Everybody’s Tabernacle.
She received credentials as a Chartered Life Underwriter and a certificate of Paraplanner Development from the American College. Mrs. Kirby also earned credentials as a Registered Paraplanner from the College for Financial Planning in 2014.
Dedicated to serving her community, Mrs. Kirby began her time at HEP by volunteering with all fundraising events from the annual Otis Green & Bruce Fyfe Memorial Golf Tournament, the Renewing Hope on the Runway Fashion Show, and everything else in between. Mrs. Kirby received her Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in International Business and Finance, from Ohio University. Born and raised in Ohio, Mrs. Kirby now resides in Oldsmar, Florida.
Born in a rural village in Germany, Kate Tiedemann immigrated to the United States at age 18, speaking no English and having no formal education beyond 8th grade. Her first job was on the household staff of New York Governor Thomas Dewey. Fortuitously, one of the clerical positions that followed was at a surgical instruments business that exposed her to what would be her career. When Storz sold, she and her boss launched an eye, ear, nose and throat division at Weck (which sold to Squibb). She then co-founded SPARTA Instrument Corp. (which sold to Cooper Labs). In 1975 in the basement of her home in Sparta, NJ, she founded KATENA Products whose name represents Kate in North America. Assembling a team of skilled craftsman making over 1400 products and creating a multi-national sales force in over 100 countries, Katena set industry standards for product quality and excellence of customer service in ophthalmic instruments for eye surgery. Katena sold in 2009 to the Cortec Group, a private equity firm. Philanthropy has become her second career, funding the Katena Birthing Center at Saint Claire’s Hospital in Denville, establishing the Tiedemann Technology Fund at Morton Plant Mease in Clearwater and the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance at USFSP. She and her spouse, Ellen Cotton, continue to support numerous Tampa Bay charities with transformational gifts.
Thomas E. Whiddon is a retired Advisory Director of Berkshire Partners, LLC., Former Advisory Director of Berkshire Partners, LLC (private equity firm), Boston, Mass., (2005-2013). He served various Berkshire portfolio companies in an executive capacity on an interim basis. Board member of Sonoco Products Company (SON) since 2001. Thomas previously served on the Boards of Carters Inc. (CRI) (2003-2020) and Dollar Tree Stores (DLTR) (2003-2021). In the past Mr. Whiddon was EVP-Logistics & Technology and EVP-Chief Financial Officer at Lowe’s Cos., Inc., SVP- Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer at Zale Corp., Treasurer at Eckerd Corp. and Tax Partner at KPMG.
Tom Whiddon is retired and lives in Belleair, FL. At the community level, Tom has been a member of the Board of Trustees for the BayCare Health System (two years as Chairman), Board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and has served on the HEP Board of
Directors since 2022. He has been an active Volunteer at HEP in various capacities and is also a member of HEP’s Finance Committee.
Tom received an undergraduate degree from The University of Alabama.
Barb has dedicated her entire life to going above and beyond for those less fortunate. From serving meals out of her home (still located on campus) before HEP’s kitchen was established, to cleaning the bathrooms of HEP’s very first dorms. Today, because of her hard work, HEP spans a beautiful 8-acre campus.
Barb and her husband, the late Rev. Otis C. “Preacher” Green, began their mission to end homelessness in the late 1970’s at the Clearwater church, Everybody’s Tabernacle, where Otis was the pastor. A family with three children within the congregation was in need of a home, after the father got injured at work. Barb and Otis allowed the family to live in a house they owned rent free, while they got back on their feet. Word spread about the charitable acts of the church and soon, Barb and Otis were running a large shelter program, providing food and housing to those in need. In 1986, Barb and Otis founded HEP, Inc. to better meet the immediate needs of a growing number of homeless individuals and families in Pinellas County.
Today, Barb is just as committed to helping individuals break the cycle of homelessness as she was when HEP first began. Barb works in the development department of HEP, after stepping down as President and CEO in 2013. She has a superior standing in the community and has been awarded numerous accolades for her devotion to the local homeless community. Barb received Sertoma’s International Service to Mankind Award in 2016, the William E. Hale Community Spirit Award in 2014, the Pinellas County Homeless Leadership Network’s Champion of Homeless Adults and Children award in 2012, and the Pasco Homeless Coalition’s Community Champion Award in 2011. Originally from Alabama, Barb currently lives in Clearwater.
Ashley holds a B.S. in Marketing from the University of South Florida – Kate Tiedemann College of Business, St. Petersburg. She graduated in 2012 and was a member of the National Honor Society. Before assuming her current position with HEP in 2017, Ashley served as Marketing Coordinator, Director of Marketing and Director of Development & Communications. Having started with HEP at an entry-level position, and working her way up allowed her to gain thorough understanding of the ins and outs of the organization and gives her a unique perspective in her current role as President and CEO.
Ashley currently serves as a member of the Homeless Leadership Alliance’s Provider’s Council, as well as serves as a Board Member for the Pinellas Continuum of Care as a Service Expert. She is also an advisory board member and financial supporter of EmpowHERment, a women’s empowerment group focused on meeting the financial, mental and emotional needs of women across all backgrounds.
Ashley is an Alum of Leadership Pinellas Class of 2016, as well as a past Achievements Director on the Board of Directors for Ad 2 Tampa Bay, a national club for young professionals in the advertising industry. She is also a former member of the Steering Committee for AMPLIFY Clearwater’s AchieveHERS, a women’s networking group in Clearwater.
Ashley has been personally acknowledged as a Tampa Bay Business Journal “40 Under 40” Awardee in 2021 and named “Best CEO” in Creative Loafing’s “Best of the Bay” contest in 2024.
Ashley has a strong passion for serving the homeless population and for fundraising for HEP’s Mission. She considers herself fortunate to have the opportunity to dedicate her career to helping improve the lives of the individuals, veterans and families HEP serves in our community.
In her free time, she enjoys working out, baking, going to the beach and traveling. Ashley and her husband, Mat, currently reside in Seminole with their two children, Estella and Valen.
Michele Backus is a dedicated Vice President of Finance, with experience spanning a variety of industries and a passion for helping organizations run smoothly and efficiently. With an MBA in Finance, she brings both technical knowledge and practical insight to her work. Known for her friendly and collaborative approach, Michele works closely with teams across the company to ensure financial clarity and support smart decision-making. She takes pride in making finance accessible and contributing to a positive, results-driven workplace.
