Executive Staff

Kelly Franklin, a long-time agency employee, was promoted from her position as chief operating officer to lead the Betty Griffin Center as CEO on Oct. 1, 2021.

Franklin had served as chief operating officer at the agency since 2011, where she was responsible for providing leadership to direct service providers and prevention advocates, counselors, outreach family advocates and community educators – and provided oversight to many other agency programs.

She served as outreach coordinator for three years prior to that. Franklin originally joined Betty Griffin Center in 2002 as its shelter director, where she served through 2008.

She received her master’s degree in social work from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of North Florida

“As a recent survivor of breast cancer, I know the difference support makes in a person’s healing journey, and I want to thank the St. Johns County community for their support of our agency over the years…and encourage their continued support in the future.”

Inez Peel has more than 20 years of experience working with at-risk families.

She joined the agency in 2016, working as a co-located advocate at the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) and then with both the SAO and St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, and was promoted to chief operating officer in October 2021.

She joined Betty Griffin Center after working in a variety of positions for the Department of Children and Families in both the Jacksonville and St. Augustine areas – where she served as a child protective investigations supervisor, a family safety field specialist and a child protective investigator.

Prior to that, she worked in similar capacities in Green Cove Springs, Florida with the Department of Children and Families – beginning her career in 1993 as a case manager and continuing care counselor at Gateway Community Services in Jacksonville.

Inez received her Master of Arts in Counseling from Webster University, along with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology/Social Welfare from the University of North Florida.

Of her role at Betty Griffin Center, she says “I truly appreciate working for an agency that allows me the opportunity to plant seeds of kindness, compassion, hope and healing and then watch them grow resulting in safer, more empowered futures for those in need.”

 

Henry joined Betty Griffin Center in 2021, bringing with him a broad range of financial expertise along with extensive finance experience from his past work with several businesses and non-profit organizations in Florida and New York.

He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from C.W. Post College at Long Island University, after receiving an Associates in Applied Science Degree in Economics.

On the personal side, Henry says “I love sports and I’m a fan of all New York Sports Teams. When not working, I love watching movies and spending quality time with my family…especially with my seven grandchildren!”

He says his “self-care” is spent on the beach.

A long-time resident of Connecticut, Bev has been with Betty Griffin Center since 2015  — after moving to Northeast Florida in 2013.

Bev spent much of her previous career at The Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut, after graduating from Central Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English. In her 20-plus years at The Hartford, Bev was fortunate to have held a number of titles:  Technical Writer, Management Consultant, Grassroots Lobbyist, Ombudsman and Human Resources Director.

Before moving to Florida, Bev became the first and only HR professional in an electron-beam welding company. One of her responsibilities was to recruit electron-beam welders, a highly-technical specialty for which there is virtually no talent pool. She does not consider that effort to be a rousing success, often joking that “it would have been easier to find Sasquatch.”