New Company
West Central Florida Mental Wellness Coalition Inc.
New Position
President and chief executive officer
Former Company
United Way Suncoast
Former Position
Chief strategy and operations officer
The West Central Florida Mental Wellness Coalition, Inc. has named Carrie Zeisse as its first president and chief executive officer. The mental wellness coalition, which was recently created by 30 local organizations, is developed to help improve outcomes for depression, anxiety and substance use disorders in the Tampa Bay area. Zeisse assumes her role on Jan. 20.
Zeisse, who was the chief strategy and operations officer with United Way Suncoast, will be responsible for driving the Coalition’s mission of mobilizing the community toward strengthening mental wellness outcomes in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Polk counties. She will also collaborate with the Board of Directors to raise public awareness and develop and implement initiatives that help guide the community to available mental wellness resources.
“We’re pleased to hire a CEO that will proudly lead this important organization,” said Tommy Inzina, chair of the Board of Directors for the West Central Florida Mental Wellness Coalition and president and CEO of BayCare Health System. “Her background in strategic planning and passion for community engagement will position her in this multi-sector collaboration to address our community’s mental health challenges.”
Influential organizations including BayCare, HCA West Florida, Tampa General Hospital, Advent Health, Florida Blue, behavioral health providers, law enforcement, government agencies, schools and other leading corporations joined forces to launch the coalition in June 2019. Through this coalition, the goal is to destigmatize the issue of mental health and substance use, create an urgent care access model and enhance navigational resources.
“I am honored to have been selected to lead this Coalition, and to work in partnership with the community leaders whose vision created this initiative,” said Zeisse. “I look forward to help make access to care more widely available to our community and help improve the longstanding stigma surrounding mental health issues."
“This collaborative effort will positively impact the lives of people in our community,” said Ravi Chari, MD, board member with West Central Florida Mental Wellness Coalition and President of HCA’s West Florida Division. “We are confident that Zeisse’s leadership will help move our mission forward and bring our vision to life.”
During her tenure at United Way Suncoast, Zeisse led all business functions for the organization including strategy, finance and budgeting, human resources, technology, marketing and volunteer engagement. She also managed three board-level committees including recruiting and planning.
Prior to her role with United Way Suncoast, Zeisse served as chief operating officer for United Way of Greater Portland, director of finance for United South End Settlements, vice president of Economic Development and Finance for Boston Harbor Island Alliance and director of strategy and marketing for National Programs at Trust for Public Land.
Zeisse received a bachelor’s degree in photography from Maine College of Art and a master’s degree in business administration from MIT Sloan School of Management.
