National Women’s History Month

JAMIE BEALE HOWE, MBA, CCIM®, CPM®, RPA®
CEO and founder of JBH Enterprises

JBH Enterprises is a management consultancy focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, Jamie Howe supports leadership teams on building high-performing cultures. By using the internationally accredited Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessments and handson executive coaching, she enables lasting, positive change via advisory on intercultural competence training and development, diversity recruitment, staff engagement, goal setting, and cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness.

Jamie Beale Howe is a distinguished and accomplished commercial real estate executive with 20 years of experience working with major public and private REITs. (Real Estate Investment Trusts) Over the course of her career in Senior Leadership, she delivered transformative business results via leadership in operations, capital planning, major portfolio integrations, asset upgrades, high-impact sustainability programs, business development, and other programs that boosted revenues and profitability and garnered top-tier tenant satisfaction metrics.

Ms. Howe has always been an influential voice in strengthening companies’ commitment to social citizenship. For previous employers, she sharpened the focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion as cofounder of Diversity Councils, founder of African American Employee Networking Groups, Chair of Women’s Networks, and Chair of corporate United Way campaigns.

Jamie earned both her Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration from the Loyola University Maryland Sellinger School of Business, where she also played on the Varsity Women’s Basketball team. She has completed Cornell University’s Diversity & Inclusion certificate program and is a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessment.

Ms. Howe serves as Chair of Programs for the Palm Beach/Treasure Coast Chapter of CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) and is a member of the women’s executive advocacy organization Women Executive Leadership (WEL) and the Women United Steering Committee with the United Way of Palm Beach County. She has been a featured guest speaker on DEI strategies for several organization and has completed intercultural competence coaching for Fortune 50 companies, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations.

Jamie’s experience with training teams and business leaders on intercultural competence, coupled with her ability to successfully implement DEI platforms and strategies, has made JBH Enterprises a DEI consultancy of choice for training and coaching.

Rosalyn “Sia” Baker-Barnes

Rosalyn “Sia” Baker-Barnes is a Shareholder at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A., serving on its Executive Committee and chairing its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. In her over 20-year career, she has successfully pursued justice for victims in personal injury, medical negligence and product liability cases and frequently lectures throughout the United States on catastrophic injury cases. She has achieved numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements, including a landmark $20 million compensatory and punitive damages verdict against tobacco giant RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company that was affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court and reached the United States Supreme Court.
Ms. Baker-Barnes is a Florida Bar Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer who is recognized by US News & World Report as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” and by Lawdragon as one of America’s “500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers.” She is recognized as a top lawyer in the state by Florida Super Lawyers magazine, named in Florida Trend magazine’s “Legal Elite,” and was selected by the Daily Business Review as one of South Florida’s Inaugural “Top 20 Women in Law.”

Committed to professionalism, civility and service, Ms. Baker-Barnes serves on The Florida Bar Board of Governors, representing the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. The board is responsible for formulating policies that govern the more than 108,000 members of The Florida Bar. She is the Co-Chair of the board’s COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery Task Force as well as Chair-Elect of the Program Evaluation Committee. She also serves on the board’s Executive, Strategic Planning, and Legislative Committees, and is active in The Florida Bar’s Trial Lawyers Section, where she serves as a member of its Executive Council.

Ms. Baker-Barnes is a past president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association (PBCBA), an organization comprising nearly 3,000 lawyers. As the 95th President, she was the first African American female to serve in this role. Her signature program was “You’ve Been Served: Lawyers Answering the Summons to Community Service,” designed to emphasize the importance of community service and recognize the positive impact lawyers make in their communities and beyond. She is a recipient of the PBCBA’s Judge Edward Rodgers Diversity Award, given to an individual who exhibits visionary and insightful leadership to resolve inequities in the legal community and the community at large.

She is the Co-Founder and first President of the Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association, founded in 2021. Ms. Baker-Barnes is also a member of the International Society of Barristers, the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), the Palm Beach County Justice Association, and the Florida Justice Association (FJA). She served as Chair of the FJA Young Lawyers Section in 2008 and is a past member of its Board of Directors. She currently serves as the Board of Governors Liaison to the FJA and is active in its Minority Caucus.
Other legal organizations in which Ms. Baker-Barnes is active include the F. Malcolm Cunningham, Sr. Bar Association, which she serves as chapter advisor, and the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers (PBC FAWL). She is a recipient of PBC FAWL’s highest honor, the prestigious Justice Barbara J. Pariente Award, which is presented to an individual or organization demonstrating a strong commitment to promoting women in the legal community. This award is named in honor of retired Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente, who exemplifies the qualities and attributes associated with the honor.

A life member of the National Bar Association (NBA), she currently serves as Assistant NBA General Counsel. She is a past recipient of the organization’s Presidential Award, and of the NBA’s “Nation’s Best Advocates: 40 Lawyers Under 40” award, which recognizes talented individuals who have achieved prominence and distinction and demonstrated their commitment to empowering, uplifting, and advocating within the legal community. Baker-Barnes is also a life member of the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter of the NBA.

In addition to her legal involvement, Ms. Baker-Barnes is dedicated to improving her community. She is a board member of the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, past chair of the Board of Directors of the Inlet Grove Community High School, Inc.; a past president of the West Palm Beach Chapter of The Links, Incorporated; and a past chairperson of the Southern Area Links Ethics & Standards Committee. Ms. Baker-Barnes is a past fellow of The Links, Inc.’s international Scott-Hawkins Leadership Institute. She is proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (Zeta Tau Omega Chapter) and the Palm Beach Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. In recognition of her leadership in the community at large, she was awarded the Florida Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Jurisprudence Award.

Ms. Baker-Barnes earned her law degree from the Florida State University College of Law, where she was awarded the prestigious Virgil Hawkins Fellowship for academic achievement. At the College of Law, she was a member of the Moot Court Team. Selected as one of the “Final Four,” as a first-year law student she argued before the justices of the Florida Supreme Court. In recognition of her excellence in advocacy, she was inducted into the Order of the Barristers. Following her graduation, she served on the board of directors of the Florida State University College of Law Alumni Association. She currently serves as a charter board member of the FSU College of Law’s Black Alumni Network (BAN), where she chairs its Racial Justice Advocacy Committee and is the Florida Bar Board of Governors Liaison. She regularly mentors current and prospective law students.

Ms. Baker-Barnes earned her undergraduate degree in Communication from Florida State University, where she achieved Dean’s List recognition. She was selected as an intern for former Governor Lawton Chiles in his Executive Office of Communication, and completed an undergraduate cooperative program in Journalism at Florida A&M University. She resides in West Palm Beach with her husband, Attorney Edrick E. Barnes, and their three children, Selia, Emri and Edan Barnes. They are frequent volunteers at their children’s school, The King’s Academy, and active members of Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church.

Laurie George, Ph.D.

Laurie George, Ph.D., President & Chief Executive Officer to the United Way of Palm Beach County, has more than 20 years of c-level experience.  Over the past eight years as the CEO of United Way of Palm Beach County, Dr. George has led the organization to a new level of success by raising over $110 Million for the local nonprofit community.  UWPBC has become a “go to source” for reliable information on local nonprofit issues and this past year was featured in 600 positive news stories! Dr. George is a graduate of Leadership Florida Cornerstone Class XXXVI and Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2003. Dr. George serves on several committees and boards including Career Source PBC, Economic Council of Palm Beach County, International Women’s Forum, and United Way of Florida.

 

Rebecca Miller,
Founder & President – MPLD Consulting

Rebecca Miller is the Founder and President of MPLD Consulting (Miller Permitting & Land Development), a full-service development consulting firm that has been serving all of Florida for the past 18 years, with offices in West Palm Beach, Tradition and Fort Pierce. Her current projects exceed $1.5 billion in value.

As a trusted industry leader who built her success based on subject matter expertise, relationship building, exceeding expectations, and on customer satisfaction, Rebecca is also known for being a true visionary. Due to her impeccable reputation, Rebecca has been asked to serve on many task forces and boards including for the City of Ft. Pierce, St. Lucie County, City of Port St. Lucie, City of West Palm Beach, and the St. Lucie County School Board. In 2010 and 2011, she served as Executive Vice President of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County. She is also the founder of a regional think tank for economic development called PREA that coalesces with business leaders to advance a regional economic development perspective. In addition to the above, Rebecca serves as Board Chair of the St. Lucie County Cultural Alliance, a public/private LAA. Lastly, she is a graduate of Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2020. Through her private and nonprofit work and commitments, she maintains strong relationships with our region’s key business leaders in both the public and private sectors.

Prior to moving to West Palm Beach, Rebecca held leadership positions with several divisions of American Express and Bear Stearns, and worked in Minneapolis, New York City, Miami, and Seattle. Rebecca grew up in South India, and Canada before moving to the United States. She graduated with a BA/MA from The University of British Columbia, in Vancouver Canada. She now resides in Old Northwood, in West Palm Beach.