Staff & Bios
Barbara Zdravecky
Interim CEO
Barbara@ruthslistfl.org
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Barbara Zdravecky currently serves as the interim CEO of Ruth’s List Florida. Prior to her appointment to CEO she helped lead the organization as a member of the Executive Committee. She is the Principal and Founder of Fern Consulting of Southwest Florida. Lending her extensive knowledge and experience advising not for profits executives and their boards.
Zdravecky served as President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida for nearly 25 years. In 2015, Barbara led the successful regional merger of the affiliate, resulting in a 22-county service area with a team of 160 professionals, 25-member regional board of directors and a $17 million dollar budget. This visionary consolidation has enabled Planned Parenthood to serve more than 39,000 patients annually at its twelve health centers in Southwest and Central Florida, extending from Orlando to Sarasota to Naples. In addition, she served as the President of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, President of the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates and led numerous committees of Planned Parenthood Federation of America
As a registered nurse and social worker, Prior to joining Planned Parenthood, Barbara worked at Manatee Memorial for 10 years as the Head Nurse for inpatient psychiatric services and as Director of Women’s Health Programs. Barbara also worked as the Patient Care Coordinator of the First Hospice Program in Key West, primarily caring for AIDS patients; coordinating research and care with local physicians and Jackson Memorial Hospital staff in Miami. She spent 5 years at the Manatee Community Mental Health Center as a crisis counselor specializing in emergency inpatient treatment in the Baker Act Receiving and Addiction detox units.
Barbara’s service to her community extends well beyond her professional achievements bringing expertise to numerous civic and not for profit boards including the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Florida and The League of Women Voters, of which she was the co-chair of Manatee County and served on the state board of Florida. She currently sits on the board for the Selby Foundation in Sarasota.
Barbara has received numerous awards, honors and recognitions, including the “Ruth Green Award”, as the top Planned Parenthood CEO in the country by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the “Voice for Equality Award” from Equality Florida, “A Woman of Power Award” from the National Council of Jewish Women in Sarasota, the AAUW (American Association of University Women) annual leadership award, “A Wonder Woman Award” from the Women’s Resource Center of Manatee County and ”The Distinguished Alumni Award” from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Lucy Sedgwick
Incoming President and CEO
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Lucy Sedgwick has dedicated her career to building movements and training the next generation of Democratic leadership.
In 2020, she led Colorado’s Abortion Access for All campaign, a state-wide coalition that defeated a high-profile initiative to ban abortion later in pregnancies.
Through her work, Sedgwick has trained hundreds of organizers, campaign staff and candidates, including serving as National Training Director for Warren for President and Training Director for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, where she taught progressive candidates at all levels to run and win campaigns.