Lucrative wine fest organizers sip new CEO

NAPLES — The Naples Children & Education Foundation named Maria Jimenez-Lara as the new CEO of the fundraising powerhouse.

The nonprofit organization oversees the annual Naples Winter Wine Festival, which has raised more than $135 million for children's charities in Collier County since it started in 2001. In January, the three-day festival and luxury auction raised more than $12.5 million.

Jimenez-Lara replaces James Swanson, a retired Air Force general who held the foundation CEO post less than one year. Jimenez-Lara joined the organization in 2012 and served as director of foundation services and grants director. Prior to joining the foundation, she was director of charter schools for the Redlands Christian Migrant Association for 13 years. Among her accomplishments with the association was turning two failing schools into high-performing schools.

The four-month search for a new CEO, managed by BoardWalk Consulting, attracted 30 qualified national and local candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds. “Maria is an accomplished and respected leader with a long track record of successfully advocating for the underserved in our community,” says Bob Clifford, the foundation's chairman. “After an extensive national search, the board selected Maria because of her deep knowledge and experience working within our organization, her passion for the issues and her critical insights into ways we can move forward in tackling our community's problems at their root causes.”

Born in Puerto Rico, Jimenez-Lara grew up in Miami and moved to Naples in 1999. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from the Universidad de las Americas, a bachelor's degree in management from Florida International University and a master's degree in public administration from Hodges University.