After 13 years with the organization, Step Up Suncoast president and CEO Barbara Patten will retire in August 2021. The Step Up Suncoast board has begun a regional search for her replacement.

Patten was hired in August 2008 and has spent the bulk of her career in the not-for-profit sector, previously at the Economic Opportunity Council of Indian River County. At Step Up Suncoast, Patten doubled the number of families served within the Rise and Shine Early Learning Head Start & Early Head Start programs and designed and implemented the Family Self-Sufficiency program, which helps create long-term economic stability for families.