Leader chosen for homeless effort

United Way hires bank executive to manage housing initiative

Lynne Wines, a high-profile banking executive, has been hired by United Way of Broward County to lead a new initiative to house the homeless.

Wines has been named senior director of the Business Council on Homelessness and will be starting her new full-time role in September, the United Way said. She will be managing the “United We End Homelessness” initiative as well as the business community’s efforts to end homelessness.

In May, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance announced it would partner with United Way on the United We End Homelessness initiative. Business leaders overseeing the effort are AutoNation Chairman and CEO Mike Jackson and Castle Group CEO James Donnelly.

Wines’ business acumen “will bring significant value to the Broward Business Council on Homelessness,” said Kathleen Cannon, president and CEO of the United Way of Broward County. “She will be perfect to lead our efforts to stabilize homelessness here in Broward County.”

Wines was formerly president and CEO of First Southern Bank, a $1 billion-asset bank based in Boca Raton. First Southern was acquired in 2014 by Orlando-area CenterState Bank for $189.5 million.

Before that, Wines was president and CEO of CNL Bank, a $1.6 billion commercial bank. She also was president and CEO of Colonial Bank, formerly Union Bank of Florida, where she managed the strategic direction of the $1.1 billion community bank.

AutoNation was in the conversation when it came to hiring for the position, said Marc Cannon, who is spokesman for the nation’s largest auto retailer based in Fort Lauderdale and no relation to Kathleen Cannon.

“Lynne is very highly thought of and is an individual who gets things done,” he said.

Jackson said he decided to get involved in the community initiative because, while the economy is healthy and there are more jobs, he still sees many homeless around the county.

“My heart aches when I see the homeless situation. I know a lot is being done, but my sense is it’s just not enough,” he said at the time of the initiative’s announcement.

Bob Swindell, chairman of the Alliance, said at the time that Broward would deal with the homeless issue humanely, not shuffle the problem from one part of the county to another.

“We want every disabled person who is homeless to have permanent supportive housing,” he said.

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