Maryann Barry
CEO, Girl Scouts of Citrus Council
Maryann is a seasoned executive and accomplished thought leader in the not-for-profit sector; but is most proud of her two greatest titles: Mom and Grammie.
Maryann’s life and career choices reflect her commitment to the ideal that we each hold within us the power to make small decisions each day that quietly, but collectively, move the needle toward making the world a better place for all God’s children. A proud Marymount Alumna, she credits the unique sisterhood, educational, and mentoring experiences she enjoyed at Marymount with setting the True North on her life compass; leading her to
who and where she is today as a woman of purpose, faith, and determination.
From day one, Maryann dedicated her career to improving quality of life for children and families. From her play therapy internship days while a student at Marymount to her current role as CEO of Girl Scouts for the Central Florida region, she has followed her passion to create environments that influence healthy development and positive outcomes for children and families. She sites the Prayer of St. Francis and a calling she has felt for as long as she can remember as the inspirational and foundational elements of her ardent belief that “the key to
growing stronger communities is for all of us to invest our time, talent, treasure, and clear intent on building healthy, confident, and above all else, KIND children.”
After completing her bachelor’s degree at Marymount in 1982, Maryann later attended graduate school at the University of Alabama where she joined the University’s Ph.D. program in Human Developmental Psychology and published in the fields of child welfare and gender-specific substance abuse treatment. While in graduate school, she was excited also engage in a specialized training program in conjunction with the Alabama Education Association and NASA to become one of a handful of Alabama Certified Aeronautics Educators.
Over the years, Maryann has served communities in New York, Oklahoma, Germany, Louisiana, Alabama, Washington, D.C., and Florida. In 2011, she accepted her current role as CEO of Girl Scouts for Central Florida; embracing the opportunity to engage with area leaders, educators, churches, and families to collaboratively encourage the core strengths of courage, confidence, and character in today’s girls equipping them to become the purpose-filled women leaders of tomorrow. Maryann’s deepest hope is that she has positively impacted families and uplifted her communities through the work she is called to do. Recently, Maryann and her team successfully gathered partners and resources to build Florida’s first Women’s History & Cultural Center, a beautiful space where she looks forward to gathering the community around celebrating the contributions of women to history and society. Prior to Girl Scouts, Maryann invested 10 years as CEO for the Children’s Advocacy Center serving Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit. While in this role, she led the expansion of a multi-county trauma treatment and recovery organization for child and women victims of abuse and assault. Under her leadership, the center was recognized as Florida’s Outstanding Victim Services Agency of the Year. Maryann is honored and grateful to have had the opportunity to serve several social impact initiatives, to include a national project to enhance substance abuse treatment outcomes for women with young children which garnered Federal recognition for innovative excellence. She credits prayer and mindful action with guiding her leadership and the project’s success in delivering outcomes significantly higher than national averages in interrupting the intergenerational cycles of abuse that shatter families. In celebration of her service to under-served communities throughout her home State, Maryann was honored as the 10th Floridian to ever receive the prestigious Governor Lawton Chiles Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in advancing the health and well-being of children
and families across the State of Florida.
Recently, Maryann added an exciting and out of this world opportunity to her life journey. She will be fulfilling her childhood dream to see the world through an astronaut’s eyes when she launces to space as a Citizen Astronaut. She completed her astronaut onboarding with the Virgin Galactic group in June of 2019 and hopes to fly by late 2023. Maryann attributes her drive to make a difference and her compassion to her late parents, who made giving back to the community a family priority. It is her greatest hope that she might ignite that same spark in the next generation of dreamers and doers to make the world a better place for all.