September 30, 2020 – The Board of Directors of Women In Distress of Broward County, Inc. (WID) announced that Linda Parker Ph.D. joined the agency in September as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Dr. Parker succeeds longtime community leader Mary Riedel who has led Women In Distress for the past 12 years and will retire from the agency in June, 2021. Riedel continues as Past President, assisting the Board and Parker during the leadership transition.
Parker has more than 16 years of professional experience both in human service and domestic violence services and as an educator and administrator at the university level.
Since 2017, she has been the Executive Director of Victim Services at the Peace River Center that serves three counties surrounding Lakeland, one of 41 state certified domestic violence centers in the state of Florida. Peace River includes two domestic violence shelters and a rape recovery center.
Prior to relocating to Florida from Iowa in 2016, Parker held director and vice president positons at William Penn University in West Des Moines, Iowa where she led efforts to expand online learning. She also continues as an adjunct professor William Penn and at the Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire. Earlier in her career, she was a domestic violence advocate at Children and Families of Iowa and worked as a counselor for women transitioning from prison.
Parker earned her BA degree from Grandview University in Des Moines and has masters and doctorate degrees in psychology from Walden University in Minneapolis.
This summer, she was elected by her peers to serve as board chair of a newly formed statewide coalition, Florida Partnership to End Domestic Violence (FPEDV), whose membership includes the state certified domestic violence centers.
“We are very fortunate to have Linda Parker bringing her diversity of experience and direct background in working with survivors of domestic violence coming to Women In Distress and our South Florida community,” said Board Chair Kim Bentley.
“At each step of her career, Linda has forged new partnerships and will continue to build upon the 46 years that WID has been serving our community as the leader of one of the largest domestic violence centers in our state.”
“Linda and I will be working together in the coming months as she meets our donors and community partners and deepens her knowledge of our organization and our community. It’s a special opportunity for me to continue supporting the mission of Women In Distress by working with Linda as our new leader,” said Mary Riedel.
“I am honored to be able to build upon the great things Women In Distress has done in the community of Broward, and I look forward to partnering with the Broward community as a new leader,” Parker stated. “I feel fortunate to be working with Mary and the Board, as we forge ahead.”
For more information on Women In Distress go to www.womenindistress.org
