Joel Kaufman | CEO

Nonprofit veteran Dr. Joel Kaufman took the helm of The Starting Place, Inc. as chief executive officer to further the organization’s mission to improve lives through education, treatment and support services related to substance abuse, mental health and co-occurring disorders. The agency provides therapeutic prevention, intervention programs, and rehabilitative and educational counseling for adolescents and their families in Broward County.

Dr. Kaufman is an experienced psychologist and administrator with more than 30 years of experience in the mental health and substance use/abuse fields. Having worked in the public and private sectors, his primary interest and expertise is in the area of addictions and recovery.

“With his strong background in the mental health and substance abuse professions, Dr. Kaufman is a perfect fit for The Starting Place,” said Neal McGarry, Starting Place Board Chair. “We look forward to strengthening our mission of serving Broward county’s most vulnerable citizens under his adept leadership.”

Dr. Kaufman comes to The Starting Place from the United Way of Broward County where he served for the past three years as vice president and executive director of United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse, a drug free coalition. In this position, he provided leadership, vision and focus, and developed of strategies to assure an integrated approach to organizing and overseeing all aspects of the organization, with a major emphasis on community building.

Dr. Kaufman is a graduate of University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology and also a graduate of University of Iowa with a Ph.D. in Counseling and Student Personnel.

He was recently appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to Florida's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Implementation and Oversight Task Force. He is Chair of Dept. of Children and Families Behavioral Health committee in Broward County. He also serves on the Broward Department of Juvenile Justice board, Juvenile Assessment Center Advisory Board and statewide committees such as the State Methamphetamine task force, State Epidemiology workgroup, and the Florida Substance Abuse Prevention Advisory committee.

His professional presentations include such subjects as post traumatic stress disorder, sexual addiction, relationship addiction and intimacy issues, treatment planning and progress notation, clinical evaluation of behavioral health services, health consequences of substance abuse, signs and symptoms of substance abuse, prevention of substance use/abuse, etc.

Marcelo Fernandes | CFO

Marcelo Fernandes was named chief financial officer of The Starting Place in 2008, with responsibility for all finance and operation support functions. He is a member of the executive management team.  Throughout his career, he has served in a number of important management and financial roles. Prior to joining The Starting Place, Fernandes worked with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Brazil providing auditing and consulting services for Financial Institutions and International Groups. Fernandes is a graduate of Universidade Paulista (Sao Paulo, Brazil) where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Elida M. Segrera
Clinical Director

Elida M. Segrera, Clinical Director of The Starting Place, inc., is directly responsible of the clinical operations of the Agency. She is a Florida Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Addiction Professional, with extensive experience in children, adolescent and adult substance abuse, mental health and co-occurring issues. She has been with the Agency for eight years providing, supervising, and administrating clinical services. Her primary interests are addiction and recovery within the family context, for which she holds a specialized degree in Medical Family Therapy.

Marie H. Gil del Real
Human Rescources Manager

Marie H. Gil del Real, human resources manager, is responsible for the overall operations of the Human Resources department, including the administration of the HR policies & procedures as well as training and development, employee benefits, compensation, processing of new employees, and other regulatory compliance issues.  Gil del Real holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Florida International University and is a member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). She came to The Starting Place in 2006 with 12 years of professional experience working for the Department of Children and Families (DCF).