Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 2-4-20

Feature
Tampan Named Director Of Office Of Public And Professional Guardians
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Ms. Chante Jones, Es- quire, spent more than 20 years in Corporate America, most of them in management with Verizon Communica- tions. At the same time, she was spending many hours in reach of her ultimate goal – to attend law school and earn a Jurist Doctorate degree. She did.
About 2 weeks ago, the Department of Elder Affairs Secretary, Richard Prudom announced the hiring of Ms. Jones as the Director of the Office of Public & Professional Guardians (OPPG), based in Tallahassee. She was hired in December 2019.
The OPPG, housed within the Department of Elder Af- fairs, appoints local public guardian offices as directed by
statute to provide guardian- ship services to persons who do not have adequate income or assets to afford a private guardian and there is no will- ing family or friend to serve.
The OPPG, which con- tracts with 17 local Offices of Public Guardianship through- out Florida, is also responsi- ble for educating, training, and registering all profes- sional guardians as well as in- vestigating and, if appropriate, disciplining guardians found in violation of laws and rules.
“In addition to her legal credentials, Ms. Jones brings more than 20 years of corporate and management experience to this position. She understands the impor- tance of customer service and believes in accountability for the taxpayer. I am confident that under Chante’s strong
CHANTE’ JONES, Esquire ...Assumes New Position
leadership, the office will earn back the trust of Florida fam- ilies and support the agency’s mission to promote the well- being, safety and independ- ence of Florida’s seniors, their families and caregivers,” Sec- retary Prudom stated.
Ms. Jones thanked the
Secretary for the honor to serve the elders and their caregivers and families.
“I am ready for the chal- lenge and believe it is our duty to be a voice for the voiceless. The OPPG has a critical mis- sion and customer service must be our top priority. Those who turn to the OPPG are in a place in life that we all eventually get to and our cus- tomers deserve to be in the care of individuals who have their best intentions at heart. We will approach each case and assignment as efficiently as possible, take swift action when lives are potentially at risk and look for opportuni- ties to improve our processes,” she stated.
Ms. Jones received her Juris Doctorate in May 2018 from the Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law and received both her
Bachelor of Science in Busi- ness Professional Manage- ment and Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Nova South- eastern University.
She previously worked for Verizon Communications’ corporate office in Tampa and has more than 20 years cor- porate experience. She is a Florida Supreme Court Certi- fied County Mediator and until recently volunteered as a Guardian ad Litem for the 13th circuit. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., previous Vice Chairper- son of the Mayor’s African American Advisory Council, Vice President of Operations of the National Black MBA Association-Tampa Bay Chapter and Team Develop- ment & Fundraising Chair- person for the American Cancer Society.
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