Thriving Mind South Florida promotes access to effective, accountable, and compassionate care for individuals and families in our community with mental illnesses and substance use disorders. We fund and oversee a safety net of services for uninsured individuals in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, with a total population of almost 3 million people, supported by Florida’s Department of Children and Families and other public and private sources.
Serving: Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
Laura M. Naredo, MS, CHC, CHPC—
President and Chief Executive Officer
Laura M. Naredo serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Thriving Mind South Florida. She is a highly respected behavioral health executive with more than 25 years of experience leading complex systems of care, managing large-scale public contracts, and advancing quality, compliance, and operational excellence across nonprofit and government environments.
Prior to her appointment as President and CEO, Ms. Naredo served as Chief Operating Officer for Thriving Mind South Florida since 2018, where she oversaw organization-wide operations and provided executive leadership for Quality Assurance, Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), Compliance, and System of Care divisions. In that role, she was a key architect of the organization’s operational stability, regulatory compliance, and system performance across Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.
Throughout her career, Ms. Naredo has led initiatives involving behavioral health system administration, contract management and monitoring, provider network oversight, strategic planning, and data-driven performance improvement. She has extensive experience working with the Florida Department of Children and Families, managing entities, and community providers, and has consistently guided organizations through audits, regulatory reviews, and system transformation efforts with strong outcomes.
Ms. Naredo’s leadership style is collaborative, mission-driven, and grounded in accountability and transparency. As President and CEO, she is focused on strengthening provider partnerships, supporting the workforce, ensuring fiscal and regulatory stewardship, and advancing Thriving Mind South Florida’s mission to serve individuals and families with high-quality behavioral health services.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling from Florida International University and is certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) and Healthcare Privacy Compliance (CHPC).