Monique Burr Foundation promotes Ashley Garrett to CEO

Innovative leader appointed to advance MBF's mission, core values and growth

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Monique Burr Foundation for Children (MBF) proudly announces the selection of Ashley Garrett to serve as the Chief Executive Officer. Garrett has spent nearly 30 years building on a single conviction: every child deserves to grow up feeling valued, respected, and safe. She previously served as MBF Vice President of Prevention Education.

In her new role as CEO, Garrett will set the strategic direction for one of the nation's leading child safety organizations — driving mission growth, organizational sustainability, and the partnerships that extend MBF's reach into schools and communities across the United States and globally. She will advance the Foundation's mission, providing organization-wide support to propel the Foundation's operations, fundraising, communications, community relations, and advocacy efforts.

"Ashley has demonstrated the kind of leadership that supports our long-term vision for growth and operational excellence," said Edward Burr, MBF Founder and Board Chairman. "Ashley is an innovative and results-driven leader with a record of achievement that is reflective of MBF's mission and standards of excellence. Her strategic and visionary leadership makes her the ideal CEO to lead and advance the Foundation's team and mission through its next phase of development."

Garrett brings nearly three decades of experience across the nonprofit, federal, and international sectors to the work of building an organization as strong as its mission. She leads with curiosity and humility, holding herself accountable to the children and communities MBF serves. She joined MBF after serving as Human Trafficking Practice Lead for ICF, leading strategic planning, business development, and corporate oversight of ICF's domestic and international response to human trafficking. Garrett was the Founding Director of the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center for the Office on Trafficking in Persons in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is an expert in developing and managing results driven programs for government, United Nations agencies, and non-profit organizations in over 20 countries worldwide that serve children, women and survivors of exploitation.

Garrett earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a master's degree in public administration from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Her honors include the Secretary's Commendation for Outstanding Service from the Department of Homeland Security. Garrett's volunteer and professional affiliations include City Year, Class Act Arts, Opportunity Collaboration, and an adjunct instructor for the National Advocacy Center and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

MBF programs grow alongside children from early childhood through adolescence, grounded in the realities of the communities MBF serves. MBF develops and scales evidence-based prevention education that equips children, families, and educators to prevent, recognize, and respond to abuse, exploitation, trafficking, bullying, and digital dangers. By intervening early, MBF works to break the cycle of polyvictimization – addressing not only child safety but also helping them build healthy relationships over their lifetime. Over the last 29 years, MBF has reached 22 million children in 42 states and seven countries, including Puerto Rico, Canada, New Guinea, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands. MBF has trained over 10,000 facilitators on MBF prevention education programs in schools, after-school organizations, and sports programs. To learn more about MBF's programs, visit mbfpreventioneducation.org.

About the Monique Burr Foundation for Children
The Monique Burr Foundation for Children (MBF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1997 by Edward E. Burr in honor of his late wife, Monique Burr, a devoted child advocate. MBF Prevention Education Programs include school-based programs MBF Child Safety Matters^® (Grades Pre-K – 5) and MBF Teen Safety Matters^® (Grades 6 – 12), and extra-curricular programs MBF Athlete Safety Matters^® (Grades K – 12) for youth athletes, and MBF After-School Safety Matters^® (Grades K – 8) for after-school and youth-serving organizations. The programs are comprehensive, evidence-based, trauma-informed primary prevention programs that educate and empower children and adults with information and strategies to prevent, recognize, and respond appropriately to abuse, bullying, cyberbullying, digital dangers, exploitation, and human trafficking. MBF Programs have been delivered to millions of children and teens throughout the U.S. and internationally.

SOURCE Monique Burr Foundation for Children, Inc.