Rhea Goff, Panama City Beach

Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, The St. Joe Company

Rhea Goff believes in “growing where you are planted.”

As senior vice president and chief administrative officer for The St. Joe Company, Goff has found everything she wants and needs in Northwest Florida.

Now celebrating her 20th year with the company, Goff started as a human resources assistant, which is just one of 10 positions she has held with St. Joe.

She grew up in DeFuniak Springs and went to college at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Goff originally thought of becoming a nurse, but at college she found a passion for child psychology and spent four years working at a campus clinic that did behavioral testing for kids.

“It’s interesting,” she said. “I didn’t know that I wanted to go into human resources, but I actually started doing HR stuff at the psychology clinic doing things like administrative support, and scheduling the testing for students.”

In 2003, she found herself at The St. Joe Company soon after college, working an entry-level HR position at the WaterColor Inn & Resort.

“I probably did every position on the HR team over the years,” she laughed. Growing in HR allowed Goff the opportunity to advance to where she now oversees marketing, information technology and human resources. In addition, she oversees aspects of corporate administration, policies and compliance matters.

Goff said St. Joe president and CEO Jorge Gonzalez’s mentorship over the past 20 years has been vital to her success.

“He has more integrity than anybody I know,” she said. “I also feel like my mom has certainly been an incredible role model for me on how you can be a mom and do that to the best of your ability, but also have a career.”

Her mother worked as a guidance counselor and teacher in the Walton County School District.

“She and my father raised us to work hard and do the right thing,” she added.

Goff currently serves on five community organization boards including those of The St. Joe Community Foundation, Florida’s Great Northwest and the Seaside Neighborhood School & Seacoast Collegiate High School Foundation.

Goff met her husband in high school, and the two have survived even though he went to the University of Florida. They dated throughout college and attended each other’s games.

Now with three kids, ages 6, 10 and 11, the couple calls Santa Rosa Beach home. They share the house with a cavapoo named Rosie, a mix between a poodle and a cavalier King Charles spaniel. Rosie joined the family last Christmas. Goff drives a plus-sized SUV large enough to fit everyone in for trips to travel ball games.

“I always joke with people that I am either with my kids or I’m at work,” she said.

Goff, who describes herself as a woman of faith, said she feels fortunate to be where she is in life.

“The Lord put me in a spot where I was meant to be. I can’t imagine anything pulling me away from this region, honestly,” she said. “It’s just so special. It’s where I want to be and where I want to raise my family.”

Rhea Goff was nominated for the 2024 Pinnacle Awards by Jennifer Conoley, President & CEO, Florida’s Great Northwest.

Videography by The Workmans