Board of Directors

Linda Sutherland, Board Chair

Linda currently serves as Executive Director of Orange County Healthy Start Coalition and Administrator of Orange County KidCare Outreach.

Linda is a former school board member for Orange County Schools and is a lifetime member of the Florida PTA and National PTA.

Her current community service roles include Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions; Orange County Primary Care Access Network, Success by Six; Orange County Readiness Coalition, United Way Fund Distribution Panel Chair; Health and Human Services Qualification Review Board, Health Communities Initiative; Children’s Advocacy Center School Health Advisory Committee; District 7 Child Abuse and Neglect Task Force, Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition; Safe and Drug Free Schools Committee, Jeppesen Vision Quest; University of Central Florida Early Childhood Advisory Board; Eatonville Foundation; and Central Florida Children’s Museum.

Among the many community service awards Linda has received, in 2003 she was the recipient of the Women’s Resource Center Summit Award and Orange County Council of PTAs Children’s Friend Award.  Linda earned her graduate degree in Business Administration from Marymount College.

Linda and her husband Douglas have one son and one daughter.

Bill White, Chair Elect

Bill White served most recently as the Elected Public Defender of Duval, Clay and Nassau Counties.

Appointed Chief Assistant Public Defender in 1976, Bill provided 34 years of service to the community in the Public Defender’s Office. In his tenure with the Public Defender’s Office he tried every type of criminal case, argued before the Supreme Court of Florida, and presented pleadings in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bill received the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s Defender Services Award (the highest national honor given to an assistant public defender), the Florida Public Defender Association’s Outstanding Service Award, the Florida Public Defender Association’s President’s Award, and the Kesler Mentoring Connection, Exemplary Volunteer Mentor 2006.

He is active with Take Stock in Children, serving as the Chair for the Leadership Council, a member of the student selection committee, and mentor to five students.

Bill grew up in north Florida and attended local public schools. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science at the University of Florida, he earned his Juris Doctor Degree, University of Florida, College of Law. He served with the United States Navy – 1968 – 1972. Bill and his wife Judy have been married 41 years. They live in Neptune Beach, have one daughter and a granddaughter, who is perfect.

Debbie Mason, Immediate Past Chair

Known as a catalyst for change, Debbie Mason, APR, Fellow PRSA has spent her career leading and facilitating organizations in generative transformation to reach common goals.

Debbie has 28 years experience in the management of marketing, public relations, research and planning services through experiences in the agency, corporate and healthcare sectors at a national level; although she says it’s her work during the last decade in which she’s found a match for her passion of building nonprofit organizations and strengthening the communities they serve.  She is well known for her ability to successfully execute large-scale community planning facilitation to set and reach collective community visions and goals.

In May of 2009, Debbie joined the United Way of Broward County after serving for seven years as president of Strategists, Inc., a consulting firm providing training for change management, strategic planning, team-building, fundraising, advocacy, communications and marketing.

Debbie is active in her profession serving as president-elect of the PRSA Foundation Board and as an executive committee member of the PRSA Association/Nonprofit section.  She is a member of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, Society for Nonprofit Organizations, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Association of Fundraising Professionals, and Florida Public Relations Association.

Debbie has been recognized in her industry by many honors and awards. Two highlights include being named in 2005 as a “PRSA Fellow” as one of less than 1,000 professionals recognized nationally for lifetime achievement in the public relations profession and service to her community.  In 2003, her counseling firm, Strategists, Inc. won a national award, the Silver Anvil for her work with child welfare issues in Broward County, Florida.

Her current civic commitments include serving as the chair of the board for the The Children’s Campaign of Florida, a public policy watchdog organization focused on improving Florida’s care for children.  Debbie is a multi-generation native Floridian, originally hailing from the north Florida area.  She continues to work with select clients through her Strategists, Inc. firm.

Dan Clark

Dan Clark is a full-time consultant, facilitator, speaker, coach and founder of Dan Clark Associates, LLC. He has a successful career in leading and consulting with credit unions with a special expertise in governance and strategic planning.

He is the author of the “Financial Statements in Plain English” training program, an approach that has enlightened credit union volunteers and staff alike for three decades. His writing has appears in several noted publications and books.

Dan has served on several boards including a SCORE FCU, United Solutions – one of several credit union service organizations, and community Boards and committees.

Dan earned a degree in business and economics, with a concentration in accounting, from Rollins College in Central Florida.

Instrumental in the creation of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization and making Consumer Credit Counseling Services available to consumers in the Big Bend area, Dan believes that nonprofits are instrumental in creating and supporting America’s middle class and thereby stabilizing the U.S. economy.

Sandra L. Cook

After serving 17 years in a variety of consulting and senior management positions at Hewitt Associates (a global human resources consulting and outsourcing firm, currently listed on the NYSE), Sandy and her husband, Bob, retired and settled in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.

Sandy has BS and MS degrees in Business Administration from Wichita State University. She currently serves as Vice President of the Board of the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville, Chair of the Community Research Team of the Women’s Giving Alliance, and is a member of the WJCT Board of Trustees, UNF’s Fine Arts Center Advisory Council, The Garden Advisory Committee of The Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens and the Board of The Children’s Campaign.  Sandy graduated from the 2006 class of Leadership Jacksonville.

Karen Cooley

Karen Cooley is a financial representative at North Florida Financial Corporation Tallahassee, Florida Area. Formerly a restaurant owner, she leverages her successful years in the hospitality business to connect citizens and community leaders to bold advocacy initiatives for children.

She is a graduate of the University of Central Florida where she earned a BSBA degree in Finance, Marketing and Management after matriculating at the College of William and Mary.

She is minority owner of a popular Tallahassee restaurant.

Brant S. Copeland

Brant S. Copeland is the current Pastor and Head of Staff for the First Presbyterian Church of Tallahassee, Florida. His Ph.D. in Ministry was earned at the Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, VA (1980); Master of Arts from Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, VA (1980); Master of Theology at University of St. Andrews, Scotland (1977); a Bachelor of Arts at Rhodes College, Memphis, TN (1974). Copeland began his career as a teacher of Latin and English at Leesville High School in Leesville, Louisiana. In 1979 he took an internship at the Fredericksburg Presbyterian Church, acting as an Assistant Pastor. He became the Stated Supply Pastor at King’s Chapel Presbyterian Church in Ashland, VA for one year; his next Pastor position would be at Altavista Presbyterian Church for five years from 1980 to 1985, where he began his tenure at First Presbyterian Church.

Pastor Copeland has served as the Editor-at-Large, for the Presbyterian Outlook, and has a variety of articles published including, but not limited to those in the ”Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching and the Arts” series, and provides important Op-Ed Articles for the Tallahassee Democrat.

Janet Ferris

Janet E. Ferris, Circuit Judge, Second Judicial Circuit (1999-2009). J.D., Florida State University College of Law (1976); B.A. (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) With Distinction in Psychology, Boston University (1973).

Before becoming a judge, she worked for almost twenty years in various aspects of Florida’s criminal justice system. Judge Ferris began her career as a prosecutor in Fort Lauderdale. She returned to Tallahassee in 1978 and joined the Attorney General’s Office, where she became the first Chief of the Civil RICO Section.

She next served as General Counsel to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement from 1980 until 1988, leaving state government that year for private practice. After three-years in private law practice, she returned to government in 1991 when Governor Chiles appointed her Secretary of the Florida Department of Business Regulation. In 1993, Governor Chiles appointed her to the position of Chief Inspector General for the State of Florida. Upon the creation of the new Department of Juvenile Justice in 1994, she became the agency’s first General Counsel.

She has taught and lectured throughout the United States on juvenile and criminal justice issues, including criminal law, forfeiture, and racketeering statutes, and has been invited to participate in projects sponsored by the United States Department of Justice, the National Association of Attorneys General, the National Judicial College, the Florida Supreme Court, and the Florida Bar. Judge Ferris has taught at the Florida Circuit Judges’ Conference, the Florida Conference of County Court Judges, the Advanced Judicial College, the Supreme Court’s Justice Teaching Institute, and the Florida Judicial College, and has participated in numerous seminars for lawyers on professionalism.

She has served as the Administrative Judge for both the Criminal and Civil Divisions in the second judicial circuit, and last served in the Family Division as Leon County’s Juvenile judge. Judge Ferris was appointed to the Executive Council of the Florida Bar’s Criminal Law Section, the Criminal Justice Act Task Force, the Criminal Workgroup for the Judicial Management Council’s Committee on Trial Court Performance and Accountability, the Family Court Steering Committee, the Publications Committee of the Florida Supreme Court, and served as Chair of the Florida Supreme Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy Committee and the Juvenile Court Rules Committee. Most recently, she was appointed by Chief Justice Lewis to serve on the Supreme Court’s Select Committee on Justice Teaching and the Supreme Court’s Long-Range Planning Task Force.

She is a member of Leadership Florida and the Tallahassee Bar Association, is a Board member of Elder Care Services, Inc., Turn About, and the Partnership for Alcohol Responsibility, and lectures on the court system for Leadership Tallahassee and other organizations.

Darryl Jones

Darryl Jones is the executive director of the Bethel Community Development Corporation, an affiliate ministry Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church devoted to providing affordable housing for low income first time homeowners.

He has served on a variety of Boards, including Big Bend Fair Housing, United Partners for Human Services, the Enterprise Zone Development Agency, and FAMU Boosters. He is the Past Chairman of Kids Incorporated of the Big Bend and the Enterprise Zone Development Agency Board of Commissioners, work for which he received both the Tallahassee Democrat Volunteer of the Year Award and the City of Tallahassee’s Reginald Rolle Economic Development Champion of the Year Award.

He currently serves on the Tallahassee/Leon County Planning Commission, Leadership Tallahassee Board of Governors, and the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce Board and is the Vice Chairman of the Boys Choir of Tallahassee.

H. Roy Kaplan

H. Roy Kaplan is Research Associate Professor in the Africana Studies Department of the University of South Florida, Tampa.  He was Executive Director of the National Conference for Community and Justice (formerly, The National Conference of Christians and Jews) – Tampa Bay Chapter, where he served for fifteen years.
Dr. Kaplan served as an advisor on the President’s Commission on Race Relations, “One America.” He has authored numerous articles and three books.
He has received the Community Service Award of the St. Petersburg Branch of the NAACP, and the Tampa/Hillsborough County Human Rights Council Award for Humanitarian Community Service, Blance Armwood Baity Award for Community Service from the Tampa Hillsborough Urban League , Tampa Bay YWCA Humanitarian Award , Hannah G. Solomon Humanitarian Award from the National Council of Jewish Women, Education Heroes Award, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, for his exceptional contribution to Florida’s future through its students, the Tampa Bay Ethics Award from the Center for Ethics at the University of Tampa, and the Liberty Bell Award of the Hillsborough County Bar Association for his distinguished community service.
He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows including:  Phil Donahue, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and Prime Time Live.
He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1971 and was a professor for twenty years, teaching at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Florida Institute of Technology.

Deborah Kynes

Deborah Kynes is a former elected official served ten years on the Dunedin City Commission, including two years as Vice-Mayor. Deborah has an amazing track record of civic engagement with present and past service to more than 40 organizations, spanning education, public safety, children’s services, health care, the arts, transportation, agriculture, and the environment including;  the Pinellas County Charter Review Commission; the Pace Center for Girls Board; the Florida Humanities Council; the Dunedin Fine Arts Center Advisory Council; the Leepa Rattner Museum Collections Committee; the Morton Plant Mease Community Impact Committee; and the Downtown Dunedin Mercahnt’s Association Board. She has served as Past Chairman of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority/ Past Chairman of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council; Past Chairman of the Environmental Quality Committee of the Florida League of Cities; Florida Chamber Water Task Force; Past President of the Junior League of Clearwater-Dunedin; and Past Chairman of the Pinellas County Arts Council. Deborah is a member of Leadership Pinellas, Leadership Tampa Bay and Leadership Florida. She has a B.A. in English from the University of  Arkansas and a J.D. from the University of Tulsa College of Law.  She is a voting member of the Cherokee Nation and a member of the Southwestern Florida Cherokees Association.  Deborah and her husband Allen, live in Dunedin.  They have two grown children.

Heidi McCree

Heidi McCree is the 2009 Audubon of Florida women in Conservation Special Places Award recipient.
McCree has served as President of Preserve Hillsborough the successful campaign to renew Hillsborough County’s Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program
(ELAPP). She was appointed to and served on the Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board from September 2000 through April 2008. In 2005, she was unanimously elected as the first female Chairperson of the Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board.
Current community leadership positions include: member of Leadership Florida, class xxv, the Alliance of Florida Land Trusts, St. John Greek Day School Parent Teacher Association, Hillsborough Education Foundation, and Junior League sustaining member.
Heidi served as Executive Director of the Hillsborough River Greenways Task Force from 1996 to 2000. She served as a delegate to the Florida water congress and was a member of the Tampa Bay Partnership vision 21 and One Bay efforts.
McCree received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Vanderbilt University in 1986 and a Juris Doctor from George Mason University School of law in 1992 and became a member of the Maryland Bar. Prior to moving to Florida in 1995, she worked for two governors of Maryland in their Chesapeake Bay and Save Our Streams programs. She received professional certification from the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium in 1996 for negotiating and resolving public disputes.

Sallie Parks

Sallie Parks has been a resident of Pinellas County for 45 years. Retiring as a lobbyist for St. Petersburg College in 2003, Parks currently has a consulting company which concentrates on government and non-profits undergoing change.  Sallie is a graduate of Central Michigan University and did her advance degree work at Michigan State University. She has also both earned and taught Continuing Education Credits on various topics including water and the arts.From 1992-2000, Parks served on the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners, having been elected as chairman for two of the eight years. She served for two years on the Board of Directors of Tampa Bay Water, as well as the Juvenile Welfare Board, the Pinellas Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) as well as many other boards to serve the citizens of Pinellas as a county commissioner. Appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in 2006, Parks was named to the Governing Board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, serving 16 Florida counties, where she served on the Executive Board and Treasurer overseeing a $295 million budget until her term ended this year. She also served as co-chair for the Pinellas-Anclote Basin Board and on the governing board of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.  She was the first executive director of the Pinellas County Arts Council and directed public relations and marketing for Mease Health Care: two hospitals and an 80-physician clinic for 10 years. She currently serves on the AvMed Community Advisory Board.  Parks is married to a retired minister and between their two families, they have 5 children and 11 grandchildren. She enjoys travel, reading, home design and in her “spare time” is writing her Personal Life History.

Leon Russell

Leon W. Russell currently serves as the Director of the Office of Human Rights for Pinellas County Government, Clearwater, Florida. He has held this post since January of 1977. In this position Mr. Russell is responsible for implementing the county’s Affirmative Action and Human Rights Ordinances.  Mr. Russell served as the President of the Florida State Conference of Branches of the NAACP from January 1996 until January 2000, after serving for fifteen years as the First Vice President. He also serves as a member of the National Board of Directors of the NAACP, having been first elected in 1990. He has served that board as the assistant secretary and currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the National Board. He is a member of the International City Management Association; a member of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators; a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies; Chair of the Minority issues Advisory Council of The Children’s Campaign of Florida; past President of the Alternative Human Services Board of Directors; volunteer for the United Way of Pinellas County; past Board Member of the Pinellas Opportunity Council, past President and Board Member of the National Association of Human Rights Workers; and as past President of the Florida Association Of Community Relations Professionals.

Marytza Sanz

As founding President/CEO of Latino Leadership, Inc., Marytza Sanz has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life of families in Central Florida through the implementation of social enrichment programs that incorporate leadership development and empowerment, education advancement, and economic community development into its daily activities. Mrs. Sanz also lends her expertise to the University of Central Florida President’s Minority Advisory Board, the Homeless Coalition and Florida Devereux boards. Marytza Sanz’s work in voter engagement and health education has received national and statewide coverage from media outlets such as CNN, Univision, Telemundo, the St. Petersburg Times, and the San Juan Star. Weekly, Mrs. Sanz’s message can be heard on her radio program, “Al Oído de la Comunidad”. Before founding Latino Leadership, Mrs. Sanz worked for the Census Bureau and served as the Central Florida Hispanic Outreach Coordinator for the Gore/Lieberman campaign. Most recently, Marytza Sanz was appointed by Governor Charlie Crist to serve on Florida’s 2010 Statewide Complete Count Committee to ensure a comprehensive count of Florida’s population during the 2010 Census. Currently, Marytza Sanz resides in Orlando, Florida with her wonderful husband, two daughters, son-in-laws, and new granddaghter.

Julia Taylor

Julia Taylor has a strong business and education background having served as the Director, Boutique and Agenda, Stein Mart, Inc.,  Assistant Vice President, Institutional Advancement at the University of North Florida; and State Director of Development for PACE, Inc.

Current community leadership positions include:  Leadership Council – Justice for Girls, Duval County Initiative, Women’s Giving Alliance, and Jacksonville Women’s Network.  Past community involvement includes the following: Chairman of the Board, Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless;  President of the Junior League of Jacksonville, Inc.; First Vice President, Association of Junior Leagues International; President, Volunteer Jacksonville, Inc.; Chair, State of Florida Guardian ad Litem, Fourth Judicial Circuit.  National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association Board of Directors; President, Executive Committee, Episcopal High School of Jacksonville; and Chair, Jacksonville Public Library Foundation, Inc.

Julia is a graduate of both Leadership Jacksonville, Inc. and Leadership Florida, Inc. She was named a “Women of Distinction” by the Girl Scouts of Gateway Council – Northeast Florida.

Julia and her husband John are residents of Amelia Island, FL, and have two sons and a daughter-in-law.

Nisha Vickers, Audit Senior Manager

Nisha is a C.P.A. currently practicing public accounting as an Audit Manager with Law, Redd, Crona & Munroe, P.A. in Tallahassee, Florida.

She graduated summa cum laude from Florida State University, and while there was granted the FSU Outstanding Female Award for her sophomore, junior, and senior years.  She received her C.P.A. license in 1990 and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Nisha works with numerous, diverse non-profit organizations, as well as local government agencies, in her role as their Auditor.  Many of these organizations have multiple, complex grants and grant reporting requirements.  She has extensive experience with both non-profit and government accounting principles, auditing standards, and reporting requirements.

Nisha is active in numerous community service projects and has previous experience in the role of Treasurer, Board of Directors.

She was born and raised in Tallahassee, and other than her teenage years spent in Northern Virginia, she has lived in Tallahassee.   She is one of five daughters who wound up with two biological sons and one step-son, all of whom are grown and her real pride and joy.

Kathleen Waltz

Waltz’s publishing career spans thirty-four years in Chicago, Virginia and Florida.   She retired from Tribune Company in February 2008 as president, publisher and chief executive officer of Orlando Sentinel Communications and vice president of Tribune Publishing with oversight of the Daily Press and the Virginia Gazette on the Virginia Peninsula and The Morning Call in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.  As publisher of the Orlando Sentinel, Waltz held overall responsibility for news, editorial and business aspects of the company.  Business lines included the daily newspaper, companion and stand alone web sites, weekly Spanish language products, direct mail and commercial printing.  Prior to joining the Orlando Sentinel, Waltz was president, publisher and chief executive officer of the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia and vice president and general manager of the South Florida based Sun-Sentinel Company.  Waltz began her career at the Chicago Tribune in advertising sales and rose through various management positions to become vice president of developing businesses.  This included responsibility for ancillary Tribune Company products such as Tribune’s Spanish language publication Exito, real estate finders service RELCON, alternate delivery service Precision Home Delivery and early on-line effort Chicago OnLine in partnership with America OnLine.  Waltz holds a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University School for New Learning in Chicago and completed the Advanced Executive Program at Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.  She and her husband reside in Florida.

Of Counsel

Public Opinion Consultant: Bruce Barcelo

Barcelo & Company, Jacksonville, FL

A political pollster and native of Jacksonville, Bruce Barcelo advises on politics, public affairs, and organizational positioning. His clients have included dozens of political candidates and committees, the Republican Party, Chambers of Commerce, think tanks, and major Florida corporations. Active in education reform, he was a member of the original design team for the Florida Chamber Foundation’s WorldClass strategy. He has worked extensively in international democracy-building efforts, traveling five times to the Ukraine to teach modern polling techniques and political communication in that emerging democracy. Over the past several years his work with leaders of opposition parties in Haiti was instrumental in planning for a successful post-Aristide democracy. His work with JCCI’s groundbreaking “Beyond the Talk” Race Relations Study has been honored by Folio Magazine and the Jacksonville Urban League. In 2004 he was named by Florida Trend as one of Florida’s 174 most influential leaders.  Bruce has been active in the Florida and Jacksonville Chambers of Commerce, Leadership Florida, the MountainTop Institute, the Florida Children’s Campaign, Junior Achievement, JCCI, the Republican Party, and St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral.  Bruce and Anne have a daughter Paige who has thoughtfully provided them with the world’s most perfect grandsons, Miles (6) and Collier (almost 3.)