Applicant Display

We were attracted to Naples initially as a wonderful place to have a second home. Over the years of being here part time, and with retirement approaching within two years, we have decided to become full time residents of Naples. Its a wonderful Community !

With full time residency fast approaching, I am seeking ways to be more fully invested the community. We feel a passion and responsibility to give back in the communities in which we live. GNL seems to be a fabulous opportunity to learn, network, and find that ‘place’ where I can be of value.

By way of work background and training I have deep experience in Information Technology, Cyber Security, Finance, HR, and non for profit board roles. Reflecting on my leadership contributions in those roles across industry, the most significant contributions have been less related to official titles, professional experience or role, and more related to my ability to see problems organizations face, work with teams to develop strategy, navigate solutions, and engage diverse talent with organizations to make a difference and achieve their goals. My most significant leadership contribution has been my ability to hire and develop talent to sustain and grow organizations.

I currently am President of the Perrigo Foundation. Our original focus of the foundation was focusing on healthcare and education. Over the last 5 years we have dramatically increased our impact by understanding the root causes behind the need for the charitable organizations that we support. By expanding our ‘aspect ratio’ we understood the need to address early intervention reading programs at the third grade level, address food and housing insecurity as key disablers to better education outcomes. While at Saugatuck Center for the Arts, we implemented art education programs, including project based learning that reached into underserved populations using art as a way to give migrant school children a means to communicate in a world where English was not their first language. Seeing the affects of art imparting confidence and self worth where none existed was game changer in the community.

Healthcare, education, and the arts.

I have strong general management skills. I am well versed in information technology. I have a strong change/transformation management background working with global groups. I have a passion to serve.

During my tenure at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, I effected organization change board level and within the management of the center. I implemented a strategic management process which exposed a couple of uncomfortable truths: 1. the composition of the board needed to change, and 2. Financially, the management of the organization needed structure and discipline to sustain its mission. Navigating the change of the board member to transition members out and recruit needed talent was a monumental and needed task, that required me to really engage all impacted members mourned the value of change. We were able to rally around common values (sustaining the growth and impact of the center) and worked to respectfully make changes to board while honoring both the past and the future.

I love my family, church, community and country. As a great person once said … ‘to much is given … much is owed ..’ I am excited at the prospect of retiring and having more time to give back. Many thanks to GNL for the potential opportunity to learn, connect, and contribute !

Perrigo Foundation – President
Kids Food Basket – Volunteer

Saugatuck Center For the Arts (SCA) – Board Chair

Tom, has always been active in his communities to promote and enrich them for his family and its citizens. He has high values,
integrity, and commitment to his endeavors. I believe Tom will enjoy learning about Collier County and support GNL to
make valuable contributions to the organization and the community. He has the expertise and skills as he stated to solve
troubled areas and implement strategies to do so. I am proud to sponsor Tom for GNL Class 26!

I recently moved to Naples and plan to spend the next 30 years of my life dedicated to community service. I’ve been told that GNL is an outstanding way to learn all about Naples–what it has to offer, where resources are most deficient and how the volunteer network operates. I want to make sure my efforts are well distributed and efficiently applied to the areas of greatest need. Hopefully if I am accepted by this program I will be better equipped to give back!

As an executive of a pharmaceutical company I was the Executive Director of Commercial Operations for the U.S. Affiliate and reported directly to the President. I had an operating budget in excess of $100M, an organization of over 200 employees and supported 8,000 sales representatives with many services required to fulfill their daily responsibilities. In the last few years of my career I was equally privileged to be selected to be the Chief of Staff for the COO and then the CMO of the company which required outstanding facilitation skills, significant business acumen and a great sense of resilience (and humor!) at times!

I’ve been a significant contributor to United Way for the past 4 decades. I’ve volunteered with several United Way organizations during that time (ReadUp, Mary Riggs, Second Helpings) as well as maintained my donor status. In Naples, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed participating in many food pantries with the Harry Chapin Organization and on occasion have helped the newly formed Feed Thy Neighbor deliver food to the homes of the underserved and homeless. Prior to Covid I also routinely volunteered with St. Matthew House at their various soup kitchens. I’ve been a dresser and worked at special events with The Naples Players Organization. Now that I’ve retired, I feel it’s time to apply my leadership skills in a more purposeful way to my community service and I’m hopeful GNL can help me do this.

I am very interested in maintaining my commitment to The Naples Players and finding additional ways to help communities who are severely underserved. Food pantries, soup kitchens, after school programs, senior citizen support are all areas that currently provoke my interest. I find it unfathomable that there are actually families in Naples who are food insecure and feel compelled to find a way to make a difference with this segment of the community in particular. I am very interested in learning about organizations at the ground level to better understanding the operational and funding needs and then pursuing leadership and sponsorship opportunities available.

I have a very high degree of energy and enthusiasm. I am gifted with a natural leadership style and desire to help those in need. I have very strong organizational skills and multitasking capabilities. I’ve a BS in chemical engineering from Purdue University and MBA from Harvard and would be happy to apply my business skills (albeit a bit rusty since I retired at the end of 2017) in ways that organizations find most useful. I have available time–usually in the afternoon–as I am a widow and my only daughter lives in Indianapolis.

As Chief of Staff I was asked to put together a Diversity and Inclusion initiative that helped our leadership and management teams better understand and appreciate the barriers present to the various groups of individuals in our organization. While the company had an umbrella D&I effort, many were still unaware of the extreme amount of energy that was required for diverse employees to function effectively on a daily basis. I led a highly cross-functional team which developed an overarching strategy and pulled together a variety of events that helped leadership “walk in the shoes” of those different from themselves so that each member could start to internalize the hardships endured by others. We conducted interactive “day in the life” presentations where employees from minority groups illustrated how life experiences created “invisible” disadvantages that translated directly into the workplace. We had a dynamic and lively gay, lesbian, queer and transgender panel where insights were shared in very creative, clever and heartfelt ways. A townhall engaged employees at all levels where a panel of folks from different generations was convened for an extensive Q&A to highlight how expectations and mindsets unintentionally and somewhat humorously created communication barriers. A mentoring program was also formally established with each executive being paired with one or two diverse employees with the intent to continue the discussion in a more personal and ongoing manner. All of these initiatives laddered to the central goal of forming a greater organizational sense of empathy and compassion. The initial survey results from both employees and executives were resoundingly positive and we agreed to continue with quarterly mini sessions to help keep the learning active and continue the progress towards the end goal. It was a start–and long overdue–of a journey that will have long-lasting positive implications but only with ongoing nurturing, support and sponsorship. My successor has continued the work and time will tell if the organization truly develops the empathy and compassion required for real impact to occur.

My primary focus of my adult life has been to be an outstanding wife, mother, daughter, athlete and employee. While I did what I could with the time left over to help my community, I never felt I contributed at the level desired. Now retired with a sincere desire to continue to live of life of purpose, I very much hope to be a far more active member of the volunteer leadership community. I’d like to see what’s possible as I dedicate my energy to the organizations here in Naples!

I no longer volunteer outside of SWFL since I moved to Naples permanently in 2018.

Volunteered for various special events and initiatives with the United Way over the past four decades; a volunteer for Readup, Second Helpings, Mary Riggs Neighborhood. Also served at the Wheeler Mission soup kitchen and with multiple swim organizations throughout Zionsville.

Her education at Purdue and Harvard and career at Eli Lilly and Co in Indianapolis as Chief of Staff to the CEO qualifies her to be a leader in both corporate and nonprofit arenas. She will definitely make a difference in the Naples community.
Her personality, interpersonal skills and volunteer spirit brought her to my attention from the staff at The Naples Players.
As a triathlete she has the dedication, commitment and heart to achieve her goals and her empathy for the underserved is inspiring.
In the short time I have known Nancy, I already call her friend and fully intend to recruit her to sit on the Board of Directors of The Naples Players very soon.

While traveling extensively for Ernst & Young, I spent vacation time in Naples beginning in the summer of 2018 and did so through late 2019 when I became a Florida resident and now spend 7-8 months a year in Naples. I retired in June 2020 and have been active in a variety of civic and charitable/non-profit organizations.

I am very interested in ‘giving back’ and becoming a ‘force for good’ in bettering the Greater Naples (GN) community. As a relative newcomer to Naples, I feel I have much to learn about the workings of GN – especially as it relates to the interaction between the City and County governments – so that I can participate and give of my time and talents in the most meaningful possible way. It is my view that the GNL program is the best way to help me accomplish that goal.

As noted, I recently retired as a senior client-serving partner with Ernst & Young (EY). I had a long and illustrious career with EY that spanned 40+ years and included ‘off-ramping’ from the firm to marry and live abroad in Saudi Arabia for 14 years. In a place that is hostile to women in the workplace I was able to lead a number of activities that were an extension of the U.S. government’s activities in Saudi – clearly setting myself apart as a woman who could and did succeed in the harshest of a ‘man’s world’. I returned to EY after that hiatus and became a partner in short order. Perhaps my greatest leadership contribution was using my rich life experiences to mentor and promote a number of partners from diverse gender and ethnic backgrounds, including leading EY’s Professional Women’s Network in the New York City and surrounding offices. I believe that my contributions in this regard – helping others achieve the same success that I had by leading by example that anything is possible if you are willing to go the extra mile and one should ‘never, never, never quit’ are my greatest leadership achievements, as sadly many ‘pull the ladder up behind them’ once they’ve achieved a measure of success.

As I lived abroad and traveled extensively for the last 10 years of my career I did not have a great deal of time to participate in civic or community activities — I believe I am already ‘making up for that’ in that I serve as the President of my condo board, the Treasurer of both the Naples Historical Society and the Gulf Shore Association of Condominiums and have just recently been appointed to serve on the City of Naples’ Planning Advisory Board — all of which activities I am very excited to be a part of.

I am most interested in maintaining and preserving the charm and character of the GN community, so I suppose that is a more civic orientation. I want to see our beaches and waterways maintained, improved and protected and the charm and character of Naples downtown and the historic district maintained, especially in the face of significant pressures to increase development activities. I believe it’s possible to allow for increased development and provide more affordable housing for those who work and want to live here while maintaining the natural and architectural integrity of GN. That said, I am also passionate about helping our seniors enjoy their twilight years – and hope to learn more about this area through GNL.

I am a Certified Public Accountant with a broad range of financial advisory and business management skills.

Late in my career I was asked to join EY’s team to serve our new client Royal Dutch Shell plc and to move to The Hague to build and lead a team to serve their largest business. This was one of the most challenging assignments of my entire career as I started with a blank sheet of paper – I was building and developing a team of professionals from across the globe – all of whom had never worked together before and had very different approaches to client service and life in general. Despite the vast cultural differences between team members I used my own life experience to set goals and build comradery and an esprit de corps that not only made a difference to every member of the team’s experience but resulted in ‘straight 5’s’ on our client feedback – meeting our goals to provide ‘exceptional client service’ in a very difficult and dynamic environment. As a consequence of our efforts we not only achieved a high degree of client satisfaction but also enriched the lives and careers of everyone on the team – many of whom have now been promoted. I am proud to say many of them still stay in touch with me from across the world.

I love Naples and enjoy every minute of my time here and am passionate about finding the best way to give of my ‘time and talent’ to the GN community. I think my broad business and life experiences are an asset that bears ‘tapping into’ for that purpose and I hope I will be invited to join GNL MASTERS CLASS XXVI!

Salvation Army of New Jersey Board Member 2012-2014
New Yorkers for Parks Board Member and Treasurer 2011-2013
CORO NY Board Member and Treasurer 2011-2013
EY Professional Womens’ Network Chair 2010-2014

Ginny is one of the most energetic, committed, and driven people I know, as evidenced by her decision, after 14 years in Saudi Arabia, to return to New York and resume her career at Ernst & Young, as junior to and in some cases, working for, people she had supervised before she left. She is also compassionate, smart, funny, and fun. She jumped into volunteering in Naples as soon as she got here, and hasn’t stopped, most recently as a member of the City of Naples Planning Advisory Board. She has tremendous skills to offer and wants to make a difference. She is the PERFECT candidate for GNL. I could not recommend any candidate more highly.

Initially, I would come to my home in Naples for vacations and weekend visits. In 2016, I began spending the winter months in Naples and then added time in the fall as well. I was not employed during this time, but I continued to work on various volunteer activities that I was involved in in the Chicago area.

As I am spending more time in Naples, I view my home here as more than a vacation home and as part of a community than is larger than the golf community is which I reside. I want to be able to contribute to the community of Naples, just as I do in the community I live in in Illinois. Without having a long history here, I believe the GNL program will be a great way to learn about many different aspects of community life in Collier County – government, economic development, education, healthcare, human services and cultural. Besides being very interesting, I like that the program can be a source of ideas and potential connections for getting actively involved in areas in which I am particularly interested. An ancillary benefit is the opportunity to get to know people in the area outside of my gated community that have an interest in public and/or community service.

In 2001, I was asked to head Origination for all our capital markets products (Asset Backed Finance, Asset Backed Securities, Investment Grade Securities, Loan Syndications, Public Finance, Derivatives and Foreign Exchange) at Bank One. At the time, Bank One was ranked #2 in Asset backed Finance, a second tier player in Loan Syndications, and a bottom tier player in the public securities businesses. While our senior management team was supportive of our effort to grow these businesses, they were also cautious as history is littered with banks that blew up by growing too rapidly in areas where they didn’t fully understand the risks.
After reviewing these businesses, their competitive position, and strengths and weaknesses, we determined we needed to do five key things to successfully grow these businesses: (1) Bring in bankers with the requisite expertise. (2) Build out our capabilities in the Origination groups in tandem with investments in Sales and Trading. (3) Make similar investments in technology and operational functions to enable and support growth. (4) Leverage the deep relationships with our existing banking clients, which at the time were based largely on traditional banking services. (5) Focus on solving clients’ problems/helping them achieve their goals by providing solutions that were often multi-product, vs. a single product solution.
To accomplish this on the Origination side of the business, I did a number of number of things:
– Helped attract the right people and convince them to join our organization.
– Integrated them into one culture, but one where we incorporate new ways of operating. This was important as we were bringing in people from different firms, each with it’s own culture and ways of doing things.
– Broke down the silos between product areas. I needed to get my direct reports to become knowledgeable about each other’s businesses and start working together to win more business. I then needed them to get their team leaders and bankers to do the same thing.
– Built bridges with the relationship banking managers as well as with the leaders in Sales and Trading.
All of this entailed building trust between these different business and functional areas, extensive cross product training for relationship bankers as well as other product specialists, and getting the incentives right. I also emphasized consistent and frequent communications about our strategy and tactics and shared successes along the way.
Two and a half years later, our Capital Markets Origination businesses had grown to $750 million in client driven revenue. We were now ranked #1 in Asset Backed Finance, #4 in Loan Syndications, and were ranked in the top 10 in both Asset Backed and Investment Grade Securities, which were only established in 2000 and 2001 respectively. At the time of the Bank One/JPMorgan Chase merger, our CEO told me that he thought our group really had accomplished a great deal in a few years time, particularly since our customers really didn’t need to use us for their capital markets requirements since there were plenty of established firms that could have provided these services to them.

My most significant community leadership position has been chair of the Outreach Committee at Kenilworth Union Church, in Kenilworth, IL (a suburb of Chicago). I assumed this position in September 2013 when I was a member of the Board of Trustees. One of the major responsibilities of this position is to oversee the church’s Outreach Fund and a related program that awards grants annually to not-for-profit agencies primarily in the Chicago area.
A few months before taking on this position, there was a fair amount of criticism regarding the decisions made about agency funding that year and the communication of those decisions to a number of members of the congregation. The current chair was stepping down and the president of the Board of Trustees was looking for a replacement. I knew enough about the situation to know that there were a number of good things about the program, but that there were significant deficiencies in its operating processes. I believed from the outset that I could figure out how to fix this problem and make outreach to the greater Chicago community something that distinguished us from other congregations.
After reviewing the Outreach files and speaking with current and former members of the Outreach committee, we formalized and improved our processes around agency due diligence, revised our grant application forms to make the questions more relevant, established criteria and metrics for evaluating agencies, defined roles and responsibilities of Committee members and members of the congregation who served as liaisons to the agencies applying for grants, created training materials for liaisons, improved our communication to members of the committee, liaisons and the congregation as a whole, and created financial reports that were more transparent and relevant to our decision-making . We’ve also established a reserve that now equals 20-25% of annual distributions. Each year, we review how we operate the program to determine how we can continue to improve it.
As a result of this effort, the amount of grants awarded annually averaged just under $500,000 for the past 4 years, up from $330,000 in FY 2014. To put this in perspective, this is from a congregation of about 625 households whose annual budget is about $2,000,000 per year. Further, we involve a large number of volunteers in this effort as Outreach committee members (17), agency liaisons (70) as well as numerous people who plan and run fundraising events. In addition to these financial contributions, we have promoted opportunities for people of all ages to provide their time and talents to volunteer in different capacities at many of these agencies. I have personally benefited from this effort by developing a deeper understanding of the many needs and significant challenges individuals and families face in parts of the Chicago metropolitan area and learning about the important and impactful work being done by many not-for-profit organizations serving this community.

Education, healthcare, and any plans to address climate change. For two years I worked at The Academy for Urban School Leadership in Chicago. This organization ran a teacher residency program to train future teachers to teach in low income/high need schools and it managed turnaround schools for Chicago public schools. I learned a great deal about public education during that time. I don’t believe a city will grow and thrive without a strong public education system that works for all students.
At one point I thought I would pursue a career in healthcare, but while I chose a different path, I have always maintained that interest. Like education, as a community like Naples continues to grow and thrive, a strong healthcare system that serves all of its citizens is essential.
Finally, I think dealing with climate change is the most important challenge that our country faces, and the private sector, government and individuals all need to play an important role to confront this challenge. Like most of the East and Gulf coast, Southwest Florida will be significantly impacted if doesn’t both reduce its carbon footprint and develop ways to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

During my 28 years in banking, I worked in various line and staff positions. The more senior positions were very much of a generalist manager vs. a specialist, and as such required a range of skills in order to be successful. Many of these skills and characteristics that served me well in my professional career are the same ones that enable me to be effective in the community, including:
-Strong financial and analytical skills – I have been deeply involved in the financial planning/budgeting, financial reporting, and performance assessment processes for the businesses and the not-for-profit organization I have managed. I believe in data supported and fact-based decision-making and bring an analytical rigor to how I manage businesses and resolve issues.
– Strategic thinker and problem solver – I’ve proven to be effective at determining how to leverage an organization’s strengths and scale, making good resource allocation decisions and managing growth in a disciplined fashion. I am a naturally curious person and am comfortable dealing with ambiguity, particularly in complex situations and I recognize the need to deal with both long term and immediate issues at the same time.
– Can be a change agent – I tend to question conventional wisdom and why we do certain things a lot – and I believe I have been effective in getting people on board about making or accepting changes when it may not have been their preference.
– Ability to collaborate with others – Working in large, complex financial services companies provided many opportunities for me to collaborate with colleagues both within and outside of the firm. The ability to do this has been equally important in my involvement in not-for-profit organizations whether as a board member, manager, or volunteer.
– Solid written and oral communication skills – I have had numerous occasions to present formal business reviews, strategic and investment recommendations, and other business presentations to senior management, various employee groups, and to boards of not-for-profit organizations. I try to be very clear in my communications to make sure everyone is on the same page and understands decisions and expectations.
– Go up the learning curve quickly – I have managed a variety of businesses or functions over the years and I know how to dig in and get my hands around an operation or an issue relatively quickly.
– Strong people management, organizational, and administrative skills – I have proven to be effective in developing talent, building first class teams that work well with their constituents across an organization, holding people accountable, and dealing with performance and other HR problems as they arise. I try to have the right balance of a hands-on management style and a willingness to delegate authority, let people do their jobs, and provide guidance and assistance as needed. Most people would say I am highly organized, pay attention to the details, and can keep a number of balls in the air at once.

I actually think my response to question #6 is a good example of bringing about change. The following is another example where I exhibited leadership to achieve a regulatory outcome favorable to our business.

When I was head of Asset Backed Finance at Bank One, international banking regulators were in the process of revising the capital requirements for banks. This was the first time it was proposing rules for securitized assets (financial assets that are pooled and financed with marketable securities, in this case commercial paper backed by bank liquidity lines of credit, as is typical in the commercial paper market for corporate issuers). Regulators at the Federal Reserve Bank were trying to determine what metrics should be used to determine the level of risk in these transactions and the associated capital requirements. Its first proposal was to require each individual asset pool to be rated by one of two securities rating agencies (Moody’s or Standard & Poors).
A lawyer who was an expert in the field convened a task force of market participants to develop a response to this proposal. The group quickly agreed on why the Fed’s proposal was problematic (eg., it was burdensome and time-consuming, expensive, and the rating agencies did have not have experience rating many of the asset classes financed in this market). However, the group couldn’t agree on an alternative method.
While some of the participants were arguing over the details of capital models, which banks didn’t generally share with its competitors, I suggested we recommend that each bank use its existing internal risk rating system, which bank regulators are familiar with and already review. The only difference would be for banks to formally incorporate its metrics to determine the appropriate credit rating for asset backed liquidity facilities into its overall corporate credit rating guidelines for commercial loans, if it hadn’t done so already. Some task force participants liked the idea from the start, but many thought the Fed would not trust the banks on this and wouldn’t agree to an internal ratings approach. The few of us in favor of this approach kept working to get the others to understand why it made sense from the banks’ and the regulators’ perspectives, and then we went to the Fed with our proposal.
At first, the people we spoke to at the Fed Reserve Bank were skeptical of my idea. It actually took a while to finally meet with a person senior enough that understood how these transactions worked and where the risk was held. I think what ultimately swayed people at the Fed were two questions I kept posing. (1) Did they really want to outsource risk assessment for all securitized asset transactions where most of the liquidity and credit risk was held by a bank to two agencies that were not supervised by bank regulators, or anyone else for that matter, and had none of their own capital at risk? (2) Isn’t it better for the regulators and banks to have all its credit risk assessed in a consistent manner utilizing the same capital models. In the end, the Fed modified its proposal and dropped the requirement for external rating agencies to rate the banks’ credit facilities supporting securitized asset transactions.

During my two years at AUSL, we took over 11 more failing schools. Up until this point, AUSL had been asked to take over 1-3 schools at a time. AUSL was informed of the new turnaround schools each May, assumed responsibility for them when the school year ended in mid-June, and 2-1/2 months later reopened the schools with a new principal, new teachers and support staff, a renovated/improved school building and furnishings, and a new curriculum, books and supplies. While CPS was responsible for the school buildings, I served as AUSL’s representative during the renovation process. With funding for building improvements in short supply, we were in constant debates and negotiations with CPS as to what improvements had to be made. By the start of the school year, significant improvements had been made to all the buildings. I think we were able to obtain these changes because I hired a consultant with a design and construction background who could thoroughly document the need and who spoke the language of the general contractors on site, and because I spent a lot of time building a relationship with the head of Operations for CPS, where we both really listened to each other’s issues and perspectives and were able to compromise to achieve a solution that AUSL was happy with and CPS could live with.

Kenilworth Union Church, Kenilworth IL, Chair of Outreach Committee (2013-current), Member of Board of Trustees (2010-2017) and Executive Committee (2013-2015). Chair of Communications Committee (2010-2013). Served on Business Committee (current) and Personnel Committee. Outreach Committee oversees a grant program which awards $450,000-500,000 annually to various Chicago area not-for-profit human service agencies.

SamaraCare Counseling (formerly Samaritan Counseling Center) in IL, Board member and Treasurer, 2010 – 2013

RefugeeOne, Chicago IL, Co-leader of refugee family co-sponsor group (2017-1018)

Chris is a very strong person . . . very active with strong convictions. Anything she takes on, she attacks 100% plus. She is seeking a way to be more active in the Naples community, and I have no question she will be very committed to the GNL program and will come out of it as an involved local citizen.

Bought what will be our second home and plan to spend most of winters and part of summers in Florida.

I have held off until now. I am shifting to leaving full time work, and at most I will stay as a Consulting Advisor to certain clients. As such will put the next phase of my life to work helping the communities in which I live. I am very active in Cincinnati now with a near exclusive focus with the homeless/poor. In Naples I want to find a way to a broad immersion into the needs that exist in the community and find those areas where servant leadership I might offer could have the most impact.

I have been Managing Partner of major practive areas in several firms and CEO of several firms. My most significant contribution will be looked at differently but I am a Christian and believe that I have always been a servant leader, or leading from within and developing the talent and impact of those more junior or less experienced to me. I have done this many times over – and that is what makes me most proud. Now I lead a 500 person Strategy Practice that will seem impressive – but it the group of people I help develop faster and further because I helped them that is significant.

I have been on Board in Churches and American Red Cross and Homeless Shelters. But my most important leadership contribution is again leading by example and I shifted from just setting direction and took on the one-on-one mentorship of several destitute and homeless men. I started with them 5 years ago and honestly had no idea how I could help them attain the goals they had. Both are now in their own houses, with income, are more healthy and safe – and are no longer “homeless guys” but my friends. I have leveraged my impact with many others now following to do the same. One life at a time.

The less fortunate or poor and/or homeless. This can go many different ways like abused women, or drug addicted, enslaved children or the like.

I have worked a career and pretty successful in all forms of business. I am delighted to help at a Board level – and fundraising is usually one of the most complex functions a not for profit has. I will gladly do that. However, I am a problem solver. I am action oriented. While a very senior executive in business, I like to roll up my sleeves and get to the absolute core of a problem and solve it. I would gladly bring my funds and time to a board, and be effective. But I want to get hands on in the field and make a difference.

I took a small mens group of Christians that were studying the bible. This group has shifted from “navel gazing” to now active in the world to make a change. They are helping the homeless, serving meals, and this week will all work with the Ronald McDonald House. I lead by example and have them all enthusiastically active. I believe there are so many that want to do something but need to be lead. Flip that and look at business and I am an extremely gifted consultant to Fortune 500 companies and I have hundreds of examples of taking small teams in side the worlds largest company and create sources of major new growth.

We took years to pick a place to make home beyond Cincinnati. Beach, golf, pool, restaurants, church and friends are superficial. I am not RETIRING. I am ready to start the second half of my life. As a Christian – that is making my God’s vision for me visible in the community that I live. When I get up – I want a focus to help the greater Naples area. I want to learn where the problems are and what needs this wonderful community has. I do not want the simple challenges. I want to find the really tough areas that will take years to address.

Welcome Home Collaborate
– 5 years of very very heavy involvement taking on 2 homeless men that I work with twice a week for 5 years. I have made this my primary focus.

SouthShore Condominimum – Finance Committee 2014-2020
Ronald McDonald House – Food Service organizer 2018 – 2021
American Red Cross – Board member 1988 – 1992
Easter Seals of Chicago – Board member 1995 – 2002

I am interested in learning more about the issues and needs In Collier county and making a contribution to address some of those needs. I am also interested in expanding our network of friends through volunteer opportunities and social events.

I participated on a leadership team involved with completing a legal entity restructuring for CIGNA’s property and casualty
insurance division. This restructuring enabled that division to be spun off and eventually sold to ACE Insurance Co.

While small, I think the most impactful contribution I have made over the last 6-7 years is working with high school students applying for financial aid to attend college. Many of these students and their parents do not know how to navigate the application process for FASFA(Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

Champions for Learning, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Naples Botanical Gardens

I have an accounting background and have good project management skills. I am also a good listener

I have participated on a number of not for profit boards primarily in the capacity of Treasurer

T&E Cares Auxiliary Board and volunteer (2014-2021)

Conestoga Crew Team Treasurer (2010-2014)
Woodlea Garden Club Board (2010-2018)
Girl Scout Troop Leader (2001-2006)
Travel Soccer Team Treasurer (2000-2008)
Chester Valley Women’s Golf Treasurer (2016-2018)

Through various conversations, I’ve learned about Mary’s commitments to other not for profits and her willingness to devote time to volunteer to organizations in the Naples area. I was impressed with her leadership skills in a professional capacity as well as volunteering her time to help high school students navigate the system to receive financial aid for college. She possesses strong accounting background skills.

As a relatively new resident of Naples, I have been looking for ways to become more involved in the greater Naples community and to meet other people outside of our gated club. When I heard about GNL from a member, it seemed like an ideal opportunity to get an in-depth exposure to the issues and needs facing Naples and Collier County from civic leaders and volunteers with direct experience in many aspects of community life. I volunteered for many years in my community in CT and found the experiences to be very rewarding, both in the work we accomplished and for the friends I made along the way. I would like to become a GNL member to learn about ways to “give back” and find ways to become more involved with the Naples community.

I led the acquisition analysis and financial due diligence team for the commercial equipment leasing division of GE Capital. I developed financial models to analyze acquisition profitability and assess business risk. I also developed financial due diligence processes used to evaluate target businesses’ operations and prepare for post-acquisition integration. During my tenure the business completed over $25 billion in domestic and international acquisitions.

My most significant community leadership contribution was as a board member and President of the board of directors of the Westport Weston Family YMCA in Westport, CT. During my tenure on the board, the organization went through major change. In 2004, faced with declining membership and dwindling revenues, the board decided that it was necessary to replace the aging facility. Plans were drawn up and brought to the Town for approval by the various boards and commissions. This led to years of hearings and litigation. Eventually the Y entered into a contract to sell the existing facility and began planning for construction of the new Y. Financing included proceeds from the sale of the downtown building, a $20MM capital campaign, and loans. Fundraising proved to be challenging so the plan had to be scaled back to a smaller facility. Finally in the fall of 2014, the Y opened the new facility. Within a few months membership almost doubled as many new families were attracted to the modern building and the new amenities. This set the Y firmly on the road to financial stability and established it as a major resource for the community.

Education
Women and children
Environment

I have 30 years of professional experience in financial analysis and planning with a major corporation. I have over 10 years of leadership experience on a non-profit board (5 years as President) including a building project and a major capital campaign. Under my leadership, the Y built a new $50MM facility and averted near closure of the organization. I developed skills in leading meetings, giving presentations, and fundraising. I participated in all the committees of the board, including the building committee. I also dealt with a number of human resource issues with our CEO.

During my tenure on the Y board, there were a number of significant incidents that required me to gain consensus from the Board to approve changes to the project scope. One of the most memorable was convincing the rest of the board to give up the long-cherished dream of a 50-meter pool. The initial design incorporated a 50-meter pool as well as a large leisure pool area with indoor play features. While waiting for the necessary approvals and permits, we engaged a facilities consultant from Y of the USA. The consultant initiated a tour of several newer YMCA’s in the northeast for a small group of volunteers, including myself. After touring a half dozen newer Y’s and meeting with their staff it became clear to us that the design that had been developed was a larger shiny version of the 80 year old building we already had, but it did not incorporate a number of the features that were the current best practices in other new YMCA’s. We also learned that most Y’s did not have a 50-meter pool because it is not cost-effective. It became obvious to the small group that changes to the design would be required and the 50-meter pool would have to be down-sized. With the aid of the Y consultant, we did a high-level re-working of the plans to show how we could incorporate the key missing features and still maintain our budget and square footage constraints. Presentations were given to the board and many discussions were held. Ultimately the change in scope was approved. Giving up the 50-meter pool was a bitter pill for many to swallow and to this day there are those who are disappointed that we could not afford the pool many wanted, however it is recognized that the redesign provided the kinds of spaces today’s families desire and enabled the Y to successfully rebuild membership levels.

One of the experiences of which I am most proud was the creation of the Bedford Family Social Responsibility Fund at the Westport YMCA. Shortly after opening our new building in 2014, the Y became the beneficiary of a $40M bequest. The board decided to apportion the bequest between endowment, funding for future capital improvement projects, and a philanthropic fund to give back to the community. An initial amount of $5 million was set aside to fund grants to one or more local programs, to be selected through an annual grant process. We decided to focus on not-for-profit organizations that provide direct or supplemental education programs for children and young adults in neighboring communities. As part of the grant process, members of the committee visited each grant applicant to gain a better understanding of the program and the quality of the work being done. It was eye-opening for each of us to see the great need for these services in our surrounding communities and learn how the grant applicants were making a difference in the lives of children and families. Since its establishment in 2015, the Fund has given out grants totally over $1.25 million. We believe we are the only YMCA in the country with this type of program.

Westport Weston Family Y Foundation Board of Trustees – Treasurer 2016 – 2019
Member 2019 – present

Water Rats Parents Club (swim team booster club)
Treasurer 2000 – 2004
President 2004 – 2008

Westport Weston Family Y Board of Directors
Member 2005 – 2006
Treasurer 2006 – 2010
First VP 2010 – 2011
President 2011 – 2016

Greenfield Hill Church Dogwood Festival
Treasurer 2016 – 2018

Greenfield Hill Church
Board of Trustees 2004 – 2006

Bonnie has an outstanding background of leadership in both the professional and non-profit arenas. She was an accomplished financial manager at GE, and a successful board member and board President for the Westport Weston YMCA. She has a great desire to become involved in the Naples community. I think she will make a major contribution to the Masters Class and GNL, as a whole.

I would like to expand my knowledge and understanding about life in the Greater Naples and Collier County communities. I have extensive business and not-for-profit leadership skills that I would like to contribute to some of the many organizations that work to meet the challenges of a growing Southwest Florida community. I would also like to get to know others in the community with like minded interests in volunteerism.

As the Executive Director/Operations Director for The Junior League of Chicago, I was hired to do an organizational turnaround to help better position the League to attract and retain members, serve the Chicago community in a more professional manner, and operate the organization with improved financial controls and structure. This involved reconstituting the professional staff and implementing a new website and software to manage members, volunteers, donors and fundraising activities. It also included retaining a new accounting and tax audit firm as well as purchasing and installing new financial accounting software to improve efficiency. In addition, I managed the 100 year old headquarters building and oversaw new roofing, window replacement, electrical upgrades, and new air conditioning compressors.

After serving as the Recording Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Director, I served as the President of the Woman’s Athletic Club of Chicago, which is a 1000+ member, 501c7 social, cultural and athletic private club. As President, I managed the Board of Directors and the strategic direction of the club, as well as supervised the General Manager. During my years in office, I led a $3.5M fire sprinkler and life safety installation in the club’s landmark building. The project was completed on time and under budget. I grew the club membership through expanded club programming and member services, and developed a longer term strategic plan to guide the club’s future growth and income streams. I also worked with outside real estate counsel to lease retail space in the club’s building to a major international retail tenant, which maximized rental income for the club’s foreseeable future.

Given my personal and professional experience with not-for-profits, I am most interested in organizations that address the educational, physical, mental and cultural challenges in the community, particularly those that support the issues and needs of women and children.

I have a strong background in organizational management and leadership encompassing strategic planning, corporate governance, fundraising, event management, sales and marketing, communications, and finance.

As Vice President of Global Corporate Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations for The First National Bank of Chicago (now part of JP Morgan Chase), I led a team to develop and implement local, national and international marketing and advertising plans to reposition and brand commercial bank services offered to middle market, Fortune 500 and multinational corporations on a global basis. This plan introduced a new corporate leadership team and showcased the services offered throughout the corporate bank. It resulted in renewed recognition for the bank along with significant increases in new business.

Following my interest in business, I developed the concept and business plan for a luxury home accessories retail business that I operated for 10 years. I grew the business from its original neighborhood storefront location to a location in a major North Michigan Avenue shopping mall in Chicago. At that time, I also was active in the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association and was an officer in the Old Town Chamber of Commerce. I managed all daily business operations including purchasing and vendor relations, merchandising, sales and customer service, human resources, facilities and real estate and finance.

The League Club – 2021-current Recording Secretary, Events Committee member, Book Club member
Greater Naples TriDelta Alumnae – 2020 to current Secretary
Delta Delta Delta National Governance Committee – 2020 to current – Board Member
Woman’s Athletic Club of Chicago – 1985 to current Past President’s Council

Delta Delta Delta National Foundation Board of Trustees 2016 to 2020 – Director
Woman’s Athletic Club of Chicago – 1985 to current – President, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Membership Director, Gift Shop volunteer
Junior League of Chicago – 1982 to current, Executive Vice President, Membership Director, Strategic Planning Director, Marketing Director, Development and Fundraising Director, Founders Award winner
Chicago Yacht Club – 1988 to current -President of the Chicago Yacht Club Regatta Association, Chair of the Verve Cup Regatta, member of the Chicago to Mackinac Race committee, member of the Sponsorship committee
Delta Delta Delta National Brand Innovation team- 2015, team member
Delta Delta Delta Chicago Loop Group Alumnae- President – 1982-1983

Mary Ann is an outstanding candidate for GNL. She has an extensive background in nonprofit work, and has always done an exemplary job in everything she does. She has a very pleasant manner, and through her extensive work and volunteer experience, she always maintains a cool, calm sophisticated manner that engages all people. She is quite impressive in her manner, and would only be a great asset in GNL. She has a considerable interest in getting involved, and truly wants to learn more about the community of Naples and Collier. Obviously if you review her job history, you know she is a great leader.

Alternate home and primary residence.

To become more involved in the community.

As a former chairman & CEO of a Fortune 500 company and an experienced board member of commercial and nonprofit organizations, I have provided advice and counsel to many individuals and entities.

I have been a board member of many civic and philanthropic organizations and chaired several fundraising efforts.

Volunteerism.

See answers to question #6 and #7.

Numerous times while I was chairman & CEO of Medtronic and chairman of AdvaMed (the industry association for advanced medical technology companies).

Council of Chief Executives

American Society of Corporate Executives; AdvaMed: Business Council; President’s Export Council; Walker Art Center Board of Trustees; Wharton Board of Overseers; United Way of Minneapolis

Art is a very serious individual who is very interested and curious about the world around him. He is a strong person who commits himself fully to any activity or interest he is involved in.

This is my permanent residence – I spend summers in Connecticut

GNL will help me determine how best to give back to the local community in Collier County, and to meet like-minded individuals.
Listening to my wife’s positive GNL experiences and meeting several of her fellow GNL’ers has convinced me that I would greatly enjoy being part of your organization.

Integrating the banking and cash management systems of two merging Fortune 50 conglomerates (GE and RCA).

Helping start a new K-8 charter school in inner-city Bridgeport CT – New Beginnings Family Academy – now in its 19th year of operation. During its first year I volunteered many hours getting the business office up and running, and for several years served on its board, and as treasurer ($5 million budget).

Education, Environment, Governance

I see things through to completion and I strive for improvement. While I have specific skills in Finance, an important attribute I bring to anything in which I get involved is the desire to streamline its operations to make it as efficient and mission-focused as possible.

For six years I served on the board of Builders Beyond Borders (“B3”), a not-for-profit organization in CT that sends high school students during spring break to impoverished Latin American communities to build schools, community centers, etc. In a relatively short time, B3 had become very popular, sending ~240 kids per year (8 different teams of 24 kids and 6 adult leaders).

When I joined the B3 board as treasurer (ca. 2006), I found an organization suffering from a lack of structure and organization — and running out of cash. The husband/wife founders were visionaries but lacked skills necessary to run an organization with an annual budget of $500K. The board was comprised of friends and family members providing no oversight. Typical of start-ups experiencing rapid growth, policies, procedures and forms were lacking, and the financials were a mess.

As a new board member, I spearheaded the re-writing of bylaws, instituted sorely needed practices (e.g., monthly financial statements for board members, standardized expense reports), improved collections, and helped guarantee the future of the organization.

I also served as an adult leader on four trips (Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic).

Recently I joined an angel investing group that invests in early stage start up companies. Currently I am heading a due diligence team of approximately 20 researching an agricultural tech company.

Westport Community Band – French horn (former Board Member and Secretary)

New Beginnings Family Academy: Board Member/Treasurer, 2002 – 2015;

Cedar Point Yacht Club: Board Member running junior sailing school, 2000 – 2004;

Home Owners Association in CT: Board Member/Treasurer, 2008-2016

I have chosen to nominate Paul (1) because I know him to be an individual of integrity and good character, (2) because he has demonstrated both here in Naples and also in his prior life in Connecticut a deep commitment to philanthropy and especially to addressing the educational needs of underserved communities, (3) because of the significant business and finance skills that he possesses that will be of real value to local not-for-profit organizations, as well as to GNL itself, and (4) because his intelligence, engaging personality, intellectual curiosity and openness to new ideas and experiences will make him a true asset to his prospective Masters Class. The senior leadership roles he held in his corporate career amply equip Paul to make very meaningful contributions not only to GNL but also to deserving philanthropies in Collier County.

My wife Joan and I relocated from New Rochelle, NY in March 2020. We lived, worked and raised our family in the New York metropolitan area until moving to Naples to begin a new chapter in our lives. Having focused all of my energy on my 36 year career with Citigroup, I feel it is time for me to give back to my community. I believe Greater Naples Leadership can provide the perfect opportunity to do so.

When I think back on the many accomplishments during my long career at the bank, my most gratifying contribution is not the amount of revenue or improvements to service or technology that have had positive impact on our clients. All were important. The contribution I am most proud of is the opportunity to influence and reshape a mentoring/coaching program for new recruits starting their careers with our organization. Understanding the importance of being client centric and creating strong internal and external alliances to help achieve objectives cannot be overstated. I feel this is a legacy that will have far greater impact than anything else I have done during my career.

To date, I have not been directly involved with any civic or community based programs. However, I will share a personal story which I believe will be of equal impact. Our youngest son was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 2. This set in motion a 7 year period of dealing with doctors, hospitals, treatments and the all encompassing aspects of pediatric cancer. Gladly, today he is married with 2 children of his own. However, our experience in dealing with the physical and emotional impact on him, our family and friends led us to volunteer our time to speak with other newly diagnosed families about our experience and how we dealt with the hospital, the doctors, treatments, schooling, etc. We realized that one needs to have walked in those shoes in order to become a credible resource and important sounding board for parents who have just learned that their child has a cancer diagnosis. My wife and I found this very gratifying and at the same time therapeutic. Beyond this, during our 7 year involvement with the hospital where he was treated we became advocates to change how children were administered treatment. Subsequently, the hospital funded and built a stand alone pediatric hospital dedicated to treating pediatric cancer.

I believe the ongoing improvement of our healthcare delivery and education system is key to the continued growth of our community.

My ability to create strong working relationships at all levels of an organization both internal and external are key to achieving objectives. I will bring energy, commitment and passion to any organization I would be asked to support.

I am a results oriented individual with strong business development, communication, analytical and problem solving skills. During my career I built high performing teams to achieve and exceed business goals and objectives. One example of my leadership was the creation of a specialty business group that focused on a finite group of industries to generate deposits and fee income for the bank. This was unique since this group would own every aspect of the client experience-sales, service, pricing, etc. We launched the business group and had negative revenue year 1, but went on to become one of the most profitable business groups and a model for other business groups to acquire, deepen and reduce client attrition.

Although retired from corporate life, Bob is definitely not retired from a lifelong commitment to making a difference. His 36 years at Citigroup include many examples of leadership, teamwork, innovative problem solving, and measurable success. As Bob described in one of the questions above, his experience with his son’s illness ignited his passion to contribute in a meaningful way to the healthcare industry. He is eager to bring his skills and experience to GNL and the community.

1997-2019 seasonal. 2020 to present full-time resident

Better understanding the needs and opportunities to support our local community.

CEO of three different mid sized financial institutions.

Member of major health system foundation board providing significant resources in support of a broad array of local community health needs.

Children, financial literacy, and affordable housing.

Extensive financial training and human resource management experience having led three different mid sized companies. These financial institutions by their nature are deeply involved with the local communities they serve.

Completed the turn around of a failing financial institution with 600 employees thereby providing stable employment for this group of individuals and their families.

CPA and FINRA Series 7, 24 and 63 licenses.

Henry Ford Health System Foundation Board of Directors
Livonia Public Schools Development Board of Directors.
Junior Achievement of Detroit

During my time in Naples, I have been involved with Bear’s Paw Country Club. First as a committee volunteer, followed by 6 years as a member of their Board of Governors.

Living in Naples full time and choosing it to be my home, I wish to give back to the city that I love.

Organization and Sociability

I’m a terrific team member. I’m very organized.

Community development in Naples.

My involvement with the Medical Eye Bank was a time before organ donation was common. I talked to doctors in different hospitals to encourage them to ask family members of the newly deceased for their eyes.
It was the beginning of a national Organ Registry.

I’m a volunteer! Starting with parents’ boards at my children’s schools, Junior League of Baltimore, Medical Eye Bank of Baltimore, Board work at Baltimore Country Club and Bear’s Paw CC.
Chairing the Social Committee, Chairing Ladies Golf and various committees associated.

I was a travel agent before I got married. I ran my own Wall Papering business for 11 years that allowed me to put my children through school.

Our community, Bears Paw, is a small group of 300 families. Most residents know and admire Marcie. Her involvement with Club committees and as a member of the Board have been extraordinary. She is an engaging and charismatic personality.
As her late husband’s health deteriorated, she showed her strength, resilience, and commitment to her partner. She is now available to engage is a new set of community organizations. She will not “stand back” but will be an enthusiastic leader in whichever Collier County organizations match her talents and interests. GNL is a platform to educate members about the resources and needs of the community. Marcie is not joining GNL for social reasons or to “expand her resume”. She will find a new passion in the community and work hard to benefit our area.
I enthusiastically endorse her application.

I have always been actively involved in leadership positions during my career as well as involved in supporting and promoting local and state government and cultural activities, including more recently before retiring to Naples, as an active member of Lead Virginia whose mission is very similar to GNL’s mission.

As a member of the federal Senior Executive Service (SES) at the Department of Homeland Security I led cybersecurity initiatives across 103 federal agencies preventing significant critical infrastructure intrusions to high value national data systems and industrial controls. Another example that I can reference would be during my appointment by the White House (during President G.W. Bush Administration) as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of State where I was responsible for the supply-chain program of providing HIV medicines through-out 28 countries in Africa for those who were HIV positive.

During my tenure with Lead Virginia, a program sponsored by the Governor’s office, where corporate executives are engaged in identifying economic growth potential for each of the regions in Virginia, I was instrumental in gaining corporate support for developing a data center in one of the more rural areas of the state.

Economic growth and education

The skills that I feel would have the most impact would include; leadership, small business development, technology leadership and being a former secondary and post-secondary educator.

Several instances that I would reference include, my time as an SES in the federal government in relation to Cybersecurity resilience for 103 Executive Branch agencies, my time as an educator as well as the work that I was engaged through the Lead Virginia program.

As a new resident to Naples and a former executive, although conducting limited consulting in retirement, my primary interest in applying for membership is to be of benefit to the community that my wife and I have now adopted.

Keiser University Cybersecurity Advisory Board Member (2020)
Kinder-Kare Advisory Board Member

Lead Virginia (2011)

Plans change. After initially deciding that Naples would be the perfect winter getaway and purchasing a condo in Grey Oaks, my husband and I discovered that Naples has a lot more to offer than nice beaches and wonderful weather. As a result, we sold our home in Potomac, MD; sold our condo; purchased a home in Grey Oaks; and Naples became our permanent residence. I volunteered at NCH shortly thereafter and am now a volunteer at Champions for Learning. I made many new friends; became reacquainted with old ones who also reside in Naples; perfected my bridge game; started to play golf; and enjoy many of the activities that Naples has to offer. We support and enjoy Gulfshore Playhouse; Artis-Naples; Conservancy of SW Florida; Naples Zoo; Botanical Gardens; Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary; Captains Clean Water; and others. I believe we haven’t yet scratched the surface of what Collier County has to offer.

I am interested in becoming a GNL member primarily because I want to contribute my time and energy to improve the quality of life in Collier County. I want to do more than just provide financial support. Education is my field, but I want to learn what and where all the needs are; pick an area or two of interest; and then apply my knowledge and experience to help make a difference. I have attended numerous GNL functions with my husband and have been fortunate to see and experience firsthand the benefits of being a GNL Member and being part of an active, results-oriented, and community-minded organization.

My greatest leadership contribution was being part of a 3-person team to open a Jewish nursery school in downtown DC. I was involved in all aspects of planning and implementing our mission and vision to provide a foundation from which young children can grow. My personal achievements were creating curriculum for younger students and creating positive relationships with staff, students, and parents.

From our prior home in Potomac, MD, I developed and grew a fundraising effort for the International Myeloma Foundation. The project started as a small, home-based effort, which quickly expanded to a community event. It began with my Monday bridge group, from which I created a Bridge Blasts Myeloma fundraiser. Word caught on with other ladies’ card groups. Very quickly the program blossomed into a community-wide event with many other bridge, mahjong and canasta card groups coming together to raise significant money for the Foundation. I learned that people are willing to work hard and contribute when they know what they are working for and that their efforts can make a difference.

I was a teacher, and my primary interest is education. I have extensive experience with inner city public schools, emotionally challenged and autistic children, as well as nursery, middle and secondary school curricula. My interests are in inner city housing, education planning, and furthering mental health initiatives. My passions include arts, music, dance and theatre.

Teachers are natural leaders. We nurture young minds to open a world of possibilities. I am innovative, well organized, a team player, open-minded, and results oriented. For example, while volunteering at Montgomery County NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) I reached out to Collier County NAMI, which is NAMI’s flagship organization, for guidance, advice and direction on how to best establish new programs and fundraising activities.

During the 80’s & 90’s, young and inexperienced software engineers came to my then-current workplace (Financial Insight Systems) ill-equipped or poorly prepared to handle deadlines and written assignments. Some lacked basic communication and social skills. Serving as the Human Resource Manager for the company, I was able to guide these individuals to develop the skills required to transform them into a highly effective team.

I am a team player. Although I have served as president and vice president of numerous social organizations, I also enjoy working within a leadership group. By managing and integrating resources, greater change can be realized.

My husband and I have been fortunate to have traveled extensively, around the globe. We have been to some of the most remote places in the world; and those experiences have opened my eyes and mind to new cultures and different ways of doing things. Travel has broadened my perspective and widened my horizons. My work and travel background can be leveraged to improve quality of life in Collier County.

University of Maryland-Endowment
IMF-Fundraiser

Montgomery County MD Public Schools-PTA/Communications, Room Mother, Newsletter Editor, Library Assistant, Sports Program and Banquet Chair-14 years

Montgomery County Soccer-Coach/Manager-5 years

Potomac Boys Club-Team Manager-2 years

Jewish Social Services Agency-Holocaust Survivor Support, Luncheons, Home Visits-6 years

DC Public Schools-Reading Assistant Volunteer-2 years

Private Home Intervention-Autistic Teacher-3 years

A Greater Gift—Support-3 years

National Alliance on Mental Illness-Hero’s Dinner, IT Support, Clerical Support-5 years

I’ve had a close relationship – both personal and business – with Anne Girod and her husband, Albert, for nearly 40 years. Our friendship began in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. It continued even during the years that our residences were far apart. Later, our ties were reinforced when both families moved to the Naples area. During those periods, I came to know Anne extremely well. She is the ideal GNL candidate – intelligent, dedicated, capable, energetic, articulate, congenial, compassionate, and eager to serve the Naples community.

Anne and Albert came to southwest Florida two years ago. As a relatively new Neapolitan, Anne has not yet established permanent ties to our local charities and other organizations. Accordingly, she is uniquely positioned to fill a significant role as an active player in the non-profit arena. That availability, coupled with Anne’s enthusiasm and experience, make her a classic GNL volunteer. She has been an editor, teacher, human resources executive, treasurer, philanthropist, wife, mother of two outstanding young men, and grandmother to three delightful boys. Along the way, she has worked with nursery and middle schools, colleges, religious entities, foundations, and commercial establishments. In particular, Anne has dealt with mentally challenged and autistic children, as well as the Golden Apple Program supporting teachers and other educational personnel.

The Girods have traveled extensively, read widely, and participated in sports and the arts. In short, they are a well-rounded and committed family. Both Anne and Albert are leaders –in business, education, and their charitable endeavors. Anne will be an effective GNL member, whole-heartedly promoting the GNL mission.

All of my time in Naples has been vacation (2017-2019) and retirement (2019-2021). My involvement in my business was active during the first two years when I commuted to Bethesda, MD every other week during the winter months.

Following my retirement I feel the need engage in an endeavor that will allow me to contribute to the community that my wife and I truly love. Throughout my working years, my family and career consumed most of my time. After reading David Brooks’s “The Road to Character”, I realized that career accomplishments were less important than contributing my time and talent to volunteer and charitable activities. Fred Sasser, my GNC sponsor persuaded me that I should apply my time and talent to an organization that adds value to the community as well as the personal satisfaction of contributing to worthy causes.

The foundation of my leadership qualities began as a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the US Coast Guard. In my corporate career I held various leadership positions including sales and marketing management, and operations management with P&L responsibility. I later founded a business development and product sales business, Trellis Technology, Inc. that focused on the Intelligence Community market and operated for 23 years. This is where I made my most significant leadership contribution by leading my client companies into uncharted market space with huge success.in terms of relationship building, revenue growth and earning “trusted advisor” status with my client and customer communities. The client companies ranged from small start-ups to mid-sized companies to industry leaders including Raytheon, BAE, Agilent and Cobham.

In our first season in Naples my wife and I successfully lobbied the Naples City Council to reverse their initial decision and proceed with the 8th St. N project. Having developed a strong interest in the City Council, we campaigned for Ray Christman in the 2019 special election. This involved canvassing the community with Ray and participating in several campaign events. Ray’s success was a catalyst for us to continue to seek much-needed change in the Naples governance by actively campaigning for the 2020 election of three new council members and new mayor. With the kickoff of the 2022 election we are committed to campaign support for the two incumbent candidates.

Assisting the underprivileged.
Community conservation and beautification
Support for local non-profit organizations
Support for community events
Mentoring

I am a fairly low-ego individual with the ability to quickly assess a situation and either step into a leadership role, or identify a better candidate and fall back to a supporting role. As a team player I am focused on outcome, not individual achievements, although I’m quick to acknowledge and recognize individuals who make remarkable impacts.
I have the ability to visualize outcomes and develop a strategy and roadmap for success.
I possess ethics and integrity. I was subjected to background investigations and polygraph examinations every five years to maintain my Government security clearance.
I accept responsibility and accountably for all of my endeavors, and practice transparency and flexibility.

My company was hired by a high technology firm with large team of brilliant engineers and computer scientists who wanted broader access into the Intelligence Community. I recognized a core competency to develop for a unique family of signal processing products. The challenge was to convince a group that had only dealt with low-risk engineering contracts to invest in R&D for product business they did not understand. I developed a successful plan that involved my own experiences in product development strategy, customer community engagement and meetings with other of my client companies to help them gain an understanding of the product business. The outcome was the development of a new product family that in less than three years represented 50% of their sales, more than doubled their revenue and led to eventual sale of the company to a large defense contractor.

National Brain Tumor Society. 2013-present. Assisted in forming a community support group for the Washington, DC Race for Hope. This endeavor was created to support my 12 year old grandson who was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma brain tumor. While this annual event was suspended due to the Covid 19 pandemic, I am hopeful it will re-energize in 2022.

Very level-headed common sense executive, high ethical standards, strong technical background, friendly and low ego. He has expressed interest and committed time to our HOA and Naples city council campaigns to improve the city and our neighborhood, and he now wants to expand to more aspects of Naples and Collier County. Good energy, excellent communicator and very easy to work with. He is an excellent candidate as either a team leader or a team participant, as the situation requires, so he can fit into numerous county organizations. Very computer literate.

I’m interested in learning more about the Naples community and its philanthropic initiatives. Throughout my life, volunteering has always been an integral part of my life and I would like to continue to do so in Naples.

I led the development of IBM’s orientation leadership program for Global Business Services. This was important since the curriculum had not been revised in numerous years and had a major impact on new executives getting off to the right start in IBM. The development of the program involved cultivating and developing relationships with others in various components within IBM.

Being on the Board of the American Red Cross with other community leaders gave me the opportunity to help develop its strategic plan for expanding the community’s blood drive efforts by marketing to previously untapped markets, e.g., Hispanic community and churches.

seniors, health, law enforcement, arts

Cultivating relationships, public relations, and community outreach

Organizational Development project at the National Science Foundation-Facilitated several workshops with scientist, program and administrative staff to improve communication and work performance.

The Asia Institute – Crane House
Teacher-Provided English language instruction and cross-cultural experiences to 18 Asian teachers and 175 students. In Shaxian, China. Developed lesson plans and applied creative teaching methodologies.

IBM Corporate Citizenship Pro Bono Consulting-Smarter Cities Challenge
• IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge program sends experts to municipalities throughout the World to provide pro bono consultative advice on issues such as affordable housing, economic development, immigration and public safety.
• Conferred with officials, citizens, businesses, academics, and community leaders during a 3-week Smarter Cities Challenge assignment developing a roadmap for improving innovation, economy and tourism for Faro, Portugal.

Corporate Service Corps (CSC)
• CSC selects top management prospects and then trains and dispatches these leaders to emerging markets around the World. Teams work collaboratively with their government and community counterparts on projects to understand how to implement socially responsible business practices with measurable results in a global context.
• Developed a cost management strategy for a manufacturer of kerosene burners during a 4-week assignment in Chennai, India.
• Implemented recommendations, which improved the manufacturer’s operational effectiveness and increased revenue.
• Reviewed CSC applications and facilitated weekly conference calls to prepare CSC Russia teams for their assignment.

Moved to Naples October 2020 and have not had an opportunity to volunteer as yet.

Volunteered for roles below from 2010-2018
 Mock Job Interviewer, Engineering and Computer Science students, University of Louisville
 Patient Volunteer, Hosparus Health of Louisville
 Board member, American Red Cross, Louisville, KY
 Member of Planning Committee for American Heart Association Walk, Louisville, KY
 Member of Circle of Red, American Heart Association, Louisville, KY
Volunteered for roles below from 2000-2008
 Volunteer, Hospice of Northern Virginia, Arlington, VA
 Mentor, First-time offenders, Fairfax County, VA
 Taught English as a second language to Vietnamese gentleman

Doris has a keen interest in understanding the needs of the greater Naples community and learning more about how she can use her knowledge and experience to give back. During her career, Doris has led the development of orientation leadership programs, served on a board and helped develop a strategic plan, and facilitated workshops to improve communication and work performance of staff. These are examples of leadership qualities which she can contribute to GNL and her volunteer work in the community. Doris stated in her application that volunteering has always been an integral part in her life. I feel she has the leadership skills and experience to be a strong candidate for the Masters Program. Since she is new to Naples and Collier County, the Program will give her the opportunity to explore how best to invest her time and talents. She is energetic and enthusiastic and I feel she meets all the eligibility criteria.

Laura and I built a home in the Lakoya neighborhood of Lely Resort. We are permanent residents and this is our only home. Laura and I wound down our business and associated consulting engagements during the first two years of our residence and now we are full-time retirees.

I would like to make a leadership or other high-impact contribution to my community. I was previously volunteering in the role of IT consultant at the Neighborhood Health Clinic until COVID shut the clinic down.

I have identified, developed and mentored future leaders. Helping an individual enhance their personal skill set and watching them grow into more responsible and high-impact roles is the most rewarding and significant achievement in my career.

I implemented a strategic IT steering committee at the Neighborhood Health Clinic. The goal of the committee was to align IT priorities and actions with the goals and priorities of the clinic. The committee met 2 or 3 times prior to the COVID shutdown.

Leadership or high-impact roles in the areas of technology, program/project management or consulting.

I have executive level skills in consulting, communication, program/project management, risk management, budget development and management, information technology, operations and personnel leadership and development.

I led a $3.5b annual revenue prestigious academic medical organization in the transition of their technology of in-house written, interfaced department-specific applications to an integrated enterprise application in the areas of patient access, clinical care delivery and patient revenue cycle. This significant core culture changing transition impacted over 2,500 employees as well as 67% of the organization’s technology footprint.

The overall goal of the transition was to improve patient care and required the organization to shift from operating independent departments that each delivered patient care to operating integrated patient care delivery processes that span across departments. This change was primarily accomplished via establishing a program governance structure that effectively aligned actions and priorities at both strategic and tactical levels and secondarily via program management and management processes.

This very risky transition was highly successful and allowed the organization to expand its mission via completion of significant acquisitions within a year following go-live.

Prior to my consulting career, I spent 18 years at HCA Healthcare Corporation and predecessor organizations. I left as vice-president of Information Systems and had responsibility for operations, technical services, customer support and systems development. I led an organization with 850+ personnel and $300M annual budget.

Throughout my consulting career, I managed over $1.5b in technology investments. Most programs had over 500 personnel and $350M+ budgets. I was the lead in many technology acquisition projects and as well as the business lead for the associated technology acquisition and maintenance contracts.

I was a board member of the Nashville Technology Council in 2002 – 2003. The mission of the council was to grow the technology community in the Nashville metro area in order to help attract technology employers and associated high paying jobs. At the time, the technology council was an initiative of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. I resigned my board seat when I relocated to Houston, TX.

Chris has high level of leadership qualities in business/ budget management and organizational skills.His management expertise in IT/Software technology had led to integration of patient medical records in a large electronic health records EHR company) and in turn improved medical care. I as a Retired Physician appreciate the vital role it plays in efficient optimal delivery in health care. At Neighborhood clinic he helped in organizing/ upgrading patient medical records.He has great ability to organize and integrate business operations to enhance efficiency while managing a large workforce. He is very keen and excited to join GNL and to volunteer his services to community. Chris is very kind helpful people person and by the way also a very good golfer.
Most of all Chris has very pleasant likable kind personality

I am the Security & Facilities Director at Waterside Shops in Naples, Florida. I have been in that position since 2017.

I was recommended to the program by Anne Fleming, my general manager. She and I feel this program builds great relationships in the community.

Prior to retiring from the United States Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General in New York City, I mentored new agents assigned to field offices in a three state region. Sharing my 33 years of experience in multiple filed offices throughout the country was extremely beneficial. I have brought my leadership experience to Waterside Shops where I lead employees in various departments to include security, maintenance, housekeeping, valet and landscaping.

My wife and I enjoy volunteering at Al’s Pals Mobile Food Pantry. Helping those in need is very rewarding. We see the same families on Fridays in line for groceries. I am also President of the Marco Island Cuban American Foundation. A civic organization that brings members of the Hispanic community together for social events.

I am interested in helping develop our future managers while giving back to the community.

Throughout my years, of local, state and federal service, I have learned to train and empower my employees for future leaderships roles.

Throughout my entire 38 year career in law enforcement and the security field, I have led team members in order to solve homicides, frauds and corruption related activities. At the conclusion of several of those investigations policies and procedures were put in place to prevent such activities.

Nick is an outstanding leader who is eager to learn more about serving his community. He is smart, compassionate, and hard-working.
He observed me going through Class XXIV with great curiosity.
GNL would be extremely lucky to have Nick in Class XXVI and I give him my highest recommendation!

I would come to Naples for vacation before I retired.

I want to learn more about the Naples community and volunteer to assist the community in any way that I can utilizing my background and skills.

When I worked as a Vice President at American Express, I led a Management Develop class (this was a year program) for high potential managers at the Company. The focus was on providing them with leadership skills that they would need in order to be more successful at the Company. This included how to better work in a team environment through problem resolution/conflict management, enhanced communication and understanding the importance of ethics and integrity in the workplace. I am happy to say that some of the people that went through this class became senior leaders in the Company.

At the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) in Stamford, CT I was a budget Coach. I helped people to identify their financial goals and develop a budget to achieve them. As part of the process, I helped them to set-up a proforma spreadsheet to track their expenditures over a 3-month period and then we worked together to develop the budget. The approach I used was very unique as I never told them what they needed to do (how to spend their money), but through a series of probing questions from me they were the ones that ultimately made the decisions/trade-offs in their budget to meet their goals. It was very rewarding to be able to help people get out of debt, save for retirement or save for their children’s education. I worked with each individual for four months.

Working with any Children or Women’s organizations, the environment and disaster recovery planning

Finance, Accounting and Operational Risk, process improvement, coaching/mentoring, effective communications, training development and implementation

At GE Capital, I had to lead a team of Treasury/Technology professionals to document the risks and controls for a new debt management system that was being implemented. This was a change to how system projects were implemented as the teams had never previously had to document these and also none of the people directly reported to me. I organized formal meetings with the teams three times a week and documented the changed process and the risk and controls, which they in turn would review and provide their feedback. At the end of the implementation most of the team agreed that this change in the process helped to avoid costly re-work as the controls were built in the system and tested prior to going “live”.

I am also interested in the environment and have volunteered at beach clean-ups and plantings.

Red Cross – Disaster Recovery

Woman’s Business Development Council Stamford, CT

Sue is passionate about using her skills and experience to give back to the community. Her professional experience and interests strongly align with GNL’s mission, especially her passion for improving the lives of children and women, environmental stewardship, and fiscal management. She’s a high energy person who has a lot to give, is actively looking for volunteer opportunities, and consistently wants to do more.

I am impressed with GNL’s mission to provide its members unique opportunities to learn firsthand about the issues and needs in Collier County and encourage the use of their skills individually and collectively in bettering the community. It is a great organization with a stellar reputation and I would be proud to be a part of it!

My career has focused on the importance of maintaining strong systems for organization within companies. Most recently, I have specialized in back office, compliance, legal and regulatory issues for a large organization.

My community volunteer positions to date have mainly been in a Treasurer capacity, including finance and taxes.

I am passionate about helping young mothers, families and children who are less fortunate.

I am very experienced in financial reporting and tax preparation, including QuickBooks, Excel, and all of the latest technology.

I discovered an embezzlement case where the president was embezzling money from a non profit in a baseball organization, which took money away from the kids. As a result, we completely re-vamped the internal systems.

CHS Boys Hockey-Treasurer- 2015-2020
Northeast Region Porsche Club of America- Treasurer -2015-2018
Concord Northeast Baseball- Treasurer- 2011-2014
BGS PTO- Treasurer- 2006-2012

Tracy will be a valuable addition to the GNL team. She has a unique skill set that includes accounting and technology, which will be super helpful. In addition, she is passionate about becoming very involved in the Naples community as she is spending more time here as a part-time and soon-to-be full time resident.

I am interested in giving back to the community and learning more about what the specific needs are in Naples and Collier County. I learned about the program from 3 friends who spoke very highly of it. It is very impressive the depth of the program and how thoroughly it gives participants an overview of Naples and Collier County. I have an innate curiosity which makes learning new things a pleasure and I enjoy diverse groups of people and seek them out in my personal life. It means a lot to me when I can put effort into something and achieve results.

The last 10 years of my career were with General Electric’s Plastics Division. I was a field marketing specialist responsible for getting GE’s plastics specified at computer and telecommunication companies. Motorola was one of my key accounts and they were a complex organization with engineering and manufacturing throughout Asia and Europe. I convinced my management that I could grow our business, make it more profitable, and create more value as a supplier to Motorola if I became a global account manager coordinating all our activities with Motorola across their cellular, paging, automotive, and lighting divisions. This also involved working closely with GE salespeople across the world who were selling our plastics to a worldwide network of independent molders who made the individual parts for Motorola. What made this so challenging was I carried all the responsibility, but held no authority over this loose team of sales and technical people at GE who I had to motivate to spend time working on my priorities with Motorola, when they had many other responsibilities with other accounts. In 5 years I tripled our business with Motorola, increased our market share, delivered innovative new plastics for them to use in demanding cell phone applications and was invited to be a member of one of their top Six Sigma Quality Teams. We helped save them $1million in manufacturing costs by aiding in the redesign of parts that were previously in metal and switched to plastic with fewer components, lower cost and higher quality. Our approach to delivering value to Motorola was so successful that I was asked to help other GE divisions who were trying to penetrate Motorola.

I was an elected Trustee for the Village of Hinsdale which is a suburb of over 16,000 people outside Chicago. It was during a time of rather sharp upheaval and high emotions surrounding tear downs and contentious building codes in an older community. My leadership role was really about helping people see the middle road and achieving incremental progress that could be accepted by both factions. While many were suggesting restrictive building codes to limit home size because they did not like “new” construction, I suggested incentives that gave architects more square feet if they did not locate large 3 car garages in front (which many people complained bitterly about as ruining the front streetscape), but instead located the garages in the rear off the alley. This is just one example of how I tried to listen to various stakeholders to find solutions that would work.
Ironically, where I had my second biggest impact was in convincing the board the importance of not delaying road improvements because it was actually costing our village more money for the necessary repairs since the roads had degraded significantly. We changed the way the village prioritized repairs based not upon an annual recurring fixed budget but by looking at what percentage of our roads were starting to fall into serious disrepair. I also convinced the Board to prioritize construction of new sidewalks that were close to schools and parks that would benefit more of the village population. We changed the policy to increase the amount the village would contribute if the sidewalks were close to schools and parks and galvanized support for this new policy with residents.

I am very interested in responsible building codes and preservation of communities, while also allowing growth and progress. I’m a big supporter of parks and shared road access for pedestrians and bicyclists. Naples Pathway Coalition was one of the first local organizations I joined. Helping the large immigrant community is also of great interest to me since we helped sponsor refugees from Cambodia years ago and have aided some Haitian immigrants with immigration issues. Our family took a 7 month sabbatical in Mexico which gave me a much better perspective on what immigrants face. From a philanthropic standpoint I have heavily supported organizations that help people help themselves through micro finance and education.

I work very well in groups with brainstorming, problem solving, and trying to make things run more efficiently. I completed some very valuable training at GE called Change Acceleration Process or “CAP”, which helped organizations deal more effectively with changes they either wanted to make or were being forced to make in rapidly changing environments. I have received extensive facilitator training, and education on conflict resolution, negotiation, creative problem solving, and Six Sigma Quality.

After my experience as a Trustee, I was asked to become the Chairperson of the Historic Preservation Commission without ever having served on the Commission. Our family had personally done a tear down so I thought I would be the LAST person to be asked to serve but the feeling was that people would understand that I saw both the advantages of having Historic Preservation but also protection for individual homeowners rights. During my term we created a National Register Historic District and most importantly helped educate people so that it took away many of the misunderstandings about Historic Preservation. We created an environment where people could see the economic advantages of preservation through tax credits, while still preserving individual property rights. When we finally got the
Designation it created increased pride in our community and a recognition of how special the historic areas of our village were.

I have a deep interest in trying to get more people engaged in local communities by helping them recognize they can make a difference through either volunteering, running for office or communicating with their local officials or public employees on issues they care about. It is important for people to better understand how government works, rather than to have unrealistic expectations of how their tax dollars are spent, or the scope of what elected officials or public employees can or cannot do.
I believe the Greater Naples Leadership Program could greatly enhance my understanding of this wonderful community so that I can best find a fit for where my involvement and efforts could be employed.

Young Presidents Organization- Forum Moderator/facilitator-1990
Opportunity International-Board of Governors- 2002
Heritage Condo in Chicago Design and Engineering Committee member-2015
Member of East Naples Pickleball-2020
University Club of Chicago-member 2018

Trustee-Village of Hinsdale-1998-2000
Chairperson of Historic Preservation-2001-2004
Big Shoulders mentor-2014-2020
Platform Tennis Travel League-Captain/League facilitator, 2006-2020.
AYSO soccer coach and referee-1998
Catholic Charities- volunteered to host a Cambodian refugee family in our home-1985-86.

As a recent Naples resident, Kim is eager to learn about the community to ascertain where she wants to devote her skills and talents. Her past experience is vast and impressive, ranging from her jobs at Dow Chemical and GE to her experience in local politics and as a mentor. Kim will be a contributor to this community wherever she decides to get involved, but I was particularly excited that she wanted to be a member of GNL given her passion for civic involvement (so many of us want to volunteer with the human services or education organizations).

On the Board of Directors of Naples Council on World Affairs. On the Board of Directors of the Audubon Foundation in Naples

Mark Schwab and Gunther Winkler recommended it.

Managing Director of Europe, Middle East and Africa for Aon.

Directorships in two voluntary organizations.

Arts, real estate, tourism

Directorship experience on non-profits.

Established a new Fitness company in Naples that closed due to stresses of Covid

Audubon foundation 1 year

Robert and I serve together on the board of the Naples Council on World affairs. Currently he serves on the board as vice treasurer and he will take over the treasurer position in 2022. In this function I got to appreciate Robert very much for his professional contributions to the board. He is a knowledgeable, thoughtful, calm, goal-oriented contributor who has demonstrated great skills in working with teams and on a team. Robert moved to Audubon, where I live, recently and within a short period of time he was voted onto the Audubon Foundation board. Personally I like very much working with Robert and I hear similar responses from my NCWA board colleagues as well as from residents at Audubon. I could not envision anyone more suited for GNL than Robert.

We’ve been coming to Naples since 1986 and have had a residence here for 20 years. We try to spend the majority of the time in Naples January through April/May.
I am able to work remotely as needed and am in the process of retiring from my employment with the expectation of becoming a Florida resident in 2023

We have loved Naples as a community for a long time; have many friends who are residents and
would love to find ways to contribute more to the community and become more part of the complete fabric of the area.

As the CEO of three national financial services firms, I’ve been able to build organizations that grew in scope and scale; served customers well and provided exceptional returns to shareholders. In these roles, I had the opportunity to recruit and mentor several waves of future leadership and seen these people go on to become successful leaders in their own right.

I”ve tried to provide active leadership and support to a wide range of community organizations; among them Serving as Chairman of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce; Membership Chair of the Economic Club of Chicago and heading major committees for the Civic Committee; The Mayor’s Council for economic development, the Field Museum and The Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
The most significant were my time heading the education program for YPO Chicago Chapter and , while Chair of the Chamber of Commerce, starting The Center for Entrepreneurship which become the
Nucleus of Chicago’s Tech Incubators

I understand economic development well, Having Served as the Illinois Governor’s Economic Development Advisor. But I am equally interested and experienced with Graduate Level Educational programs and health Care systems

I have high energy; am a very skilled communicator; and can develop a vision and motivate people to move together in it’s pursuit

Recruiting a team that ended up building the most successful middle market bank in Chicago
I was able to attract bankers from larger institutions with the chance to make more of difference
And focus their efforts on customers and value creation as opposed to bureaucratic progress. This team and this structure changed the dynamic and ranking of Chicago Banks

In addition to my CEO experiences and Civic work, I spent 4 years as the Dean of the Indiana University School of Business. During my tenure we moved up to # 8 then #7 in the national rankings of MBA programs by Business week and to a #3 ranking of our undergraduate business program.

Chicago Shakespeare Threatre ( 1988-present
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerece 1996-1998 CEO; 1998-present Director
Field museum. (Trustee. 2015-present
Chicago Public Library Foundation. (Life trustee)

Economic Club of Chicago Membership Chair and Director. 1986 -1991
Civic Committee of Chicago. Director 1996-2003
World Business Chicago. Director. 1996-2003; 2012-2018
Evanston Northwestern Health Care. Director
1996-2008
The Ravinia Festival. Trustee. 1997-2009

As one can see from his CV, John is an extraordinary leader. Besides a high IQ, he has a very high EQ. In my opinion, he is exactly the kind of person that GNL is looking for and we are fortunate to engage with him at the “just right” time: he loves Naples; he is retiring in the next year and plans to spend more time in Naple, and he wants to become more involved with the Naples community.

My daughter in Ohio has been involved in Leadership Medina and Leadership Wooster. I completely agree with the mission.

I was an integral part of developing a successful business, I have extensive experience with Management Training. I am an experienced writer.

While in Florida I partnered to develop the website for the Tiger Island Estates Homeowners Association and for five years administered the website for the Classics Country Club ladies golf association: CWGAnews.com.

Education and training

Mainly my writing skills. I can take a complicated subject and communicate it clearly.

I am more a facilitator than a leader. But if the circumstance requires it, I can lead.

My husband and I developed a nationally recognized business from his entrepreneurial idea. Our company. Team Dynamics Inc., marketed and sold game day items to high schools and colleges across the country.

Retired

Classics Women’s Golf Association – Website Administrator 2013 – 2018

Tiger Island Estates HOA. Partnered with an associate to develop the HOA website.

Employment: Chairman/CEO Horizon Partners, Ltd. (moved office to Naples in 2000); Founder and Director – TGR Financial, Inc. (largest independent bank in Collier County)

Vacation: Italy/Croatia

To gain even deeper knowledge of our community. I went through Leadership Collier in 2005.

Building a financially strong and broadly diversified company with consolidated revenues in excess of $350MM in diverse businesses with great employees. Our Company has divested several of these businesses over the years. Moreover, we earned a great return for our shareholders.

The consolidation of a hospital Board of Directors (St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee) from forty to nine directors which allowed the hospital to make better positive decisions for the community.

Education and Health Care

CEO ability to build a successful business plus the recognition of the importance of collegiality in serving on a Board of Directors.

When our Company bought the Orval Kent Company in 1993, the business was losing $6.5MM. We had to completely rebuild the management team, revitalize its culture, invest in manufacturing/IT, and regain customer confidence. We made a profit within 18 months. We grew the business substantially thereafter.

I have been married to a wonderful lady for thirty years. We are proud to have a great family with eight nieces and nephews and seventeen great-nieces and nephews. Through our family foundation, we provide private high school tuition to young boys and girls with strong academics, a demonstrated desire to work hard through caddying, and leadership potential.

St. Mary’s Hospital – 1990’s
Milwaukee Art Museum – 1980’s
Evans Scholars Foundation – 2017 to present
Horizon Caddie Scholarship Foundation – 2017 to present

Vacation-Northern California, East Coast (NY, NJ and Cape Cod, Traverse City MI
Corporate Boards- I am Chairman of a publicly traded construction company and a board member of a privately held distribution company
Employment- Was Interim CFO of the distribution company after the CFO unexpectedly quit.

I am interested in learning more about the community and becoming involved in additional organizations

I was managing partner of the Kansas City office that had 150 employees. We turned around the office’s financial situation and focused on getting 100% of the employees engaged in community activities through volunteering.

I am on the board of of the Guadalupe Center in Immokalee and on the Finance Committee. We serve very important activities for the students lives

I am also on the Finance and Audit Committees of St Matthews House.

I am interested in organizations that change peoples lives for the better.

I am skilled in finance, strategy and operations. I also have been involved in turning around struggling operation.

If there is a complex challenge or problem I am interested to be part of the team to address the problems

When I became CFO at Hub Group we were struggling financially and were not followed by Wall Street analysts and the stock price was very low. I became part of a small team that addressed revenue improvements, cost structure reductions and operational improvements. Once the various initiatives were implemented our finance and operations greatly improved and we had a large increase in our stock price.

Tom is very interested in learning more about the community and how he can make an impact. He is newly retired and has additional time to commit to the community. He is very eager to learn and is committed to making a difference. Tom is strong leader in strategic thinking and financial management. Two traits that all organization could use additional help and leadership.

Since moving to Naples two years ago I was able, with little knowledge of the political landscape, to make an impact on my new community. I’ve worked with St. Matthews, the Hunger and Homeless Coalition, food banks and others. I think I could do much more benefiting from the knowledge, insight, and experience that the GNL leadership program would give me.

In the late ’70s, representing the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC, I was on a project to connect the seven nation-wide Navy labs. The government hired a contractor to come up with the network design. At the contractor’s final briefing offering a proprietary, non-standard solution, I challenged the contractors and government reps to use a set of emerging standard protocols from a DARPA research project. The architecture that I recommended, today known as the Internet, was embraced by the project.

Early this year, seeing how difficult securing a vaccination appointment was, I mobilized the Naples Woman’s Club to help people lacking computer skills or devices to secure appointments. My initial idea was paper forms in underserved areas. When I saw high-end gated communities getting on-site ‘vaccination events’, I contacted the Governor and a local commissioner’s office and submitted an application to schedule a J&J mobile van for the Golden Gate community center. Once scheduled, we contacted WINK News for publicity and we were able to vaccinate 800 people in two days.

I would like to see Collier County become a leader in digital inclusion. Underserved communities need access to affordable high-speed bandwidth, along with equipment and digital skills, to fully participate in today’s world. Universal 5G hot spots have the potential to narrow the digital divide in Greater Naples.

Understanding of technology, good writing skills, passion, and comfort working both with the government and the local community to effect change.

In the sixties I led neighborhood group to fight “white flight” in a Washington DC suburb. Not sure how successful this was.

I was born in Brooklyn and raised in New York. My children were raised in Washington DC. And I spent the last thirty-five years in Santa Barbara. We have grandchildren in NY, London and Chicago. My computer career started at Bell Labs in the ’60s and transitioned from government labs to a federally funded research center to our own software company in Santa Barbara, which we moved to Naples two years ago. I have a wide swath of experience which I can employ to make a difference in my new community.

While my two children were growing up in Washington DC, I volunteered in both public and private schools. I like to think that my volunteering had something to do with their strong sense of social justice. One child is now Deputy Director of the International Fourth World Movement, a world-wide organization focused on ending the cycle of persistent poverty. The other is communications director for the Circle for Justice Innovations, with the mission of ending mass criminalization and incarceration.

Anita is remarkable woman who has accomplished so much in her life. And after the difference she has made in monumental things like national security, she has not sat back but continues instigate change and improvements to multiple organizations within the Naples community. Anita will be a major asset to GNL.

My husband and I bought a condominium in Naples in February 2019. We planned to stay a few months a year but fell in love with the area. We have recently purchased a home, have become Florida residents, and plan to be in the greater Naples area at least six month per year.

Having lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia my entire adult life, I am not intimately acquainted with Naples and Collier County. GNL provides a unique opportunity to learn about issues affecting the area and the needs by which volunteerism can make a difference. I look forward to drawing on my experiencers in health care to contribute to Naples’ needs or completely going in a new direction utilizing my leadership skills acquired over my lifetime of work and volunteerism.

As a nurse practitioner I worked for the United States Navy in a civilian capacity in the active duty clinic at Sewells Point in Norfolk, Virginia. My primary responsibility was to see patients but I was actively involved in the leadership and training of corpsmen. I helped create training programs in physical examination, preventative care and immunization therapy.

When I became a stay at home mom I continued my involvement in health care by joining the Norfolk City Union of the Kings Daughters. This organization founded, built and ran the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia. Through the years the NCUKD has changed their mission, participating in financial development and encouraging and facilitating volunteerism. I have always been extremely active in this organization eventually becoming its president and a member of hospital board.

My education and work experiences are all in health care and health care education. I taught nursing at Norfolk General School of Nursing for three years. Health care and education are where I am most comfortable. I am, however, interested in the environment having been involved with my local and the city garden clubs. I love learning and hope to volunteer to create positive changes in the Naples community

I am positive and organized, not afraid of a challenge. I have risen to leadership roles in every organization I have been associated with from nursing and teaching, to PTA’s and garden clubs, the American Heart Association and United Way.

For several years I volunteered at Kings Grant Presbyterian Church with the Faith Based Nursing Ministry. When I first joined the group where were no guidelines and many individuals missed the services we could provided. As the leader of the ministry I helped develope early detection criteria, family counseling, referral services and spiritual and emotional care.

Faith and family have guided my volunteer endeavors. I volunteered as a “Church Nurse”, participated on various university, hospital and retirement community boards, created the first computer program in a Virginia Beach elementary school, created a program to involve local businesses in school volunteerism (Adopt-a-School Program), organized a 5K run, and chaired a city wide holiday home tour. These have all enhanced my life probably more than I helped them!

Westminster Canterbury Board of Directors, 2020-current
United Way of South Hampton Roads, Women United, 2010-current
Norfolk City Union of the Kings Daughters, member 1980-current, past president
Little Neck Garden Club, member 1990-current, past president

KGPC-Faith Based Nursing Ministry 2008-2018, past leader
Old Dominion University Board of Directors, member
American Heart Association-Development Board Chairman, 1990
PTA President Kingston Elementary School and First Colonial High School
City of Virginia Beach Adopt-a-School Program,1990-2000

I thought Helen woudl be an ideal candidate for GNL for the following reasons.

1. She has excellent people and organizational skills and welcomes a challenge.
2. She has a strong background and expertise in the Health Care industry and has expressed a sincere desire to get involved with a local organization that can benefit from her endless energy and experience.
3. She is now a Florida resident and has the time and desire to immerse herself in a local cause.
4. She has a complete and through understanding of what GNL is all about having listened to her husband, David, and I talk about GNL dozens and dozens of times and very much wants to get involved and give back to her new Community.

Vacation and volunteer at home via Zoom

To find a way of service to others

Board Chair 4 years and lead of raising funds to allow the RMcH to double its size

Magis Society in Milwaukee scholarshipping young Hispanic men to receive a solid education

education and food availability for those in need

Marketing and relationships

feasibility study to achieve new home for the Riverwesr Food pantry

Bob has the qualifications GNL is looking for in members: he is creative, thoughtful, thorough, a good thinker and problem solver, and knows how to get things done. He also has done quite a bit of fundraising which is an always welcomed trait!

As a new full-time resident, I want to learn more about the community I have enjoyed visiting for more than 20 years so that I can become an actively contributing part of the community. Although I am looking forward to enjoying more golf, travel and leisure now that I am retiring and will be in Naples full time, I also want to do more and have always been an active member in my profession and community. I want my involvement with my “new” community to be of the same quality although with a different focus. I was a member of the Leadership Buffalo Class of 1994 and know how valuable this type of experience is whatever your history with the community. I was a young professional who had been a lifelong Buffalo resident and learned things I never knew. I later assisted with the program for executives and others relocating to the area and saw how valuable that experience was to them. I want to learn as much about the available opportunities to serve upon my new full-time life in Naples.

I have “mentored” many junior attorneys over the years who are now extremely accomplished.

I served as a Board member and then President of Luminina Corporation, d/b/a Hope Chest, a not-for-profit corporation from approximately 2007-2017. Hope Chest provides positive support for breast cancer survivors through a unique paddling program with concomitant training and other nutritional and wellness support based on individual situations. Its main fundraiser is the Hope Chest Buffalo Niagara Dragon Boat Festival. During my tenure, I had the pleasure of working to transform a small paddling race on a local canal into the Festival. We were able to improve our programs and raise money for our survivors to compete in International Breast Cancer Paddlers’ Commission events in Sarasota/Bradenton and elsewhere and expand the offerings for all survivors.

I am open to learning of the needs and possibilities but at this time, I am interested in literacy, beautification, safety, economic development, and wellness.

I have organizational skills, a legal background, interest, and a desire to serve. I am also a trained and experienced mediator. Those skills are useful in many situations.

Six other female former Chairs or the New York State Bar Association Commercial & Federal Litigation Section noticed that women did not often have the lead speaking roles in litigation and complex ADR even though women comprised about 50% or more of law students and had been in the pipeline for more than 25 years. So, we created an ad hoc task force of the New York State Bar Association Commercial & Federal Litigation Section that undertook the first observational study of actual speaking appearances by women in certain state and federal courts in New York for the 4th quarter of 2016. We then compiled the data and in 2017 issued a report-“If Not Now, When? Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in the Courtroom and in ADR.” The report made recommendations for lawyers, firms, clients, and the judges. We have had positive developments from the judges. many of whom adopted rules allowing, and even encouraging, junior attorneys, both male and female, to argue parts of motions or otherwise speak in court to provide them with experience actually appearing in court. That may seem minor but it is actually quite important. Plus, we received a lot of positive feedback and ideally internal firm and client change by raising awareness of the issue. I had a judge tell me that until he saw his own results he would have thought women spoke in his courtroom more than double their actual appearances. Having the data was powerful.

The bulk of my recent civic involvement has been appointments to professional commissions, task forces, and advisory groups by the New York State and Federal Court systems and my volunteering in other professional organizations. I am looking forward to exploring other arenas and perhaps putting some of that prior experience, such as service on a Jury Commission, to use. I will be curtailing my current involvements discussed throughout other than The University of Rochester National Deans Council in 2022.

Member, The National Deans Council for Arts, Sciences and Engineering at the University of Rochester (2014-present)

Commission to Reimagine the Future of New York Courts, Commissioner, 2020-present

New York State-Federal Judicial Council Advisory Group, Co-Chair, 2008-present

New York State Chief Judge’s Commercial Division Advisory Council, Member, 2012-present

New York State Bar Association Commercial & Federal Litigation, Chair, 2000-2001, Executive Committee, 1989-present

The Buffalo Club, Director, 2018-2020

Luminina Corporation, d/b/a Hope Chest, Board Member and then President, (2007-2017)

New York’s Commission on the Jury, Commissioner, 2003-2005
Orchard Park Country Club, Chair 18 Hole Women’s Group, 2000-2001

Leadership Buffalo, Class of 1994

Mount Mercy Academy, Member, Board of Trustees and Vice-President, 1992-1999

American Lung Association, Board of Trustees, 1992-1995

As you can see from Sharon’s application, she is a very accomplished woman with much to offer the Naples area. I first observed her commitment to excellence from our high school days. She was valedictorian of our class and also involved in many extracurricular activities. Her commitment to excellence is still evident to anyone who knows her. She has had a very successful career as an attorney while contributing her talents to many organizations. Sharon would be an outstanding addition to GNL!

I was employed as the CEO of Shaw Development/Shaw Family Holdings, a Bonita Springs based company, until my semi-retirement in October of 2020. I currently serve as the Senior Managing Director of Qorval, a consulting company based in Naples.

I am interested in learning more about my community and giving back in a way that benefits not only the community by individuals while at the same time connecting with some like minded colleagues. Now that I am semi-retired I have more time to support and give back to my community utilizing my leadership skills and business experiences.

While serving 7+ years in an executive capacity at Shaw Development we were able to achieve revenue growth of 300%, while at the same time improving bottom line performance 500%. While these were outstanding achievements the most satisfying and rewarding aspect was coaching many of our employees and seeing them grow and succeed in their careers. At the same time our employee base tripled over this time period which was satisfying to see individuals and families prosper from the solid compensation and benefit programs offered to our employees.

My free time has been predominately supporting/volunteering at my local church the past 20 years. This has included teaching young children, ushering, security, and supporting various special events. I have also gone on mission trips to support poor and underprivileged areas in the US and Exuma Bahamas.

I am open to exploring many different areas but a few areas of interest include supporting local business leaders, education, community planning, and poverty/homelessness.

I am experienced in most all aspects of business having run a medium sized private corporation. My strengths include leadership development, strategy, planning, team building, financial management, relationship building, change management and executing effectively regarding complex negotiations. I am energetic management professional with 35+ years of progressive leadership experience. I have been very successful at defining compelling operational strategies, gaining organizational commitment, and developing the capabilities to achieve the vision. I am an effective analyst, problem solver and communicator. visionary and creative problem-solver with a “big picture” mentality who effectively adapts to new challenges.

While working at General Motors I was tasked with implementing lean (efficient) manufacturing/operations processes. This was a significant challenge working in union environments as there was significant resistance to change and the possiblity of reducing headcount. To gain union support we started small by training them in a classroom setting followed by implementing small improvements in manfacturing/operations. When they were able to see the benefits to the employees such as improved safety, work environment and improved team work we began to get gain their support. Additionally any displaced workers were moved to other departments, utilized to implement improvements in other areas or to bring additional work into the manufacturing plants and we followed through on this committment. Communication, training and following through on committments were key to the success of these projects.

First Assembly of God, volunteer, usher/security, teacher, 2002 – 2011

Due to my current work position, I feel and believe that I could make a significant and positive impact on the community through the contacts, resources and educational opportunities offered by GNL and their members.

It is hard to choose just one, however, being in a position of leadership, I have the honor and pleasure of setting the example of what an accountable, dependable, passionate, understanding and honest leader looks like to 100’s of young adults. It is an incredibly rewarding accomplishment to see them grow into mature and productive members of society.

I organized, planned and executed an event for our local first responders (CCPS, GNFD, etc) as a thank you for everything they do for our community. The event was wildly popular and has now become a yearly event in SWFL.

Mental Health and providing services to our underserved population in Collier County.

My current employment at the Greater Naples YMCA allows for immediate, actionable work to be done with GNL members and the community. I am outgoing, well-spoken, comfortable in new situations and passionate about impacting those around me in a positive light.

One group I led that brought about a positive change were all of the volunteer coaches at the Naples YMCA. When I took over the sports department at the YMCA 5 years ago, I was inheriting a mess. A sports program full of poor principles and leadership. I was able to rally all the coaches and staff to enact a fair play policy for all levels and sports. The change, although bumpy at first, was met with one success story after another. Now the program has over 500 participants each session!

About 6 years ago I unfortunately and quite suddenly, became really sick. I have luckily made a full recovery and today, you would never know that I was fighting for my life. That experience dramatically changed the man I am. The little insecurities and fears we all suffer from, disappeared. What did appear, was an individual that understood life is fleeting and became incredibly passionate about the things that really matter in life. Things like family, love, passion, impacting others and leaving behind a legacy and positive example for my daughter and others that will last a lifetime. I hope my future enrollment in GNL will help me fulfill my goals and dreams as a son, brother, father and positive member of society.

I would be grateful for your consideration.

n/a

While serving Chicago’s West Side for a 21 year period, I was able to experience the incredible benefit of being a member of the 2010 Leadership Greater Chicago Class. The value to my life and career was really significant as I was exposed to broader systemic issues facing Chicago. Through that exposure I built several life long friendships and collaborated with folks from my class to bring their skills, resources and talents to help improve the lives of the residents of my neighborhood (East Garfield Park.).

Having just moved to Naples and taking on the role of VP of Development at St. Matthew’s House, I would love to gain that broader understanding of Naples and Collier County, similar to my time in Chicago. While I have visited Naples each year for the last 15 years, I don’t have a solid working knowledge of the area yet. Being a part of GNL would be very valuable to me as I seek to be a part of the Naples and Collier County community.

In Chicago (between 2000-2021), I was a leader on a community revitalization project through the lens of human service and talent development. Over those years, I listened to community residents and then responded by building programs and facilities that lined up with their dreams. We built a comprehensive development system for restoring adults from housing and personal crisis to becoming community contributors. We built a youth development pipeline for ages 2-24. In 2017, in response to gun violence, we helped create a grass roots and community led strategy to reduce violence in our immediate community.

To accomplish this, my wife and I moved our family into the west side community and raised our children there. It was important for us to get as close as possible to the people experiencing poverty and struggle. Through building trust amongst our neighbors, we were progressively able to hire and and promote community members within the organization we were helping build. Ultimately over 80% of the 150 member staff were either from or lived in the immediate community.

If I had to say which part was my most significant contribution, it was that we built an organization and leadership pipeline, that allowed leadership could be transferred from a couple of us “outsiders”, to leadership that originated in the community and grown in the organization. This results in me being available to move on to a new chapter here in Naples.

My professional life and civic life have overlapped so significantly, but I’m also really proud of building community facilities to house developmental programs for local residents in East Garfield Park on Chicago’s west side. The centerpiece of facilities for me is called the Breakthrough FamilyPlex. It houses youth development programs for 1,200 children featuring academics, sports, arts and technology programs. It also contains a community cafe, adult fitness center, 10 exam room medical clinic, and an award winning preschool program.

Making it the most significant is not just because of the building, or the programs, but it is that the dream was first imagined with me and a group of teenagers from the neighborhood. It took 13 years and $15M to build it, but we got it done. Now several of those original dreamers are leaders in the facility providing opportunities for the next generation in their community.

Human Services, Affordable Housing, Youth Development/Athletics, Faith Groups

I often serve as a bridge builder for people who wouldn’t otherwise know each other. Networking is a key component in the business world, but it is also really important socially for healthy community. So often we live, worship, and work only among people who are in a very similar situation as ourselves. I have often found myself “between communities”, serving as a relationship conduit that allows those who are very stable in life to build trusting relationships with those who find themselves in the margins of our society battling poverty, addiction, and homelessness.

I have also organized basketball festivals, and outdoor community events that attracted a few thousand people.

At Christmas of 2005-ish, I found myself speaking to a woman’s group on Chicago’s northshore. It was their annual Christmas luncheon. While I gave an introduction of the non-profit I was representing, we spent most of our time discussing how the families could accomplish meaningful work with their families over the holidays.

The following week, 15 of the women came to Chicago’s west side and toured my community with me. They caught a vision, and it resulted in over a dozen families getting involved right away to make that Christmas special for the program participants. Now they have been involved for the last 16 years. They’ve built libraries, created flower gardens, raised millions of dollars, produced inspiring videos, funded college scholarships, and volunteered thousands of hours to the rebuilding of the neighborhood that wasn’t their own.