FORT MYERS, Fla. (Aug. 13, 2013) – The Southwest Florida Community Foundation announces its new board of trustees leadership team, effective July 1, which coincides with the start of its new fiscal year.
Joe Mazurkiewicz has been elected as the Community Foundation’s new chairman of the board of trustees. Mazurkiewicz is the president of BJM Consulting Inc., a firm that specializes in local government activities. Elected as Mayor of Cape Coral in 1983 and having served for 10 years, he led the city in its attempt to change from a bedroom community to an urban center. Presently, Mazurkiewicz works on a variety of local issues ranging from land use cases to incorporation studies, and his company has completed incorporation studies for numerous areas in Southwest Florida. He attended the University of Florida where he studied engineering and earned his bachelor’s degree in administration from Barry University, a Master of Science in administration from Central Michigan University and a Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in public administration cum laude from Stamford Hill University. He is currently an MBA facilitator at Keiser University’s Fort Myers’ campus.
Mazurkiewicz joined the Community Foundation board in 2003. He also serves as trustee member of the Ruth Cooper Center for Behavioral Health Care board, executive director of the Council for Progress Foundation, board member of Gulf Coast Village, board member for the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Lee Memorial Community Visioning Committee and executive director of the Southwest Florida Leadership Initiative. He has also served as chairman for the Leadership Cape Coral Class of 2000, appointed to serve on the Florida Transportation Commission in 2008 by Governor Charlie Crist and served as chairman in 2011, and was a member of Lee County’s Local Planning Agency.
“We are very pleased to have someone with Joe’s experience and passion leading our board for the next two years,” said Sarah Owen, president and CEO of the SWFLCF. “Our Asset Development Committee as well as our Strategic Planning Committee have both benefited from his professional knowledge and experience, and we are excited for the leadership he will bring as we move into a new era for the foundation.”
Dawn-Marie Driscoll will serve as immediate past chair. Driscoll, a former attorney, is currently director of Deutsche Bank mutual funds and an emeritus executive fellow at the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University. She has been on the faculty of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association and has been appointed a visiting scholar at two prominent universities. A frequent moderator and presenter on business ethics issues in the U.S. and England, Driscoll has also written several books and numerous articles about business ethics in the United States, Asia and Europe.
Guy E. Whitesman has been appointed as the Community Foundation’s new vice chair. He is a shareholder and chair of the Business and Tax Department of the law firm of Henderson, Franklin Starnes & Holt, P.A., in Fort Myers. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1978 and Juris Doctor in 1981 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Master of Laws in Taxation in 1985 from the University of Florida. He has been board certified in tax law since 1992 and is past chairman of the Tax Certification Committee, which oversees the board certification process in tax law and is also a past chair of the Tax Section of The Florida Bar. He has been active in community affairs in Southwest Florida and became a member of the foundation’s board in July 2009. He has served as a director and past president of the Jewish Federation of Lee and Charlotte counties, a founding trustee of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southwest Florida, director and past president of the of the Rotary Club of Fort Myers South, a trustee emeritus and past president of the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium and as director of the Edison Pageant of Light of Fort Myers, Inc. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the Edison Ford Winter Estates Foundation, Inc., the Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc. and a trustee of the University of Florida Levin College of Law Center, Inc.
Gay Rebel Thompson has been elected as the SWFLCF’s new secretary/treasurer. She is CEO, President and Chairman of Cement Industries, Inc., a construction products manufacturing company founded by her father in Fort Myers in 1953. A fourth generation Floridian, Thompson has been involved in the community for many years. She was the first female president of the Downtown Rotary Club and the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce. She has served as campaign chair and chair of the United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades. She is the board secretary of the PACE Center for Girls and is a founding member of the SWFLCF’s Women’s Legacy Fund. In 2003, the Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida recognized Thompson as a Laureate. She recently completed a six-year term on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Miami Branch.
The Southwest Florida Community Foundation is celebrating its 36th year of supporting the communities of Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades and Hendry counties by connecting donors and their philanthropic aspirations with evolving community needs. With assets of more than $69 million, the Community Foundation has provided more than $55 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. During its 2012 fiscal year, the SWFLCF granted more than $3 million to more than 100 different organizations supporting education, animal welfare, arts and human services.
For more information, visit the Community Foundation’s website at www.floridacommunity.com or call 239-274-5900.
