Guy Whitesman

FORT MYERS, Fla. (July 8, 2015) – The Southwest Florida Community Foundation has installed its new board of trustees and executive committee chairs.

Guy E. Whitesman will serve as the new chairman of the board. 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.

Whitesman received his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and his Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida. Whitesman concentrates his practice in the areas of taxation, business and estate planning (business creation, operations, acquisitions, mergers and health care law). He has been active in community affairs in Southwest Florida and became a member of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation’s board or trustees in July 2009. Whitesman is currently a member of the board of directors of the Edison Ford Winter Estates Foundation, Inc., Community Cooperative and the Edison Pageant of Light of Fort Myers, Inc.

Other trustees taking leadership roles include Larry Hobbs, MD, vice chair and governance committee chair; Joe Mazurkiewicz, Jr., immediate past chair; Sandy Robinson, treasurer and finance chair; Craig Folk, grantmaking committee chair; Christopher Hill, scholarship committee chair; Rusty Whitley, audit committee chair; and Robbie Roepstorff and Gay Thompson as at-large executive committee members.

As leaders, conveners, grant makers and concierges of philanthropy, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation is a foundation built on community leadership with an inspired history of fostering regional change for the common good in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. The Community Foundation, founded in 1976, connects donors and their philanthropic aspirations with evolving community needs. With assets of more than $88 million, the Community Foundation has provided $61.2 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. Last year, it granted more than $2.9 million to nonprofit organizations supporting education, animal welfare, arts, healthcare and human services. It granted $782,000 in nonprofit grants including more than $551,000 in regional community impact grants and additional $450,000 in scholarship grants.

For more information about the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, call 239-274-5900 or visit www.floridacommunity.com.

Larry Hobbs, MD

Joe Mazurkiewicz

Sandy Robinson

Rusty Whitley

Craig R. Folk

Christopher Hill

Robbie Roepstorff

Gay Thompson