Trustee Emeritus

Trustees who have served with distinction for some minimum period of service, whose commitment to the institution remains strong.

Jerry Hussey

Jerry Hussey is a former president of the board for the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. He was also a prominent banker within the Southwest Florida community.

Jerry was previously president of the Fort Myers Kiwanis Club, the Edison Pageant of Light, and many other civic organizations.

Jerry currently resides in Southwest Florida.

Jim McFadden

Also a former Executive Director of the Foundation, Jim McFadden also served as President of First National Bank in Fort Myers.

Dr. Robin Brown

As a former Trustee for the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, Dr. Robin Brown served Southwest Florida as a prominent Ear Nose and Throat Physician. Now retired, Dr. Brown is recognized as a Caloosa Indian Historian and has published several books on the subject.

CAROLYN ROGERS

Carolyn has more than 20 years experience in public relations, marketing, and fund development for non-profit organizations. She most recently received a Golden Image Award from the Florida Public Relations Association for the best public relations program in the state for the Rock On Scramble and Jam rock legends concert and golf event held last year.

Carolyn is accredited as a public relations professional (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America and certified as a Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) through the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy and the National Society of Fund Raising Executives.

Prior to co-founding Briggs & Rogers Marketing and Public Relations, she was the owner of Carolyn Rogers Public Relations, a small PR agency established in 2005 handling PR programs for a variety of clients and managed special event planning for An Evening with Jane Pauley, The Rock On Scramble & Jam and the Southwest Florida Wine Fest 2006 & 2007.

Carolyn worked in the field of public relations for ten years handling healthcare marketing for University Community Hospital in Tampa and physician practices in the Fort Myers area before joining the staff of Lee Memorial Health System as the director of development for The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. At Lee Memorial, Carolyn was responsible for all fund raising activities, donor relations, special events, major gift solicitation and planned giving along with coordinating an advisory board with a mission of development and child advocacy for The Children’s Hospital.

Later, Carolyn became director of development at Canterbury School in Fort Myers, Florida, the county’s most prestigious private independent school where she was responsible for the public relations and development activities.

A long-time resident of Southwest Florida, Carolyn Rogers attended the University of South Florida in Tampa and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications specializing in public relations. She has been a member of the Board of Trustees for the Southwest Florida Community Foundation since 2000, an alumni member of the Leadership Lee County (Class of 1996), a member of the United Way Allocations Team and a volunteer with the Heights Foundation. She has served as the vice president of the Planned Giving Council and as co-chairman of the award-winning Leave a Legacy campaign in Lee County for three years.

Steve Pontius

Steven Pontius is currently the Executive Vice President of Waterman Broadcasting and General Manager of NBC-2 WBBH-TV. He is also responsible for the operation of Fort Myer’s based ABC-7 WZVN-TV and WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, Virginia. Steve is currently a Director of the Florida Association of Broadcasters, where he served as the Association’s chairman in 2000. He has also served as President of both the Southwest Florida Association of Broadcasters and the Broadcast Executives Association of Texas.

What is a community foundation?
A community foundation is a public, nonprofit, nonsectarian philanthropic organization that is a repository of endowed funds that promote the health, growth, and longevity of a particular geographic area - in our case, communities in Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades, and Hendry counties in Southwest Florida.

A community foundation is overseen by a volunteer board of community leaders who are representative of the communities served. It is also run by professionals with expertise in identifying their communities’ needs.