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Officers
President: Susan Ponder-Stansel, MSW, LCSW, Jacksonville
Susan Ponder-Stansel began her career with Community Hospice as a volunteer clinical social worker in 1985, having just earned her Master’s Degree in social work. She became President CEO of Community Hospice in April 1991. Ponder-Stansel is a current and past member of numerous boards including United Way of St. Johns County, Trustee Level Member of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, as well as the National Home Care and Hospice Association Hospice Board of Advisors; the Florida Hospice and Palliative Care Association Board of Directors; the Flagler Hospital Board of Trustees, Penney Farms Retirement Community Board of Trustees and is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of the Northeast Florida Regional Health Planning Council. She is a board certified licensed clinical social worker, a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and is an Advanced Certified Hospice Executive. She has held various leadership and community service positions in St. Augustine, including serving as President of the Junior Service League during the time it was leading the restoration of the St. Augustine Lighthouse and establishing the Museum there. She is currently involved in the work of a group of community leaders who taking steps to make St. Augustine and St. Johns County an age-friendly community. Ponder-Stansel is a long-time resident of St. Augustine and is the proud mother of a graduate of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville.
President-Elect: Charles F. Robinson, Clearwater
Charles F. Robinson is a Board Certified Elder Law Attorney who has specialized in planning for the elderly, disabled and people with special needs for over 30 years. He is accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs for Veterans Benefits Planning and has served on the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas, Inc. Board for over 25 years, twice as President and once as Treasurer. He is vice-chair of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs Advisory Council. He is a member and Past Chair of the Elder Law Section. Robinson served for several years on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging. Robinson is a popular speaker with professionals and lay people locally as well as nationally on the topics of Elder Law and Future of the Legal Profession. He has won numerous awards and honors from The Florida Bar while advocating for the elderly, including their Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a graduate of the University of Florida for both his BA and Juris Doctorate Degrees. Robinson has been practicing attorney in Clearwater since 1967. In 2016 he affiliated with the Special Needs Lawyers, PA firm in Clearwater.
Secretary: Christine Cauffield, PhD, Jacksonville
Dr. Christine Cauffield is the CEO of Lutheran Services Florida (LSF) Health Systems, the second largest Managing Entity in the State of Florida. LSF Health Systems provides funding and oversight for 37 Behavioral Health Care organizations in a 23 county region serving Northeast and North Central Florida. Dr. Cauffield also serves as Vice President of Substance Abuse and Mental Health for LSF. She has developed national Best-Practice models that include in-home/on-site care, out-patient, inpatient and acute care hospital based units. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Brain Injury Association of Florida and on the Florida Smart Justice Alliance. Dr. Cauffield received her doctorate Degree in Clinical Psychology from Florida Tech University and completed her Internship and Post-Doctoral Residency at Harvard Medical School, where she specialized in Geriatric Neuropsychology. Dr. Cauffield is a Leadership Alumna and has written numerous articles and book chapters on senior behavioral health issues. She has appeared on CNN Nightly News, ABC Prime Time, AP Press and several other national and international media.
Treasurer: Darrell Drummond, Port St. Lucie
Darrell Drummond is the President/CEO of Council on Aging of St. Lucie, Inc., a non-profit lead agency founded in 1973. Council on Aging of St. Lucie provides senior programs for elders within the County and is the transportation provider of all public transportation for the County. The Council also employs 120 employees with an annual budget of $10 million. Drummond is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. Drummond has worked more than twenty years for Council on Aging of St. Lucie. He is the Treasurer of the Florida Council on Aging and currently 1st Vice President of the Florida Association of Aging Services Providers. He is a past President of the Community Care for the Elderly Coalition of Florida and St. Lucie County Chamber of Commerce. Drummond served for ten years on the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority Board. He served eight years as a City Commissioner for Fort Pierce, Florida. Drummond was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to serve on the Committee for a Sustainable Treasure Coast representing seniors and transportation. He is currently the Chairman of the St. Lucie County Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), having served continuously for 28 years.
Immediate Past President: LuMarie Polivka-West, MSP, Tallahassee
LuMarie Polivka-West, MSP, joined the Florida State University Claude Pepper Center in October 2015 as a Sr. Research Associate (volunteer) after retiring from 23 years with the Florida Health Care Association, previously the Sr. Vice President for Policy and Program Development with responsibility for the planning and implementation of long term care related policies and programs, and staffing the Quality Credentialing Program. Polivka-West is a past Florida Director of Licensure and Certification with the Agency for Health Care Administration, HRS Medicaid Program Development Chief and Aging Community-Based Services Chief with over 20 years in state government. Polivka-West is the Past President and Trustee of the Florida Council on Aging and the Florida CHAIN Board of Directors, a health care advocacy organization; Pioneer Network Steering Committee; past president of the Tallahassee Alzheimer Resource Center Board; and is a member of the Tallahassee Community Chorus. She received a BA in English Literature from the University of Tennessee and an MS Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida State University, where she was an adjunct faculty for fifteen years teaching graduate and undergraduate students on health care regulation.
DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVES
District I Representative: Rodney Guttmann, PhD, Pensacola
Dr. Rodney Guttmann completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Florida State University in 1991. He then earned his PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Pharmacology with research focused on understanding the impact of oxidative stress on Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and then joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky in 2001 in the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging where he continued his research in neurodegeneration. Since 2011, Dr. Guttmann has been at the University of West Florida (UWF) in Pensacola, Florida and is currently Professor and Director of the UWF Center on Aging that focuses on both outreach to the community and research investigating Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Guttmann also serves on a variety of community committees and boards to serve the needs of older adults such as the Foundation for Indigent Guardianship, West Florida Public Library Board of Governance, and Covenant Hospice Board of Directors.
District II Representative: Sheila Salyer, Tallahassee
Sheila Salyer has served in the aging field for 30 years. She is currently the manager of the City of Tallahassee Senior Services and Director of the nationally accredited Tallahassee Senior Center and Foundation, which includes 15 satellite sites throughout the Capital City and Leon County. Salyer also facilitates the AARP Age-Friendly Cities Project. She was a 2005 White House Conference on Aging delegate and served six years as the Florida delegate to the National Institute of Senior Centers. She is a past president of the Florida Association of Senior Centers and was instrumental in helping make senior centers part of Florida Statutes. Salyer began her career in aging with senior volunteer programs at Elder Care Services. She continues to invest in programs to keep people active, well and connected to their communities. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in sociology and gerontology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a Master’s Degree, also from Miami of Ohio.
District III Representative: Ann Thompson, Dowling Park
Ann Thompson is the Vice President of Member Services for Advent Christian Village in Dowling Park, FL beginning there in 2006. She was previously the Administrator of Cathedral Residences for 20 years in Jacksonville, FL. During that time she served on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Homes and Services for Aging. Thompson served on the Board of Directors for Florida Association of Homes and Services for Aging and she also served as the President of that Board. Early in her career she was with the Florida Department of Family and Children’s Services, Adult Services Division as Program Specialist. She is currently involved in community service organizations and church related organizations.
District IV Representative: Teresa (Terri) Barton, MBA, Jacksonville
Teresa Barton is the CEO of Aging True Community Senior Services, the Community Care for the Elderly (CCE) lead agency in Duval County. Aging True also provides other additional programs and services designed specifically to address the health, nutritional, financial, housing, and social wellbeing of senior and disabled adults. Barton is the Past-President of the CCE Coalition of Florida. She serves as a Board member of the Florida Association of Aging Services Providers (FASP), and is a member of Florida Council on Aging (FCOA). Barton holds a Master’s Degree of Business Administration from Jacksonville University.
District V Representative: William (Bill) Aycrigg, MSW, Hudson
Bill Aycrigg retired as the President/CEO of Community Aging & Retirement Services, Inc. (CARES, Inc.) in Hudson, FL in December 2015. In 2015, Aycrigg joined the Adjunct Faculty of Saint Leo University in the Master of Social Work Department. Aycrigg is a 23-year member of FCOA, served as President of the Board of Trustees from 2011-2013, previously serving on the Board in different capacities and chaired the Advocacy Committee in 2009 and 2010. He has served on the Board of Directors of Florida Association of Aging Services Providers, Community Care for the Elderly Lead Agency Coalition, the Family Alzheimer's Organization, the Guardianship Program of Pasco County and Leadership Pasco where he directed the Senior Leadership program. Aycrigg holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Iowa and is a licensed clinical social worker.
District VI Representative: Kathryn (Kathy) Hyer, PhD, MPP, Tampa
Dr. Kathy Hyer is a tenured Professor in the School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida (USF) and Director, Florida Policy Exchange Center on Aging. Dr. Hyer has been a member of FCOA since 2000. She teaches long-term care, healthcare risk management, and policy courses at USF and writes extensively about quality and outcomes of care in nursing homes, assisted living and the community. She is a nationally recognized expert on evaluation of health professions education and team-based training programs. As evaluator of the University of South Florida’s $2.4 million Geriatric Workforce Enhance Program grant, she helps assess learning outcomes. She is a member of the Florida Governor's Panel on Excellence in Long-Term Care, the Nursing Home Gold Seal Award panel. She won the American Society on Aging's Gloria Cavanaugh Award for developing outstanding education and training programs. Since 2001, Hyer has been Principle Investigator of the Alzheimer’s Disease Training Curriculum and Provider Review and Approval Program funded by DOEA. She serves on the Board of Directors for Empath Hospice (formerly Suncoast Hospice) PACE and Care Boards. She received her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and her PhD in Public Administration from Arizona State University.
District VII Representative: Randy Hunt, Orlando
Randy Hunt has been a CEO for 39 years in multiple settings. Currently, he is the CEO of Senior Resource Alliance, Inc. (SRA) the Area Agency on Aging in Central Florida which is accountable to ensure Florida’s elder population has services to help them age in place. Hunt is an Adjunct Professor at Valencia Community College teaching Business courses since 2004. Hunt became the President & CEO of Seniors First, Inc. in April 2002 leading the agency from indebtedness to financial stability during his 5 years at the agency. Further, the agency Foundation increased and realized gifts in the amount of over $1 million. Previously, Hunt worked in the Mental Health field in Peoria, Illinois with high risk adolescents. Hunt managed a staff of 50 employees and a budget of $2.5 million. During his tenure he established a Foundation with a corpus of approximately $2 million. Further, under his leadership the agency was a State and National Leader in substance abuse and sex offender programs. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Bradley University and an MBA from the University of Illinois.
District VIII Representative: Erin McLeod, Sarasota
Erin McLeod is President & CEO for Friendship Centers, Inc., a regional non-profit that has served seniors, families and caregivers, promoting health, dignity, and quality of life throughout the journey of aging since 1973. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in public relations from the University of Florida, and has completed non-profit management and gerontology coursework. McLeod has a broad experience career base in consulting, healthcare, hospitality and non-profits. A Sarasota resident for 33 years, she has served board, advisory and leadership roles for a variety of community organizations, including current service as a Trustee for Florida Council on Aging and board member for the Southwest Florida Planned Giving Council.
District IX Representative: Pamela Wiener, PhD, West Palm Beach
Pamela Wiener is the Elder Care & Crisis Manager of the West Palm Beach Housing Authority (WPBHA) and Managing Director of it’s non-profit, Pine Ridge Holistic Living Center. She provides crisis intervention across the lifespan and a range of services to extremely low-income public housing residents ages 62 and older, most of whom are immigrants. Wiener interprets and translates under a variety of circumstances for her clients in CARES evaluations, court dates, etc. Her work is a balance of linking individuals with public benefits, doing immigration and naturalization work and working in the home on an intimate basis with residents to get them whatever they need. She is also engaged in developing several other housing options for low income seniors in West Palm Beach. Wiener has been a member of FCOA since 2003. She is vice president of the Partnership for Aging of Palm Beach County and has also served on that board in other capacities. Wiener recently timed out of her stint on the Advisory Council of the ADRC of the Treasure Coast and the Palm Beaches. She holds a BA in foreign languages (Adelphi University), an MSSW (University of Texas/Arlington), and a PhD in social welfare from the University at Albany, SUNY. She started her social work career in volunteer management, and her gerontology career in an adult day care setting in Jerusalem. She has worked in Israel, NY, TX, ME, CA, and FL and is trilingual.