Board of Directors

Officers

                Bill Fenniman                           Greg Tolley, Ph.D.                         Janie Howland                             Ron Gibson  
                   President                                Vice President                                Secretary                                  Treasurer

Board Members

                  Bill Burch                                  Jim Haggart                              Doris Holzheimer                          John La Gorce



               Tom Lagan                                David Lowden                                 Paul Roth                               Martha Siders


         Barbara Von Harten                       Art Weissbach                            Carol Ann Zell

Board Biographies

William W. Fenniman, President
Bill Fenniman retired in 1999, after serving as CEO and President of the Hemisphere Group in Boston; prior to that, he was the Chief Marketing Officer of the National Life Insurance Company on Vermont.  He moved here permanently after retiring, having purchased property on Captiva in 1981. Bill is currently Vice President and Treasurer of the Island Water Association, and he has served as President of the Captiva Civic Association. Following Hurricane Charley in 2004, he was appointed Chairman of the Captiva Reforestation Committee.


S. Gregory Tolley, Ph.D., Vice President
Dr. Greg Tolley is Professor of Marine Science at Florida Gulf Coast University and was the founding Director of FGCU's Coastal Watershed Institute. He received the Knight Fellowship in Marine Science at the University of South Florida, where he received his doctoral degree. Tolley’s current research interests focus on the influence of freshwater inflow on estuarine ecosystems and aquatic resources. He chairs the Advisory Board of the Florida Institute of Oceanography and is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and of the Conservation and Research Advisory Committee of The Florida Aquarium.


Janie Howland, Secretary
After moving to Sanibel in late 1982, Janie Howland's first job was at SCCF. In 1986, she started Island Homewatch, Inc., and in 1998, she started her real estate career and is currently affiliated with Re/Max of the Islands. Over the years, she has volunteered at the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge and the International Osprey Foundation. She has been a member of the board and Treasurer of Community Housing and Resources, Inc. and has served previously on the SCCF board.


Ron Gibson, Treasurer
Ron Gibson held executive positions with several East Coast brokerage firms, including Vice President of Operations for Baltimore-based Legg Mason, and Principal and Board Member for Phase 3/Sungard Systems of Waltham, Massachusetts.  Retiring in 1992, he continued to consult until 2001.  He is Commodore of the Captiva Island Yacht Club and serves on the board of directors for the Good Neighbor Community Foundation of Sanibel-Captiva and the Captiva Community Panel.  He is a certified Fire Fighter One Volunteer at the Captiva Fire Department.  Ron served on the SCCF Board from 1998 through 2002 and was vice president in 2001 and 2002.


Bill Burch
Soon after Bill Burch and his wife Tory moved to Sanibel in December 1996, they became involved with SCCF’s sea turtle program. From 1999 to 2008, they oversaw Sanibel’s East End beaches; they are still permittees. For the past six years Bill has been a naturalist and boat captain with Tarpon Bay Explorers. He is an active member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, a Qualified Crewman for the Coast Guard Station at Fort Myers Beach and he holds a U. S. Merchant Marine 100 Ton Master’s License. Bill is a retired lawyer, with both his B.B.A. and J.D. from Loyola University in New Orleans. From 1982 until his retirement, Bill was the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Loudon County, Virginia.


Jim Haggart
Jim Haggart practiced law in Omaha for more than 35 years before he and his wife Nickie moved to Sanibel in 1992.  Most of his pro bono legal work was devoted to protecting the Platte River and its tributaries from further degradation by public dam and irrigation projects.  Jim was the first Nebraskan elected to the Board of Directors of the National Audubon Society, where he chaired the Board’s Environmental Education Committee and was a member of the Executive Committee.  He and Rae Ann Wessel were co-founders and the first and second presidents of the Caloosahatchee River Citizens Association.  He served before on the board and as Chair of its Land Acquisition Committee.


Doris Holzheimer
Doris and her husband, Gordon Hullar have owned a house on Captiva since 1984. Doris is a Commissioner and Vice Chairman of the Captiva Erosion Prevention District and has led the Captiva Hurricane Preparation and Response Committee. She is the past president of the board of Women Helping Women of Hamilton County, Ohio and is on the Advisory Board to the Dean of her alma mater, the College of Arts & Science at Miami University. Doris and Gordon own a wine distribution company headquartered in Mason, Ohio. She worked for Procter & Gamble for 20 years, leading strategic planning for the worldwide manufacturing and sales organizations. As an on-loan executive, she assisted the Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent.


John La Gorce
John La Gorce was a partner in a natural resource exploration and development company in South America, and a partner in a real estate investment company. While owning an independent documentary film company, he co-produced several productions with BBC-TV and also taught photojournalism, cinematography and film editing.  He was active in Virginia conservation issues.   John has been a full-time Sanibel resident since 1995 and has been an active supporter of Sanibel's cultural, wildlife and conservation organizations. 


Tom Lagan
Tom Lagan retired as Senior Vice President of Operations for Publishers Clearinghouse after a 40-year career there.  He was a Board member of the Advertising Mail Marketing Association and an active member of the Direct Marketing Association, both based in Washington, D.C.  He received numerous prestigious Direct Mail Marketing awards and wrote articles for several trade journals.  Tom is involved in the Bayous Preservation Association and the Sanibel Captiva Power Squadron.



David Lowden
David Lowden has worked as a Senior Banker with Bank of America on Sanibel for the past 13 years.   Originally from Ohio, he first began visiting the island as a child and moved here in 1986 shortly after graduating from the University of Colorado in Boulder.  David’s commitment to the Florida marine environment grew out of a love for windsurfing, kayaking and canoeing the local waterways.  In 2001 he joined SCCF’s efforts as a site captain on International Coastal Cleanup Day and he has continued his involvement ever since.  


Paul Roth
Returning to the SCCF board, Paul is looking forward to continuing his long association with the Foundation and resuming responsibility as a trustee. Paul and Lucy first came to Sanibel with their children in 1972. They have lived here a total of 11 years, interrupted by a five-year stint in Santa Fe, NM. Paul graduated from the University of Missouri and attended graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis. His thirty-five-year career was with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (now AT&T); he retired in 1991 as president of the company’s Texas Division. He has served on a variety of corporate and nonprofit boards, including the Sanibel Public Library, and remains active in the Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ.


Martha Siders
Martha, her husband Rick and family first came to Sanibel in 1975, and they purchased a residence in 1990. Martha holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Michigan, as well as an M.A. from the University of Toledo where she was an Instructor in Geography. She has been a board member of the AAUW, League of Women Voters and the Auxiliary to the Academy of Medicine in Toledo. She was president of the board of Toledo’s Mobile Meals and Mobile Market. Most recently Martha served on the board of Gulfside Place Condominium Association, dealing with the issues involved in the rebuilding of the complex after Hurricane Charley.


Barbara Von Harten
Barbara Von Harten has been the Principal of The Sanibel School for 10 years.  The top-performing K-8 school in Florida, the school recently received a National Blue Ribbon School designation.  Von Harten brings experience as a classroom teacher, behavior specialist, program coordinator, assistant principal, and principal and has 21 years experience as an administrator in Lee County. She was recognized as the 2003 Citizen of the Year by the Sanibel-Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce.


Art Weissbach
Art Weissbach retired as a biochemist and molecular biologist for the National Institutes of Health/Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, and he is currently a scientist in the Biotechnical Division of Florida Gulf Coast University, where he is studying the Dengue virus.  He served on the Board previously, heading the Marine Lab Committee and also chairing the Environmental Affairs Committee.  Before moving to Fort Myers in 2005, he lived on Sanibel for 17 years, and chaired the City of Sanibel's Vegetation Committee.



Carol Ann Zell
Carol Ann Zell had spent most of her life in Southern California before moving to Sanibel with her husband, Peter, in late 2005. With a B.S. Degree in Communications, she was a television news writer, reporter, producer and anchor in Los Angeles before switching to public relations, advertising and marketing. Carol held a variety of managerial positions in the private and public sectors encompassing community and media relations, public education and fund development.