Board of Directors

Florette Braun

Florida Power & Light Company is the largest electric utility in Florida and one of the largest rate-regulated utilities in the United States. FPL serves approximately 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida and is a leading employer in the state with more than 10,000 employees. The company consistently outperforms national averages for service reliability while customer bills are below the national average. A clean energy leader, FPL has one of the lowest emissions profiles and one of the leading energy efficiency programs among utilities nationwide. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy, Inc.

Florette Braun is an Environmental Licensing Manager with the Environmental Services Department of Florida Power & Light Company. FPL is an electric utility company serving more than 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida, and along with its parent company NextEra Energy, Inc, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels.  With an educational background in Environmental Science and Environmental and Urban Systems, Ms. Braun has been with the company for over 25 years.

Ms. Braun has many years of experience with the siting and licensing of electrical facilities under a variety of permitting processes.  She has managed major transmission line and power plant projects in many regions of the state, including facilitating dialog with interest groups and agencies to achieve solutions on controversial projects.  She also has a broad background in public participation, and is a past Chair of the Edison Electric Institute’s Public Participation Task Force.  Ms. Braun’s experience also extends to a variety of ecological and growth management related issues.

Ms. Braun has also been responsible for facilitating the cooperative coexistence of Everglades Restoration Projects with FPL’s extensive network of electrical facilities in south Florida. This has involved finding solutions, seeking compromise and negotiating compatibility agreements with the implementing agencies in the area of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

Ms. Braun has been involved in a number of volunteer organizations and Boards and currently serves on the board of Sustainable Florida, which is dedicated to promoting and expanding sustainable practices and programs in Florida.

Tammy Brister
Manager, Environmental Integration, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts US

Tammy is the manager of environmental integration for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S., and she has been a Cast Member at the Walt Disney World Resort for 21 years.  Her role is to facilitate the implementation of The Walt Disney Company environmental strategy through partnerships with internal departments, other Disney parks around the world, and the corporate citizenship team.  She is currently working with several teams to  implement solutions that will help reduce Walt Disney World’s impact on the environment in the areas of waste minimization, energy conservation and individual behavior change.  Tammy received her bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and her master’s degree in Simulation Systems from the University of Central Florida, and she has been a Sustainable Florida Board member since 2009.

Eric Draper
Executive Director, Audubon of Florida

Over the past 14 years Draper helped orchestrate organizational growth for Audubon of Florida, which now employs more than 50 people with an annual budget of more than $5 million.  Florida Audubon’s 100-year history as the Voice of Conservation is now backed by four science research centers, a suite of sanctuaries, 44 local chapters, and the state’s most effective conservation advocacy operation. Draper and Audubon have played key roles in promoting Everglades restoration and Florida Forever while defending state water policies and advancing clean energy legislative proposals.

Lisa Edgar, Esq.
Commissioner, Florida Public Service Commission

Lisa Polak Edgar is a Florida Public Service Commissioner, appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in 2005 and reappointed by Governor Charlie Crist in 2009.  From 2006-2008, she served as Chairman and was a member of the Florida Energy Commission and the Governor’s Action Team on Energy and Climate Change.  During her first term, Edgar worked to develop policies to strengthen the state’s electric infrastructure, establish net metering rules that encourage renewable energy development, and further the diversification of Florida’s fuel supply.

A former Deputy Secretary for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Edgar oversaw the agency’s $2.1 billion budget, strategic planning, and coordination of state and federal environmental issues, including oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Edgar received her Bachelor of Science and Juris Doctorate degrees from Florida State University and is a member of the Florida Bar.  She is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Board of Directors and serves on the Committees on Electricity and Consumer Affairs.  She also serves on the Board of Directors of Sustainable Florida – Collins Center and is a member of Leadership Florida and the Capital Tiger Bay Club.

Michael Hewett
Director of Environmental and Sustainability Programs

Michael Hewett has over twenty years of experience in environmental management, including regulatory compliance and sustainability programs.  Beginning his career with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Michael spent eight years developing rules and setting regulatory policy while partnering with the Federal EPA and various State and Local governments.  The balance of Michael’s career has been spent helping corporations build strong environmental compliance programs and sustainable business strategies.  Currently, Michael manages the Sustainability and Environmental Compliance programs for Publix Super Markets, Inc.

Michael has a masters degree in Environmental Engineering and is a licensed Professional Engineer.  He is currently a member of the Food Marketing Institute’s Sustainability Leadership Committee, the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s Sustainability Initiative, the Florida Retail Federation’s Sustainability Council, and he is a Council for Sustainable Florida board member.

Gary K. Hunter, Jr.
Attorney, Hopping Green & Sams
http://www.hgslaw.com/lawyers/gary-k-hunter-jr.html

Experience:
• Represents clients before local government boards on land use permitting/entitlements, including comprehensive plan amendments, rezonings, variances and all aspects of securing development permits for real property.
• Represents clients before the Florida Legislature on all aspects of Florida comprehensive planning/concurrency and other growth management issues.
• Advocates for client related comprehensive plan amendments before the Florida Department of Community Affairs.
• Litigation counsel for private property owners under the Bert J. Harris Private Property Rights Act.
• Litigation counsel in defense and prosecution of property and personal injury toxic tort actions in both federal and state courts.
• Represents clients in forestry/silviculture litigation, construction litigation and commercial/contractual litigation.

Jerry Karnas,
Communication Director, Everglades Foundation

http://www.evergladesfoundation.org/

Bio Coming Soon!

Joe Kilsheimer
Joe Kilsheimer Consulting

Joe Kilsheimer is a veteran strategist in public relations and public affairs message development, issue and exposure management, crisis communications planning and execution, media negotiations, media training and coaching, senior executive communications, press release preparation, case studies and ghost-writing. In recent years, Kilsheimer has represented some of Florida’s leading growth companies, particularly focusing on companies with thorny PR issues. These include: the nation’s largest operator of waste-to-energy facilities, which faces significant PR issues in five Florida markets; Florida’s fastest growing financial services company and one of Florida’s largest not-for-profit community-based hospitals.

Kilsheimer is a former journalist with more than 20 years of experience. At The Orlando Sentinel, Kilsheimer covered personal technology and the information technology industry, telecom, real estate and local government. In 1994, Kilsheimer created the Sentinel’s Internet beat, covering the rise of the Internet as a cultural phenomenon. He interviewed and covered leading IT industry figures, such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Jeff Raikes, Sun Microsystem’s Scott McNealy and Netscape’s Jim Barksdale. His bylines appeared in publications ranging from the Chicago Tribune to the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times. Kilsheimer has written freelance stories on subjects ranging from Tiger Woods for Yahoo! Internet Life to super-agent Mark McCormack for Florida Real Estate magazine.

Kilsheimer is based full-time in Central Florida where he has made his home for more than 40 years. He is a graduate of Leadership Orlando (Class 52) and Leadership Apopka (Class 1). He serves on the boards for the following organizations: Sustainable Florida,  the City of Life Foundation, focusing on foster youth who “age out” of foster care and the Apopka Area Chamber of Commerce.

Joe Kilsheimer is a 1979 graduate of the University of Central Florida. He and his wife Cheryl reside in Apopka, Florida.

Ian Olson
Director of Sustainability

Ian Olson is the Director of Sustainability for Darden Restaurants, the world’s largest full-service restaurant company which owns and operates 1,900 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 restaurants in North America. In his role, Ian is responsible for the development and implementation of corporate sustainability strategies and policies across all of Darden’s operations and its $3 billion supply chain, which includes more than 1,500 suppliers in more than 30 countries around the world. These efforts focus on issues such as sustainable fisheries, animal welfare, energy, water, waste, packaging conservation and supply-chain sustainability. He also is charged with the external reporting of the company’s progress in these areas.

Before joining Darden, Olson was the Global Manager for the Supply Chain Sustainability Office at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Michigan, where he had worked since 1999. While at Ford, he established and led a team of specialists for the development and execution of sustainability strategies for Ford’s $100 billion global supply chain including more than 11,000 suppliers of products and services. While at Ford, he also worked in Production Procurement, Marketing and Sales, and Alternative Fuel Vehicles. Prior to joining Ford, he held various positions at IBM and Chase Bank.

A lifelong Michigan resident, Olson earned a bachelor’s degree in Economic Policy and a master’s of business administration degree in Supply Chain Management and Marketing, both from Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Olson and his wife, Kris, have two children.

Mary Lou Rajchel
Executive Director, Florida Trucking Association
http://thebarrygroup.com/fta/AboutFTA/Staff.aspx

Mary Lou Rajchel is the President & CEO of the Florida Trucking Association.  In a career spanning more than 30 years in the private and public sectors, Rajchel has worked in the public education, growth management, environmental protection, business regulation, public finance, and law enforcement policy arenas.

She served as Senior Vice President for Research and Development at Florida TaxWatch, a statewide, nonpartisan government watchdog and taxpayer research institute.  She also spent 13 years representing the Florida Phosphate Council, the association for the phosphate mining and fertilizer manufacturing industry, in the positions of Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, and then as President and CEO.

She began her career as a lawyer in private practice and later became the Assistant General Counsel for the Florida Department of Commerce, which focused on tourism and economic development.  In 1987 she became the Director of Cabinet Affairs at the Florida Department of Education for the then-elected Commissioner of Education, serving as the Commissioner’s chief adviser on all Cabinet-related regulatory and public policy issues.  She has served on several boards and commissions, and has served as Chair of the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission and the Florida Land Management Advisory Council.  She is the Past President and current member of the Board of Directors of the Council for Sustainable Florida.  She is active with Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Florida TaxWatch.

Rajchel holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of Central Florida, a Master of Science in Education from Southern Illinois University, and a law degree from Florida State University.  She is a member of the Florida Bar.

Dreamal I. Worthen, Ph.D.
Professor, College of Engineering Sciences Technology and Agriculture, Florida A&M University
http://floridaabc.org/ExCom.html

Dreamal Worthen is a professor in the College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture at Florida A & M University. One of Dr. Worthen’s areas of concentration is in the field of Agricultural Research, an interdisciplinary field that focuses on multiple areas of agricultural and rural research. Dr. Worthen’s research has focused on environmental justice, the elderly, poverty and health issues in rural communities of color. Her latest article on elderly health-related issues is published in a book chapter titled “Critical Issues in Rural Health”. Dr. Worthen currently serves as a member of the University-wide Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) committee. The QEP’s purpose is to improve freshman level student learning in the area of critical thinking.

Worthen is the former chair of the FAMU Faculty Senate, as well as a former member of the Board of Trustees. She is an emeritus member of the Board of Directors for Elder Care Services. She has also served on boards and conducted research looking at how social decisions and responses impact the environment.

Worthen received her undergraduate degree from FAMU and her master’s degree in urban and regional planning and doctorate in adult education from Florida State University.

Otis Wragg
Principal, Wragg & Casas
http://wraggcasas.com/otis-wragg.html

Otis Wragg, a founding principal of Wragg & Casas Public Relations, has broad experience in corporate public relations and issues management. He specializes in executive counseling, strategic planning and reputation management. Prior to the formation of Wragg & Casas in 1991, he was a journalist, newspaper editor and the chief public and investor relations officer of one of Florida’s largest public companies.

Wragg has directed public relations, marketing and government relations programs in the United States, Canada and Europe. He has executed initial public offerings, managed financial relations programs and created large-scale media relations campaigns for complex issues.

He was a founding member of the Association of Florida Community Developers and is active in the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the board of directors of The Council of Public Relations Firms. He was in the Charter Class of Leadership Miami, is a member of Leadership Florida, the Florida Association of Voluntary Agencies for Caribbean Action, Inc., and the Counselors Academy of the Public Relations Society of America.

His career in journalism included posts as managing editor of The Miami News and The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla., as well as reporter and editor positions at the St. Petersburg Times and Tallahassee Democrat. He was a director of The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and a member of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association. Wragg is a past president of the Council for a Sustainable Florida, and former member of the board of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center.

A native of Gadsden, Ala., he grew up in Clearwater, Fla. and has lived on Key Biscayne since 1972.