Board of Directors

Officers

                   Paul Roth                                      Wally Kain                                   Bruce Rogers                                  Ron Gibson  
                   President                                   Vice President                                   Secretary                                        Treasurer

Board Members

              Bill Fenniman                                  Jim Haggart                       Gwenda Hiett-Clements                    John La Gorce



                Tom Lagan                                  David Lowden                               Jack Thomas                                Linda Uhler


           Barbara Von Harten                    Nanelle Wehmann                           Art Weissbach

Board Biographies

Paul R. Roth, President
Paul F. Roth retired in 1991 as President of the Texas Division of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (now AT&T), after a 35-year career.  He served on the Foundation Board as Treasurer and Chairman of the finance committee when he and his wife lived on Sanibel from 1992 until 1998.  After a subsequent move to New Mexico, they returned in 2003 to live year-round on the island they have loved for more than 30 years. Roth has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards.




Wally Kain, Vice President
Following a career in intellectual property law, Wally Kain came to Sanibel to paint and write.  Once here, he got caught up in conservation causes.  He volunteered at CROW and became the President.  Articles in the local papers on conservation and politics led to his serving two terms as Councilman and Mayor.  He currently volunteers as a Hammerhead at SCCF, and he has written two novels.




Bruce Rogers, Secretary
Bruce Rogers served as the Director of Planning for the city of Sanibel from 1978 until retiring in 2005. Before that, he served eight years as a Chief Planner with the Illinois Department of Conservation.  Born in Pennsylvania, Bruce also lived in Virginia, and his family moved to Miami in 1950.




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.

William W. Fenniman
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.


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.  Jim is serving his third term as a Trustee of SCCF, and has been Secretary and Chair of its Land Acquisition Committee.

Gwenda Hiett-Clements
Gwenda Hiett-Clements came to Sanibel from Indianapolis, where she taught high school English, journalism and photojournalism for 25 years. With a master’s degree from Butler University, she pursued additional training from Indiana University, where she taught summer journalism workshops.   She first became involved with SCCF in 1997 as a volunteer sea turtle walker, having been inspired while working as a full-time writer on a story for a local newspaper.



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.  


Jack Thomas
Jack Thomas is President of Jack Thomas Inc., a family-owned real estate business specializing in commercial and industrial properties.  A lifetime Florida resident, Jack Thomas moved to Sanibel in 1971 and became active in conservation efforts (he also enjoyed a part-time business as an island fishing guide). He lobbied for the incorporation of Sanibel and he was part of a small group of islanders who successfully promoted state acquisition of undeveloped land on Cayo Costa and North Captiva.  He has served on the SCCF Board previously and was the Chair in 1987.  He currently serves on the Marine Laboratory Committee and has been a member of the Land Acquisition and the Resource Development Committees.  He is also a member of the Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society.

Linda Uhler
Linda Uhler served as district deputy for Porter Goss when he was a U.S. Congressman; she has been an elementary school teacher and has managed and owned retail businesses.  Her community involvement includes chairing major fundraisers, such as the United Way of Lee County campaign, American Heart Association Heart Ball and BRAVO!Ballet for Gulfshore Ballet.  Linda has served as President of the Junior League of Fort Myers and the Zonta Club of Sanibel-Captiva.   She and her husband, Tom, are permittees for the sea turtle program.


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.



Nanelle Wehmann
Nanelle Wehmann took an early retirement after spending 24 years with AT&T, where she was Public Relations Director for the 13 western states.  An Oklahoma native, she moved to Captiva in 1990 from San Francisco.  During her years on the islands, she’s served on the boards of the Pirate Playhouse and Captiva Civic Association, chaired numerous fund-raising galas for the American Cancer Society, the Pirate Playhouse, Gulfshore Ballet and SCCF.



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.