Description

Join us for a panel of the region's four Community Foundation leaders as they share the role and support of the foundations in our area, national trends and the future of giving. Additionally, we will be giving a recap of our Alliance Gives Back initiative and the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund will announce their Youth Humanitarian of the Year.

Non-profits in the Lakewood Ranch region will be showcasing their organizations before the program beginning at 11:00am.

Panelists

Adrienne Bookhamer, Lakewood Ranch Community Fund

Adrienne Bookhamer is the Executive Director for the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund.  Ms. Bookhamer is an experienced nonprofit Executive Director with over 17 years of leadership experience in nonprofit organizations. She has led small organizations with a $600,000 budget to larger organizations with a 2.5-million-dollar budget.  She has spent over 27 years in child welfare both in the government and the private sector.   Ms. Bookhamer as a BS in Child Development and Family Studies from Purdue University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver.  She moved to Florida, specifically Lakewood Ranch, three years ago from Colorado.

Roxie Jerde, Community Foundation of Sarasota County

As President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Roxie works closely with Community Foundation donors, along with area nonprofits, businesses and foundations, to solve important issues affecting our community, always searching for answers that impact multiple generations through shared values. Under her leadership, the Community Foundation has inspired philanthropy across the region through The Giving Partner, as well as the Giving Challenge, which has raised more than $75 million for local causes over eight challenges hosted over the last decade. Other initiatives Roxie oversees include Season of Sharing, the Campaign for Grade Level Reading and EdExploreSRQ, and the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund; while all unique, each of these programs expands opportunities and ideas for everyone in our community.

Phillip Lanham, Gulf Coast Community Foundation

Phillip P. Lanham, CAP® is responsible for the leadership of Gulf Coast Community Foundation, including corporate strategy and programs, operations, and investments. He is thrilled and honored to join Gulf Coast Community Foundation as its new president/CEO beginning June 1, 2023.

Phillip has built a reputation as an accomplished executive leader with a strong background in creating results-driven strategies. He has a 20-plus year career dedicated to philanthropy. Most recently, Phillip served as chief philanthropy officer at Greater Cincinnati Foundation where he successfully led the philanthropic partnerships team in providing strategic guidance for relationships with donors, nonprofits, businesses, and private foundations.

Veronica Thames, Manatee Community Foundation

As the Executive leader of Manatee Community Foundation, Veronica works with the team, board, donors, fellow foundations, nonprofits, and civic leaders to strengthen and enhance the community. Prior to her leadership role at MCF, Veronica was the Chief Operating Officer at Gulf Coast Community Foundation for 5 years where she expanded the foot print of the organization by opening a new Sarasota Philanthropy Center, spearheaded the pursuit and achievement of the Top 100 Best Nonprofits to Work for award received 6 times by the organization, the Green Partner certification, and led the program and growth of the Invest In Incredible initiative, a capacity-building initiative that transforms our region by supporting nonprofit partners and their missions.

Veronica is an influential and collaborative leader with a proven ability to manage multiple functional areas within a dynamic organization. Prior to Gulf Coast, Veronica served as Vice President of Human Resources at Blake Medical Center Healthcare Corporation of America. At Blake Veronica was responsible for key operations and personnel management for the 1,300-employee organization. Her many accomplishments included creating the top-ranked childcare facility in Manatee County and developing the largest community health and wellness program within the HCA hospital system nationwide.

Non-Profits

American Cancer Society

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast

Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County

CEF Manasota

Face Autism

Florida Cancer Specialists Foundation

Florida Department of Health, Manatee County

Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast FL

Goodwill Manasota

Humane Society of Manatee County

Lighthouse Vision Loss Education Center

Make-A-Wish Southern Florida

Manatee County Habitat for Humanity

Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee

NAMI Sarasota and Manatee Counties

Neuro Challenge Foundation for Parkinson's

Samaritan Counseling Services of the Gulf Coast

Selah Freedom

Take Stock in Children of Manatee County

The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature

The Literacy Council of Sarasota

The Twig

Tidewell Foundation

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe