The judges come from journalism, community management, consulting, public safety, public policy, education and environmental advocacy. Judging of the awards is completely independent-with numeric scoring of each entry tabulated to determine the winners.
Many of the judges participated in the Florida Communities of Excellence Conference & Awards Ceremony in Orlando where attendees had the opportunity to meet and interact with them.
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Wendy Spencer, CEO
Volunteer Florida |
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Wendy M. Spencer is Chief Executive Officer of the Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service (“Volunteer Florida”), which administers Florida’s AmeriCorps Programs, coordinates volunteers and donations statewide during times of disaster, and promotes volunteerism to meet important needs throughout Florida. Previously, she served as Director of the Florida State Park Service, and as Resource Development Director for the United Way of the Big Bend. At Volunteer Florida, Ms. Spencer manages as much as $32 million a year in federal, state, and local grants that engage citizens in volunteer activities or support work in community organizations. |
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Krista Gonzalez, Chairperson
Society of Public and Life Safety Educators/Florida Fire Chiefs Association |
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Krista Gonzalez is chairperson of the Society of Public and Life Safety Educators of the Florida Fire Chief’s Association, Florida's leading management education organization for fire & emergency services professionals. She has been a full-time Risk Reduction Specialist for the Gainesville, Florida Fire Rescue since 2006. A Florida native, Ms. Gonzalez received a BS degree in Fire & Emergency Services from the University of Florida. |
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| Mark R. Benson, Certified Manager of Community Associations |
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Mark Benson retired in 2007 after more than three decades in the Community Association Management business in Florida and currently continues his professional industry participation as legislative consultant, educator and expert witness. A licensed Florida Community Association Manager, he holds the National designations of Certified Manager of Community Associations, Association Management Specialist and Professional Community Association Manager from the Community Associations Institute. He is on the faculty for the Community Association Manager continuing education program, CAMP, for Edison State College in Ft. Myers.
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Charles E. Milsted, Associate State Director
AARP |
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Charles Milsted is the Associate State Director for AARP in Florida and coordinates legislative initiatives that include affordable housing, property tax, state budget and insurance issues. He is currently a member of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Advisory Council, the Florida Housing Study Commission and the Capital Area Coalition on Aging. He was appointed to serve on the Governor’s Property Tax Reform Committee and served as liaison during the proceedings of the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission. Mr. Milsted has been a visiting professor in advocacy and aging policy at Florida State University.
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Kyle Abney, Principal
Abney & Abney Green Solutions |
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Kyle Abney is a green building pioneer and leader in the state. Currently president of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) South Florida Chapter, he also sits on the board of the Florida Green Building Coalition, and chairs the group’s green commercial standard committee. Mr. Abney received a BS in Architectural Design and a MS in Building Construction from the University of Florida, where he was the founding president of the nation’s first student chapter of the USGBC. A LEED® Accredited Professional (AP), Mr. Abney heads a sustainable design and construction consulting firm in Palm City.
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Marilynn Wills, Action Chair
League of Women Voters of Florida
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Marilynn Wills has been active in the League of Women Voters in Florida for more than 30 years and currently serves as the Chair of the Action Committee of the state organization and President of the Tallahassee chapter. The immediate past president of the state organization, she is active in legislative advocacy on behalf of the state and local chapters of the 90-year old nonpartisan grassroots political organization whose mission is to improve systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. A Florida resident for more than four decades, Ms. Wills taught mathematics at Leon High School in Tallahassee for 28 years.
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Betsy Barbieux, Principal
Image Inside and Out |
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Betsy Barbieux is a Professional Development Coach who has worked with thousands of community association managers, staff members, and directors. A former officer and board member, as well as a licensed Community Association Manager, she is considered an expert in communications and relations in the CA industry. Ms. Barbieux has taught numerous prelicensure and continuing education classes for CAMs throughout Florida.
She is the author of “Boardmanship, The Right Person at the Right Place with the Right Skills.” |
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Carmen Caldwell, Executive Director
Citizens’ Crime Watch of Miami-Dade County |
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Carmen Caldwell brings more than 30 years of experience in crime prevention to her position as executive director of Citizens Crime Watch of Miami-Dade County, where she is involved in Crime Prevention and Terrorism Awareness training programs, and is one of the pioneers in implementing Neighborhood Watch in Hispanic communities. A former City of Hialeah Councilwoman and Crime Prevention Coordinator for the city’s Police Dept., she is a certified Crime Prevention Practitioner and holds certifications in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) and Elderly Crime Prevention. Her career has taken her to Paraguay and Chile to train their police in developing Neighborhood Watch programs, as well as training police from Haiti, France, Jamaica and South American countries.
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Joseph Kollin, Former Community Association Columnist
South Florida Sun-Sentinel |
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Working for the Fort Lauderdale-based Sun-Sentinel, Joseph Kollin in 1986 became the first journalist in Florida to regularly cover condominium and homeowner association issues and people. He continued writing columns and stories about community associations until retiring in 2008. During his 42 years at Florida newspapers Kollin also was known as the state's most honored legal affairs journalist for coverage of the courts and the law. |
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Terry McMurry, Editor
Florida Community Association Journal magazine |
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Terry McMurry is the editor of Florida Community Association Journal magazine, the oldest periodical serving the community association industry in Florida. She has overseen the editorial growth of the magazine since assuming the editorship in 2003. During that period, the magazine has grown from 64 pages to 100+ with monthly readership in excess of 60,000. In addition, Ms. McMurry is Managing Editor of Cleaner Times, a technical journal serving manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and contractors in the pressure cleaning/water blasting industry.
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Richard Thompson
Regenesis.net |
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Mr. Thompson has over thirty years experience in real estate sales, construction and property management. He has held real estate broker’s licenses in Montana, Hawaii and Oregon. Since 1992, his focus has been homeowner association (HOA) management. In 1996, he founded Regenesis (www.regenesis.net) to offer financial, maintenance, management and administrative planning services to HOA developers, managers, boards and real estate agents. He is a prolific author and noted authority on community association management. |
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Tim Center, Director
Sustainable Florida |
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A Florida native, Tim Center is an attorney and has worked in the Florida Legislature, Chamber of Commerce, Home Builders Association and now is the Vice President of Sustainability Initiatives at the Collins Center for Public Policy where he is the director of Sustainable Florida. Tim was recently named the Executive Director of the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida by Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham.
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