Business Observer

+ Crabtree, Maio join Habitat Sarasota board
Sarasota residents Michelle Crabtree and Alan Maio were recently elected to the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity Sarasota.

Crabtree is a third-generation Sarasota resident and a broker associate for Michael Saunders & Co. She is a former president of the Women’s Council of Realtors and participates in the 2014 Florida State Realtors Leadership Academy. She is also a Habitat Sarasota volunteer, having worked on several houses.

Maio, a 30-year local resident, is a retired principal at Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. and oversaw the planning and pre-construction process at the local, county, state and water management district level. He has served as vice chairman of the Sarasota County Code Enforcement Board, chairman of Sarasota County Zoning Appeals and chairman of the Sarasota County Planning Commission.

+ Sarasota attorney named chairman of the law network
Tom Shults, a shareholder with the Sarasota law firm Kirk-Pinkerton, P.A., was recently elected chairman of the Florida Law Network during the network’s annual meeting at the Longboat Key Club.  

The Florida Law Network is made up of 13 independent law firms consisting of more than 500 lawyers practicing throughout the state.

Shults is board certified by the Florida Bar as a civil trial lawyer and holds the highest peer rating (AV) from the independent attorney-rating agency, Martindale-Hubbell.  He is the past chairman of the Florida Bar Code and Rules of Evidence Committee and presently serves on the Florida Bar Professional Ethics Committee.  

+ Public relations practitioner earns certification
Suzanne Dameron, APR, CPRC of the Central West Coast Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) recently received the designation of Certified Public Relations Counselor (CPRC). Dameron now joins an elite group of fewer than 90 practitioners throughout the state who demonstrate the highest level of professionalism and advanced consultation skills in the practice of public relations.
Dameron is an alumna of Eckerd College and graduated with a B.A. in English. She taught English as a Second Language for 10 years in the U.S. and Italy.

She began working in public relations in 2000 and currently is the principal of Lime Communications, a public relations and marketing agency with a focus on nonprofits, health and the environment.

+ All Faiths Food Bank adds new staff members
All Faiths Food Bank welcomes two staff members this year in its development department.

Director of Senior Development Denise Cotler joins the Food Bank team in this newly created position to help manage corporate and private donor relationships.

Cotler previously served as director of development for the Jewish Housing Council Foundation, associate director for the American Cancer Society and development associate for The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee.

Elaina Mand fills the development coordinator position as liaison for community benefit events and food drives. Mand comes to the Food Bank from the Kobernick House, having moved to Sarasota just two years ago from South Carolina.

Both will help produce the Food Bank’s upcoming signature fundraising events, Cooking with Class and Bowls of Hope.    

 “We are so happy to make them both a part of the Food Bank family,” said Sandra Frank, CEO of All Faiths Food Bank. “They bring skills and experience to help the Food Bank grow with the needs of the community, and increase our potential to engage both supporters and the number of families who struggle with hunger.”