Welcome to April everyone!
I am pleased to announce we have hired Mr. Jim Ponek as our new CEO. Jim came to us from Panama City Beach; he was the Parks and Recreation Director there for about ten years or so. He moved to the Pensacola area to be closer to family and worked for a while as the Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Gulf Breeze. Looking forward to working with Jim, I feel he will do a great job for us.
We also have hired a new part-time person to assist in the office. Thanks to Brenda Kay Hammel, our Ambassador of the Year, for finding the right person to fill this important position.
We also want to welcome our new part-time membership support staff, Jaime Cottrell. We are thrilled to have Jaime on board and hope you’ll take a few minutes to stop by and say Hi!
In addition, we are pleased to welcome our newest Ex-Officio Board Member, Ms. Bridgette Price, who will be representing the Santa Rosa County Economic Development Office in place of Shannon Ogletree at our monthly board meetings.
The Renaissance Faire was a huge success for us last month. We raised a considerable amount of money to go directly towards our building. Thank you to all the volunteers that helped! We are able to source a small amount of Mead to sell and it was a huge hit with the attendants of the Faire. Next year we plan to have our distributor order a much larger quantity.
If you haven’t done to yet, please get with Jim or Nicole and sign up to volunteer at the Military Appreciation Picnic. This event shows our support of Whiting Field and all the personnel there. It is a ton of fun for everyone. The event is on May 17th at Whiting Field and you will have to fill out a sheet for clearance to get on base.
Captain Paul Flores (“Partyboy”) is moving on from Whiting Field in a few months. His replacement, Captain Elkins (“Thumbs”), is enrolled in the upcoming Leadership Santa Rosa Class 38. We look forward to working closely with him. It should be some time in early June. We have enjoyed a great relationship with Captain Flores and wish him the very best in his endeavors.
The Business After Hours for the month of April will be held April 2nd at the new location of Beardless Brewhaus in Pace, sponsored by Team Bruce Baker, MBA-RE/MAX Infinity. The Networking Lunch will be held April 12th at Ace’s Hangar on Avalon Boulevard in Milton, sponsored by Santa Rosa Medical Center. If you notice a slight name change, it is because the restaurant is under new ownership. We wish them the best in their new business endeavor. Please make plans to attend and support Ace’s Hangar.
We have secured The Cutting Board for The A.M. Network breakfast. The first event was held there on March 29th and was a success. They will soon be moving to a much larger location and will be able to accommodate our events easily. Thank you so much to our friends at The Cutting Board!
Frank Hoskins
2024 Board Chair