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Board & Staff

SAACC Board Bios

Vickie Oldham M.F.A.

President & CEO

Vickie Oldham M.F.A. is president and CEO of the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, Inc. SAACC’s goal is to open an art center and history museum. The precursor of this historic preservation initiative is “Newtown Alive.” Led by Oldham, the project traces the history of Newtown, one of Sarasota’s oldest communities.

Newtown Alive products include a research report, a book, historical markers, a documentary short, a guided trolley tour, traveling exhibition, walking tours, a mobile app, oral history interviews, an inventory of historic structures, a podcast series, and newtownalive.org, the official website. The project has received local and state awards. Visit Sarasota County named Ms. Oldham the 2020 Voice of Tourism.

Washington Hill, M.D.

Chairman of the Board

Washington Hill, M.D. is a senior physician of 55 years in obstetrics, gynecology, and maternal-fetal medicine at CenterPlace Health and has practiced almost 30 years at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Dr. Hill received an M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine and completed residency at William Beaumont Army General Hospital in El Paso, Texas. After 12 years in private practice, he completed a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine. He holds academic appointments at several prestigious schools of medicine. Dr. Hill is founder of the high-risk pregnancy program at SMH.

Dan Dannheisser

Board Member

A native Floridian, grew up in Pensacola, and is a trial attorney with a 43 year track record of success  in Sarasota. Dannheisser graduated cum laude from the University of Florida, the University of Florida Spessard Holland School of Law and holds the highest Martindale Hubbell’s trial lawyer rating (an “A” and “very high” peer ranking)

 The senior partner at Paderewski and Dannheisser is committed to family, community and clients. He devotes extensive time and resources to support professional, community, civic and nonprofit organizations. Dan is board chair and trustee at Sarasota Safe Children Coalition, the Sarasota YMCA, Temple Sinai, the Sarasota Rotary Foundation and he coaches youth baseball and football. “It is an honor to serve on the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition board of directors and participate in diverse and inclusive work that SAACC’s board and  partners have created,” said Dannheisser.

Rev. Brock H. Leach

Board Member

Rev. Brock H. Leach, an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister who works for the Unitarian Universalist Association as Executive Consultant for Emerging Ministries helps to develop and lead denominational efforts to support religious innovators. He serves on the boards of Protect Our Defenders, the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), the denomination’s international human rights agency where he was formerly on staff. He is an advisor and board member for several social enterprises.

La’Tiara Love

Board Member

La’Tiara Love, a marketing professional connects people, products, and services. For over a decade, she has worked for corporations and organizations both nationally and internationally such as OnlyEnglish, Walt Disney World Resort and Quinnipiac University. She has earned company awards for “excellence in leadership”, in marketing, and the outstanding customer service award.

LAWRENCE A. MILLER, Ph.D.

Board Member

Dr. Lawrence Miller is the former city manager for the City of Arcadia, the first African American to hold the position there. He was also the assistant city manager for the City of Sarasota. He has taught political science for 11 years at St. Petersburg College in Pinellas County. Dr. Miller teaches American Government, Comparative Politics and International Relations, and has taught political science at the State College of Florida-Manatee, Keiser University-Sarasota and South Florida State College in Avon Park.

Kaveecia Moore, M.B.A.

Treasurer

A third-generation Sarasotan, Kaveecia Moore is a business analyst and contractor for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). In addition to working with FDEM, she is an independent financial consultant. Ms. Moore serves on the community advisory board for the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. She holds a B.S. from the University of Florida and a MBA from Barry University.

Jennifer O. Rominiecki

Board Member

Jennifer O. Rominiecki began her tenure as President and CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in February 2015. She possesses twenty years of experience at major New York City cultural institutions, including The New York Botanical Garden, The Metropolitan Opera, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Since her arrival at Selby Gardens, Mrs. Rominiecki has overseen the re-positioning of the institution as a “Living Museum” and enacted a new operating model. There’s a 55% increase in admissions, a 67% increase in membership, and a 70% increase in overall earned revenues in just four years under her leadership. She has also overseen the creation and execution of a new five-year Strategic Plan and the development of a new Master Site Plan.

Mrs. Rominiecki completed the Women’s Leadership Forum at Harvard Business School in June 2017 and currently serves as a board member of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County and the Science and Environment Council of Southwest Florida. She is the recipient of SRQ Magazine’s Women in Business “Hear Me Roar” Leadership Award and a “Woman of the Year” honoree of the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Edna Sherrell, M.Ed.

Executive Assistant

Edna Sherrell is an educator at Booker High School, where she also serves as a media liaison and historical room coordinator. Educating youth is her passion, especially through culture, history and the arts. Ms. Sherrell’s community involvement includes the Westcoast Black Theater Troupe’s community advisory board and ASALH Academics through BHS. She is a member of ASALH and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

James B. Stewart Ph.D.

Board Member

Dr. James B. Stewart is a Professor Emeritus at Penn State University. He previously served as Vice Provost for Educational Equity and Director of the Black Studies Program. Stewart has authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited eleven monographs, including Introduction to African American Studies. Stewart has also published over seventy-five articles in Economics and Black Studies professional journals. He has served as President of three national professional organizations including the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He currently serves as president of the Manasota Branch of ASALH.

The Honorable CHARLES E. WILLIAMS

Board Member

Charles E. Williams is a circuit judge for the 12th Judicial Circuit of Florida. The 12th Judicial Circuit covers Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. In addition to SAACC, Judge Williams serves on the Board of Directors of Embracing our Differences, The Community Foundation of Sarasota, The Boxser Diversity Initiative and the Board of Trustees for Florida Studio Theatre.

Ian Black

Board Member

Ian Black, CCIM is a prominent fixture in the Sarasota / Manatee County real estate market since the early 1980s. Local real estate developers respect Ian’s creativity and integrity in the industry, as well as his commitment to the community’s betterment. Those qualities have earned Ian some of the area’s most prestigious brokerage assignments.  Ian’s real estate brokerage career began in 1964 after working with, and later co-owning Brian Morton and Company in Northern Ireland, his homeland. In 2003, he opened a commercial real estate brokerage and management office. Ian is one of the few commercial brokers in the area who holds the prestigious CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) designation of the Commercial Investment Real Estate Council of the Realtors Institute of the National Association of Realtors. It’s the highest designation given to commercial real estate specialists.

Walter Gilbert

Community Activist

Newtown leaders such as the late Neil Humphrey Sr., an entrepreneur, also Sarasota’s first NAACP president and the late John Rivers, the second NAACP branch leader made an indelible impression on a young man who would hold the same position decades later.

Walter Gilbert, III participated in a federal lawsuit filed against the City of Sarasota for single member district voting. The court’s decision favored the plaintiffs and opened the way for African American representation on the Sarasota City Commission.

Gilbert spearheaded the recognition of Dr. John W. Chenault, the first African American physician to receive practicing privileges at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and a mural project that bears his name honors the contributions of African American pioneers in Overtown (aka The Rosemary District). It’s called the Walter Gilbert Mural Initiative.

At the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, he is the Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.