Updated Jan. 17, 2023 to correct term and appointment information.

All eyes are on FGCU’s Board of Trustees as the search for FGCU’s fifth president continues.

The board is made up of 13 trustees, one of them being the student body president and one being the university’s faculty senate president. Six of the trustees are appointed by Florida’s Governor, and five are appointed by the State University System Board of Governors. All of this information can be found on the FGCU Board of Trustees webpage.

Trustee Chair Blake Gable has recently ended his current appointment term, serving from Jan. 6, 2018 to Jan. 6, 2023. He has been an active member on the FGCU Board of Trustees since 2013. He graduated from Naples High School and went on to obtain his bachelor’s degree in history from Tulane University, followed by receiving his master’s in business administration from the Executive MBA program at FGCU. 

He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of Barron Collier Companies. In addition to graduating from both the Leadership Collier and Leadership Florida Programs, he has held leadership positions in over six local organizations. He also currently sits on the Boards of the Immokalee Foundation; Enterprise Florida; and the Florida Sports Foundation, as well as the Randy Roberts Foundation. 

Trustee Vice Chair Edward Morton is entering his third year of his current appointment term which started Jan. 6, 2020. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, he went on to earn his MBA degree from the University of Miami followed by a Master’s of Health Science degree from FGCU. 

He has served as a Principal and Managing Director of the investment firm Wasmer & Schroeder & Co of the NCH Healthcare System. He has also spent time serving on the Florida Board of Governors for the State University System of Florida and is a past Chair of the FGCU Foundation Board of Directors. For his outstanding career achievements, commitment to his community and dedication to the University, Morton received the Florida Gulf Coast University 2017 Alumni of Distinction award. 

Trustee Grace Brannigan is currently serving as FGCU’s 25th Student Body President. She is currently a senior with a double major in history and political science with a minor in philosophy. She hopes to attend law school after graduating this year. Before becoming Student Body President, she served as a Senator for the College of Arts and Sciences followed by serving as Senate President. She is currently a member of the Eagle Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary and the FGCU Honors College. 

Trustee Anna Carlin is the Faculty Senate President. She was appointed by the governor on March 25, 2022. She earned her bachelors in Chinese from Georgetown University followed by spending an academic year abroad in a Chinese language program at Beijing University. She has also earned her masters in library and information studies with a concentration in information architecture from Florida State University. 

Carlin has served as chair of the Institutional Affairs Team, University Undergraduate Curriculum Team and University Library Peer Review Committee. She was a key contributor to the development and implementation of FGCU’s Quality Enhancement Plan. She has worked within the University Library as a subject librarian, designer of instructional materials and tutorials and manager of the library’s media production studio services. 

Trustee Erika Donalds is in the first year of her appointment term ending in Jan. 2025. She was appointed by the governor on March 25, 2022. She is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Optima Ed, a company dedicated to expanding high-quality school choice to families around the world. Before launching Optima, she served almost 20 years at DGHM, a registered investment management firm, and became Chief Financial Officer/Chief Compliance Officer. She also served on the firm’s Management Committee. 

Donalds currently serves on the advisory boards for Classical Learning Test, the Independent Women’s Forum Education Freedom Center and Moms for Liberty. She also recently served on Governor DeSantis’ Advisory Committee on Education and Workforce Development. 

Trustee Richard Eide, Jr. has recently ended his appointment term as of Jan. 6. He earned his bachelors in American history from Williams College and served in the United States Marine Corps. He currently serves as the Treasurer of the Port Royal Club in Naples. 

Eide served 34 years working at J.P. Morgan and Co., Inc., in New York managing the Municipal Bond Department and trading and underwriting for the U.S. Treasury, Federal Agency, Fixed-Income Futures and Derivatives. He also worked in Institutional Sales. Several years after retiring from Morgan, he helped the principals found Pierpont Securities, Stamford CT. 

Trustee Joseph Fogg III is entering the third year in his current appointment term ending in Jan. 2026. He earned his bachelors from Yale College in economics followed by earning his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Goerge F. Baker Scholar. 

In 1990, Fogg founded a $750 million private equity investment partnership managed by Morgan Stanley called Princes Gate Investors L.P.. He currently serves as an Advisory Director of Morgan Stanley and as chair of the FGCU Audit and Compliance Committee. Long active in Republican Politics, he has served as Finance Chairman of the New York State Republican Party and was actively involved in the Florida campaign of Marco Rubio for President and Ron DeSantis for Governor. 

Trustee Leo Montgomery is entering the third year in his current appointment term ending in Jan. 2026. He earned his bachelors from Harding University followed by over 39 years of service as a senior partner with Ernst & Young LLP. Upon retirement from Ernst & Young LLP, we served as an Advisory Director at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and as a director on corporate boards. 

Trustee Luis Rivera is in the first year of his appointment term ending in Jan. 2026. He was appointed by the governor on March 25, 2022. He earned a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Loyola University New Orleans where he was honored to graduate magna cum laude with University Honors. While attending Washington and Lee University School of Law, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice. 

Rivera is currently a shareholder at GrayRobinson, P.A., where he assists clients in navigating difficult business situations. He is one of only ten attorneys in Florida who is board certified in Business Bankruptcy Law and Consumer Bankruptcy by the American Board of Certification. He also currently serves as a member of the Supreme Court of Florida’s Mediator Qualifications and Discipline Review Board, a director of the Bankruptcy Law Educational Series Foundation Inc. and a chair of the Parish Finance Council at Saint Francis Xavier Church. 

Trustee Robbie Roepstorff is in the third year of her third appointment term which ends in Jan. 2025. She was appointed by the governor on Nov. 6, 2020. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology/political science from the University of Alabama. She is also the founder and President of Edison National Bank and the Bank of the Islands in Fort Myers/Sanibel Island. 

Roepstorff has served as president of the American Heart Association, president of the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools, president of Horizon Council and its Foundation and was appointed as Commissioner to the Florida Transportation Commission from 1997 to 1999. She currently holds the position of Commissioner appointed Member of Lee County Industrial Development Authority and Airports Special Management Committee/Lee County Port Authority. 

Trustee Jaye Semrod is in the third year of her third appointment term which ends in Jan. 2025. She was appointed by the Board of Governors on Jan. 6, 2020. She received her bachelors from the University of Illinois and her masters from Fairfield University in Education. She has served over ten years on the Board and Executive Committee of Outward Bound USA and received Outward Bound’s distinguished Kurt Kahn award for her leadership and service. 

She has served as chair of the Board of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, vice chair of Princeton University’s Art Museum Friend’s Board and was on the Board of Princeton Girl Choir. She is also a recipient of the Princeton YWCA’s Tribute to Women Award. 

Trustee Peter Sulick is still in the first year of his current appointment term which ends in Jan. 2026. As a Certified Public Accountant, he earned his MBA in finance from the University of Massachusetts and his bachelors in business administration from The Citadel. He is currently chairman, board of directors, president, and CEO of Dysanil Corporation along with being the president and CEO of AmeriSite LLC. 

Over the past 35 years, Sulick has founded or been the initial investor in numerous companies including Independence Broadcast Corporation, PowerFone Inc., SSPCS Corp., AmeriSite LLC., MeetUp.com, Prism Microwave and Withoutabox.com. He has also served as chair of the FGCU Foundation Board of Directors, treasurer and director of the Community School of Naples and is currently a board member of The Citadel Foundation Inc. 

Trustee Michael Wynn is still in the first year of his current appointment term ending in Jan. 2026. He received his bachelors in business administration from the University of South Florida and a MBA from FGCU. He has served as board chairman and president of Sunshine Ace Hardware in Naples, Florida since 2005, which serves over five counties. 

Wynn was awarded Hardware Industry’s Top Gun Award presented by the National Retail Hardware Association in 2014. He was also a Finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2014. He has also earned the Junior Achievement’s Business Hall of Fame Laureate in 2014, 2017 FGCU Alumni of the Year, voted 2017 Gulfshore Business Best Boss for a Large Company, Business Observer’s 2019 Icons of Business and awarded the 2019 Naples Daily News Outstanding Citizen of the Year.