Leadership Pasco Newsletter - Fall 2020

Newsletter 

Fall 2020 

The Zoom Issue 

Conversations with Our Alumni

unprecedented 

adjective 

Never done or known before. 

To Our Leadership Pasco Family, 

As president of Leadership Pasco in these 

unprecedented times, despite extensive leadership 

experience facing difficult challenges, 

I was shaken, felt inadequate, and even 

scared, at the prospect of being in charge. Feeling uncertain, as to how to proceed 

in my leadership role, I felt compelled to share my apprehension with my peers on 

the Leadership Pasco Board. The result was a resounding affirmation of my feelings 

of apprehension and fear. Hearing others, whom I respect and admire, share the 

same feelings gave me comfort I was longing for in these unprecedented times. 

As a leader, and an alumnus of Leadership Pasco, I encourage you to reach out to 

your classmates and share your fears and concerns in your leadership roles. And, I 

assure you, you will find the same support and comradery I discovered amongst our 

Board of Directors. The challenges and decisions we face are made surmountable 

when we honestly and sincerely share our fears. I am blessed to have a Board of 

Directors that chose not to judge, but instead shared their feelings of apprehension. 

Welcome to our Zoom issue, and please know our Board has been safely meeting 

online since April, and the attendance and participation has been fantastic. On 

October 8, we had our very first virtual alumni social and Pasco County trivia game 

which was organized by Laura Raposa '19 and Angie Gardner '11. It was a great opportunity 

to bring our alumni and even a few applicants for Class of 2022 together 

in a safe and comfortable way. In fact we have twelve applicants for the next class 

and have begun engagement with other interested leaders. Before the end of the 

calendar year, we will really start building an amazing group of diverse applicants 

to kick-off the next program year. 

Many thanks to Amanda Hart '14 and Angel Cook '18 who have organized an in 

person Class of 2020 graduation for December 1. The event is planned to be a safe 

and fun event, with use of a large space at Spartan Manor, social distancing, and 

other safety measures. Look for an official email about the event around November 

12. 

Thank you for your patience and encouragement, as we re-group, plan, and continue 

to support and expand our mission. 

Don Anderson, Class of 2016 

President, Leadership Pasco 

CEO, Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County, Inc. 

Leadership 

Pasco 

Newsletter 

SINCE 1991, THE MISSION OF LEADERSHIP 

PASCO is to identify and recruit current or potential 

leaders of Pasco County, facilitate the development 

and interaction of those leaders, and to foster 

an issues-oriented learning environment for these 

leaders and the citizens of Pasco County in order to 

encourage an exchange of ideas and generate enthusiasm 

for community growth and development. 

The Leadership Pasco Newsletter is published quarterly. 

Please direct correspondence about this publication 

to Leadership Pasco, P.O. Box 695, Elfers, FL, 

34680. Readers also may reach staff by sending an 

email to administration@leadershippasco.com. 

Editorial Staff 

Amanda Hart '14 

Editor 

Jason Longo '17 

Design 

Photo Credits 

J. David Wright '20 

(Leadership Pasco class days) 

Board Members 

Don Anderson '16, President 

Manny Long '16, President Elect 

Tara O'Connor '16, Secretary 

Chuck Anderson '20 

Nichole "Nikki" Alvarez-Sowles '13 

Carla Armstrong '14 

Stefanie Ambrosio Pontlitz '13 

Angel Cook '18 

Angie Gardner '11 

Brendan Gorman '18 

Kim Hamm '15, Immediate Past President 

Amanda Hart '14 

Crystal Lazar '13 

James Mallo '12 

Tara O'Connor '16 

Thomas O'Connor Bruno '20 

Leah Peake '19 

Joseph Poblick '14 

Laura Raposa '19 

Kim Rymanowski '19 

James Walters '15 

John Willis '15 

© Leadership Pasco. All rights reserved. 

FALL 2020 NEWSLETTER

4 

8 

2 6 12 

Features 

2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

Nikki Alvarez-Sowles '13 

Thomas O'Connor Bruno '20 and Kera 

Arnone '20 

Craig Laporte '06 and Captain James 

Mallo '12 

Stefanie Pontlitz '13 

Kim Rymanowski '19 

Kurt Conover '92 

Sponsors 

Bay to Bay Roofing 

Bene's Career Academy 

Blackjack Media Group 

Centennial Bank 

Clearwater Gas System 

Duke Energy 

Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce 

Greater Pasco Chamber of Commerce 

Jarrett Ford 

Land O' Lakes High School Culinary Arts Program 

Laporte, Mulligan & Werner-Watkins, P.A. 

Medical Center of Trinity 

Micro Solutions 

O'Connor Law Group, P.A. 

Oliver & Fox PA 

Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller 

Pasco Economic Development Council 

Pasco Education Foundation 

Pasco County Sheriff's Office 

Pasco Hernando State College 

Pontlitz Asset Advisors 

Ralph the Lawyer 

Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point 

Ron's Bar-B-Que 

Saint Leo University 

Simpson Environmental Services, Inc. 

TECO Energy, Inc. 

Time Trap Escape Room 

United Way of Pasco County 

Leadership Pasco 

LEADERSHIPPASCO.COM 

1

Catching Up with Nikki Alvarez-Sowles '13, Pasco 

County Clerk and Comptroller 

By Jason Longo ’17 

You mentioned the community aspect. What was your 

class project? 

Our project was helping NAMI, the National Alliance 

on Mental Illness. This was right after the Sandy Hook 

Elementary School shootings. It was very upsetting, and 

it stemmed from a mental illness. My class wanted to 

help NAMI and get the word out about the organization 

and its local impact. 

When you went through the program, what was your 

position in the Pasco County Clerk of Courts Office? 

I was the Chief Operations Officer. 

What stood out for you in your Leadership Pasco experience 

when you were a class member? 

In Leadership Pasco you learning about Pasco County. 

You get to know the industries in Pasco County from 

governments to small businesses to big businesses, and 

you get a really good lay of the land. That's great. But in 

addition to that, what I got out of it was connecting with 

the people in my class and creating lifelong relationships. 

That is priceless. My class was very small. I think 

'13 had 26 people all together, but we bonded very well, 

and we will remember this experience for the rest of our 

lives, which really means a lot to me. And as a group, 

we worked on something that helped our community. It 

was a lot of work, and through overcoming challenges 

together, we formed great relationships while giving back 

to our community. And it's giving- back that meant a great 

deal to me. I did not want the experience to end. I wanted 

more. So, I joined the Leadership Pasco Board and have 

been a board member ever since. 

You had worked closely with your predecessor Paula 

O’Neill. I’m sure she was a wonderful model for the 

job, but did her success make you feel even more under 

the lens? If so, how long did that last? 

I was hired by Jed Pittman in 2007, and then Paula 

became Clerk in 2009. After she became Clerk, she 

promoted me to the criminal director position. Not long 

after, in 2010, she promoted me to Chief Operations Officer, 

which I held until I became Clerk last summer. As 

COO, I oversaw every aspect of the Office. Since 2010, I 

had the opportunity to gain experience about everything 

this Office does. That prepared me to take over and lead 

the Office. On day one, I never felt under the lens; I felt 

prepared. I think part of Paula's plan was to make sure 

she had someone able and willing to hand the reins over 

to. I believe that's what ended up happening. 

Did she give you any memorable advice, or what did 

you observe that you also model? 

When I think about Paula, I think about grace under pressure. 

I think about connecting with the community and I 

think about service with compassion. Paula and I worked 

very well together because I try to live my life by those 

tenets and she was just a great example of that. 

When I began practicing law -- this was in the early 

2000s -- I was good at what I was doing, but it wasn't 

making me happy. It didn't fill my cup up. I felt like there 

was so much more that I could do rather than litigate 

cases. Something was missing. I really thought long and 

hard, about, "How can I use my law degree to fill my 

2 FALL 2020 NEWSLETTER

cup in a way that feels more satisfying?" The law firm was 

great in that I could do a lot of community work. Through 

that work, I found that I like to help make things better 

in my community. I realized in local government you can 

have an impact in your community. So that's what I did. I 

got into local government in 2006, then I was hired in 2007 

here, and every day I get to make an impact on our community. 

I feel so privileged to be able to do that. Our Office 

provides public safety and human services to our community. 

It's very important. I get to touch people's lives every 

day utilizing my education and my experience. Being able 

to have grace under pressure and serving with compassion 

and connecting with community -- that's where it is for me. 

Tell us about your family. 

They're amazing. The kids are the loves of our lives. I love 

my family. My husband, Kevin, and I met when I was 19. 

We dated for a long time and got married when I was 26. 

We celebrated 20 years this year. It's been so great, and I 

gave away my age here! That's okay. 

Who is in your former position? 

Another Leadership Pasco alumna, Kim Thompson. Kim 

has a lot of experience in the clerk's world. She came 

from the Palm Beach Clerk's Office, and I think she's has 

close to 20-years of experience in the clerk's office. She's 

fantastic. 

What is the philosophy of how the Leadership Pasco 

program is important to employees of the clerk's office? 

That's a great question. It's the kind of the thing that everybody 

wants to do in my office. Every year we figure out 

who's been here the longest now and try to give everyone 

an opportunity to be in Leadership Pasco. The connections 

you get from each class are amazing. It expands our network 

to reach the people we serve. Learning about Pasco 

County from the ground up and from the Green Swamp 

to the Gulf Coast -- that's invaluable. It's also important to 

involve yourself in something bigger than yourself. The 

class project was so rewarding in that capacity. 

How has your office changed since COVID? 

Our office never closed during the pandemic. The courts 

did close for a bit, but not our office. Gov. DeSantis declared 

Clerk's offices to be providers of essential services, 

and our team totally agreed. We must remain open for 

public safety and human services, but we also had to make 

sure our team was safe. We had several needs to address. 

Those with compromised immune systems or who were 

taking care of someone with a compromised immune 

system needed to work outside the office. The second thing 

was allowing the parents who had school-aged children 

to be able to telework so that they could take care of their 

children and attend to their schooling. Third, we needed to 

get as many people out of the office so that we could properly 

social distance. We worked to have overall 50% of the 

office teleworking so we could social distance our team in 

the office. Even if you're not in your usual area, you can 

work from a desk nearby, and everyone is safe. 

The early days were hectic. For our teammates coming in, 

we had to acquire PPEs, develop a mask protocol, set up 

Plexiglas screens at our customer windows, and make sure 

we had plenty of no-touch thermometers so teammates 

could check for fevers. We weren't prepared with any sort 

of platform or any sort of connectivity for remote work 

Within two weeks, we had to figure all that out. In addition 

to staying on top of everything we do -- which is about a 

thousand duties assigned by statute, regulation, and court 

order -- we had to sort out what can be done virtually and 

what absolutely must happen in our six Pasco locations. 

Then we had to figure out, for every employee, how much 

of what they do can be done virtually, and how much 

has to be done in the office. It was a big feat. Lots of late 

nights. Lots of no sleep trying to plan it out, but we got all 

of that accomplished and still today we are teleworking. 

We wanted to make sure our customers knew that they 

wouldn't see a blip in our service. 

Is there anything that we didn't talk about that you 

want to share? 

I just want you to know that it's a blessing to be able to 

lead the clerk's office and to be trusted to provide our services 

to the community. It's just a great feeling to be able 

to give back to the community and to know that the community 

feels that I'm the right person for the job. I do not 

take it for granted. I am honored to be able to be a public 

servant and to give back to the people of Pasco, expanding 

on the lessons of Leadership Pasco. 

I thank you for this opportunity to have a great conversation 

about it. 

Nikki Alvarez-Sowles '13 with Pasco government leadership and 

the Class of 2019 at Government Day. 



3

Thomas O'Connor Bruno '20 and Kera Arnone '20 

- Exceptional Fundraising During Difficult Times 


tive director because the idea was to make that space 

decorated and more kid-friendly as a part of our sweat 

equity project. When we saw the shower situation, we 

decided that we would make that our priority. 

[Kera] Then we started talking about what happens with 

the clothes that come in and the towels; and that's when 

we decided to pursue a washer and dryer for the location 

as well. Because our class has a lot of contacts, we felt 

that we could get a discounted renovation for the shower 

and the appliances donated. 

[Thomas] Basically the day that everything started shutting 

down was the day that I had electricians and plumbers 

going out there to start to start pricing what the project 

was going to be. And that's when a lot of companies 

said "we're not comfortable going into places." So it all 

went on hold. We have been in contact with Andrew, and 

Kera saw him last week. That's when we got the award. 

Tell us about your Class of 2020 project? 

[Thomas] For our project, we are supporting Suncoast 

Voices for Children. They help to bring children out of 

bad home situations where there is abuse or neglect. 

Sometimes they house them overnight on location until a 

family member or other caregiver can take care of them. 

Suncoast Voices provides the equipment needed for those 

caregivers or extended family who may not have beds, 

cribs, or car seats or anything like that, so that they can 

transport and house the children. They are on location in 

the Pasco Sheriff's Office on Little Road; the Child Protection 

Division. 

[Kera] They have an intake room that wasn't the most 

comfy. It was very industrial. There are toys there, a 

couch, but not a lot of organization to it. It's tough to stay 

there overnight. So our project was to redesign that area 

and to add a shower in their unit at the CP office. They do 

have access to a male and female bathroom. 

[Thomas] As they didn't have access to a shower, they 

would use the sinks to help wash the children who may 

have come with lice or who needed to be cleaned up. So 

when we went on a tour with Andrew Maurin, their execu- 

[Kera, showing the award on Zoom] It says the Suncoast 

Voices for Children awarded the Voice of the Year to the 

Leadership Pasco Class of 2020. 

[Thomas] For part of our sweat equity, we knew that 

they had some deliveries from some other donations. So, 

some of us came down to Pinellas to help load a trailer of 

diapers and wipes that was stored at the Salvation Army 

here. And, Kera, I think you were on that end right? 

We loaded here in Pinellas and then Carol, one of our 

classmates, drove it up to Pasco and dropped it off so that 

they would have access to it. It was, again, a great cause, 

and I'm just happy to be even a part of a group that could 

raise this much money in this kind of situation. 

So you raised about $20,000 for Suncoast Voices for 

Children, and without a Taste of Pasco. How? 

[Thomas] Yeah. Our goal was $20,000. Originally I had 

met with Chuck Anderson and Tim Hanavan and we 

looked at budgeting and how much we thought we could 

bring in with the event. We had ideas that we were going 

to shatter everybody's donation record. I mean, we were 

going to pit class against class to see who could donate 

the most money. We had all these grand schemes of 


inging in funds. We got sponsors. We got vendors and 

we started to book everything and then business day we 

had to have a very frank conversation about if we could 

host Taste of Pasco in May. Now it looks silly to even have 

considered it, but we had a conversation with the whole 

class and decided to pull everything. We didn't know. 

[Kera] At that point, we had about $7,000. Maybe $10,000 

through sponsors. The issue there was once the marketing 

for their agencies went away, several of them did pull out 

completely. Some were still able to support us in part and it 

dropped us down to five or six thousand. 

[Thomas] But then the Rotary Clubs really stepped up. The 

Rotary Club of Seven Springs usually has several charities 

they support annually, but this year they dedicated the 

entire amount to us and so that was a huge boost at $7,500. 

Rotary Club of New Port Richey donated over $5,000. So 

between those two Rotary Clubs we had over $12,000. We 

sold six or seven tickets to Taste of Pasco and everyone 

that bought a ticket told us to keep the money. So this may 

be the least amount of tickets ever sold by a class. 

Thomas, how has COVID-19 affected your work at 

Coalition for the Homeless? 

[Thomas] It's been good and bad. The bad was that we 

had to close down because we had offered showers to the 

homeless and couldn't figure out the way to provide emergency 

services while keeping everyone safe. Because we 

are not the lead agency and many of our staff are an older 

population, it was easy and necessary to make the switch 

to working from home. Luckily in Pasco, COVID has not 

affected the homeless population as much as in other areas. 

We've only known three or four cases of homeless persons 

who have tested positive. The other good news is that 

there are overwhelming amounts of funding coming down 

through the federal government, the CARES Act Provider 

Relief Fund. There's a lot of funds for homeless services 

and through the emergency solutions grant, which is a 

federal funding stream through the county and through the 

Department of Children and Families. So much funding, 

but it's so tied up in government regulations and such that 

we're just now getting access to it. This was funding that 

we knew about in May and we're just now getting to it. 

Kera, how has real estate changed since COVID-19? 

[Kera] Real Estate changed a little bit when COVID hit, 

people are afraid to allow people in their homes for showings, 

so we've had to get better at wearing masks and better 

with sanitation. People leave lights and stuff on for us 

before we show the home, which is fine. The good thing 

is that the market is so hot. We can't find homes to sell 

and they're selling for top dollar and it's mind blowing at 

how fast they are selling. Another thing is that people have 

realized they don't need to be in the city where they work, 

everyone is leaving those dreary cities and are moving to 

our happy Sunshine State. So it's good. There is a lot of out 

of state buyers. 

What brought each of you to apply for the Class of 

2020? 

[Thomas] I had heard about it when I was with the County. 

Never pursued it, but then Don Anderson came onboard 

and really pushed me to do it. I had applied for Class 

of 2019 and was accepted, but I was not available to do 

the bus tour due to a previously scheduled vacation to 

Sonoma, California. I had talked to Don and Stefanie [Pontlitz] 

about it, and they said that I really would miss out, if 

I couldn't do bus tour. So I applied for the Class of 2020 

and was re-accepted. 

[Kera] I only moved here in July of 2018 and in 2019 

Stefanie [Pontlitz] came and spoke about Leadership Pasco 

to my Rotary Club meeting and everyone in my club said, 

"Kera, you should do this. It would be a great thing for you 

to do." Julie Rockwell and Tara O'Connor are also in my 

Rotary Club, so there was a lot of suggestions to apply. 

2020 Class Project Sponsors 

Cornelison Engineering & Design, Inc. 

Duke Energy 

Gulfside Healthcare Services 

Master Title 

Pasco County Schools - Jeans Day Fundraiser 

People Places, LLC 

Rotary Club of New Port Richey 

Rotary Club of Seven Springs 

The Bank of Tampa 

Time Trap Escape Room 

Wells Fargo 

Withlacoochie River Electric 



5

A Conversation with Craig Laporte '06 and 

Captain James Mallo '12 - The Team Behind 

Criminal Justice Day 


enced that as well. So then I got Brian Mulligan to do it, 

and then of course Franny (Frances Werner-Watkins), and 

then Brendan (Gorman) being in the latest iteration of our 

group. Pasco Sheriff's Office does it too. HCA, Progress 

Energy, the Clerk's office - there are a lot of organizations 

that make it a point to have an applicant every year. 

James, what was your inspiration to continue on from 

the Class of 2012 to the Leadership Pasco board? 

[James] I enjoyed my time as a classmember and liked 

meeting and working with groups of people from different 

parts of the county and with different backgrounds. 

The common ground was Leadership Pasco. I got 

involved with Criminal Justice Day even before joining 

the Class of 2012 and to this day, my goal is to continue 

to make Criminal Justice Day the best day that it can be. 

There are very few days where, as Craig said, the Sheriff 

sets aside a full day, and I'm happy to be a part of that. 

Nick Walsh '20, Craig Laporte '06, and Captain James Mallo '12 at 

Criminal Justice Day - October 2019. 

Craig, do you remember how you came to be a member 

of the class of 2006? 

[Craig] I don't remember who it was who first told me 

about Leadership Pasco. It was a long time ago. Captain 

Joe Frontz was in the Sheriff's Office and was actually 

running Criminal Justice Day. There were a number of 

people that I knew and, being involved in the community 

and doing a lot of different charity work, I learned 

about it. I thought it would be beneficial. Even though I 

worked the whole county as a deputy, I thought it would 

be helpful to learn more about the county and, of course I 

was practicing law. I'd been practicing law at that point in 

2006 for 23 years. I wanted to get out there and meet more 

people, so that's what prompted me to join. 

Craig, all of your colleagues at Laporte, Mulligan and 

Werner-Watkins, P.A. have also gone through the program. 

How did that become a tradition? 

[Craig] I thought it was such a great experience that I felt 

it was important that all the lawyers in my office experi- 

Criminal Justice Day gets very high marks on all 

Leadership Pasco class evaluations. How do you keep 

improving the program? 

[Craig] Well, I can tell you that Criminal Justice Day has 

evolved since I went through it. At that time, the big deal 

was to take a walking tour through the jail and then a lot 

of other classroom stuff which was interesting. It was 

good, but what it needed was a boost. When Bob White 

was Sheriff, he supported the day but not to the extent 

that Chris Nocco, when he became Sheriff. I will never 

forget that got a phone call from Chris and he said "Hey, 

I want to set a meeting and talk to you about Criminal 

Justice Day." He said "I want to meet with you to brainstorm 

to make the day better." I've never had a Sheriff do 

that for us. I went to his office and was shocked when I 

went into the conference room and the entire command 

staff was there. He set aside an hour just to discuss Criminal 

Justice Day for us and basically pledged his support 

to anything we wanted to do to make it a success. He 

thought it was very important and every year since then 

he calls me three to five months in advance and says, 

"Alright, let's get together." And again, his entire command 

staff is a part of that meeting, and as you've seen 

they are all dedicated to being a part of our day. The two 


things that have carried on from the past have been the 

panel discussion with the judges, state attorney, the public 

defender, some law enforcement, and the Sheriff; and the 

walking tour of the jail. But everything else has changed. 

It's far more interactive and exciting. 

Do you remember your project from 2006? 

[Craig] Our project was and it's still out there is the Missing 

and Abducted Children's Command Center for the 

Sheriff's Office. It started out as a community project. 

That was when Bob White decided he did not want to go 

through the bid process to use government money for that 

command center, so he went out to the community and 

started raising money that way. Also, he could keep the 

construction with a local company and not have to bid 

it out over a large statewide area. So our class decided 

we were going to raise money, which we did. We raised 

money through fundraising and then we were able to get a 

matching grant. We raised about $20,000 with the help of 

that. Our ongoing commitment was that our class would be 

on call in the event of a missing child and that the Sheriff's 

Office had our numbers and would call us out to assist in 

the ground search. 

What are some innovations at Pasco County Sheriff's 

Office that the Class of 2021 would have learned about, 

if we didn't have to postpone? 

[Craig] I do know that for years they planned on a jail 

expansion because of overcrowding. They're adding either 

another wing or another floor. I'm not sure. The other thing 

they're doing is building basically a school there and it was 

going to involve a great deal of forensics, but it was going 

to be a national academy with people coming from all over 

the country and it was related to the rubble pile that this 

last year's class got to see. 

[James] We now have two, and are building one more 

rubble pile which are all helpful to training first responders 

on dealing with a mass casualty event such as a terrorist 

attack. We will also have more drone technology to share. 

Just the other day we helped locate a missing person on 

the trails with a drone and the fire department assisted with 

ATVs. Another great thing that we would have presented is 

The Future Operations Division and the Behavioral Health 

Intervention Team (BHIT). [From the Pasco Sheriff's Office] 

"The mission of the Future Operations Division is to 

help the Sheriff’s Office strategically meet the law enforcement 

related needs of our rapidly changing community. 

Comprised of both civilian and law enforcement members, 

the division works to provide comprehensive assessments 

and recommendations to improve department efficiencies 

by focusing on strategic planning, forward thinking, and 

innovative ideas. The division will also track the future development 

of Pasco County and the impact this will have 

on law enforcement and its capacity to meet the needs of 

our growing county." The BHIT make contact with people 

suffering from mental health, and try to get those people 

help before a crime is committed. 

How can citizens be more supportive to Pasco County 

Sheriff's Office and Law Enforcement at this time? 

[Craig] Well, you know, one of the things that I've been 

involved for the last seven or eight years is trying to get a 

permanent memorial built for our fallen, law enforcement 

officers. We're the only county in Florida, that doesn't have 

a memorial. This year was tough, because due to COVID 

we ended up canceling our Law Enforcement Family 

Fun day this year, so we lost a lot of fundraising for the 

memorial. We were very fortunate that our county commissioners 

went out there and started helping us raise money. 

We are now hoping that by March of next year, we're 

actually going to have a permanent memorial built over at 

the historic courthouse in Dade City. There's about eight 

of us on board that started this project. It is going to cost 

upwards of $300,000 and we've actually got the statue not 

only ordered, but I think it's already been cast. It's waiting 

in Minneapolis for us to be able to actually build the base 

to put the statue on. It's a statue of a fallen Pasco County 

Sheriff's deputy who is being lifted skyward by an angel 

under the arms. We're excited about finally getting that 

done and honoring our fallen officers. Learn More. 

[James] Saying hello and "thank you for what you do" to a 

law enforcement officer is something that means so much 

and helps us to feel positive the entire day. 

Monica Anderson '20, Sheriff Chris Nocco, and Patricia Howard 

'20 at Criminal Justice Day - October 2019. 



7

Stefanie Pontlitz '13, our 2020 Judith Rochelle 

Award Winner and Program Day Chair 


I'll say it again; the best part of Leadership Pasco is that 

everyone who's involved is so dedicated. To be "the most 

dedicated" and put that in quotation marks, is crazy to 

me, because it's such a high bar. It's an incredible honor 

for leaders to consider me worthy of that, and I'm super 

appreciative of that. What I've been involved in up to 

the point of joining Leadership Pasco has really led me 

to that, but Leadership Pasco has probably been what 

has allowed me to take my leadership skills to the next 

level. If you're not doing what you say you are going to 

do and hitting all your points and deadlines – this board 

knows because you're the only one not doing it. So to be 

involved with a board and group like Leadership Pasco 

definitely challenges you to be the best you can be. 

You’ve been a class member, an alumnus, a board 

member, board president. But you also have the distinction 

of being the Judith Rochelle Award winner for 

2020. That is Leadership Pasco’s highest honor. I think 

you hit the mark in every area of the award criteria, 

but most visibly there is a lot of dedication and leadership. 

You seem to be involved in more causes than I’m 

even aware of. Let’s talk about that. 

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to be involved in 

a lot of great groups, including being a Past President of 

Leadership Pasco, Rotary Club of Trinity, Junior Service 

League and a few others. What I try to do as a leader is 

just be kind and be fair and open-minded and I think that 

is a lot of what helps people understand me and for me to 

understand them. My leadership style is non-aggressive. 

I like to have other people's input. I've said it before, but 

Congratulations. Tell us about your non-traditional 

Judith Rochelle Award surprise “ceremony”? 

With COVID, we haven’t had graduation yet, which 

is where we traditionally present this award. I knew 

that I was nominated because I'm on the Past President 

Council, and they are the ones who make the decision. I 

didn't go to the meeting because I was nominated. I have 

been nominated in the past, and I knew others who were 

nominated before, and they were probably re-nominated 

too. They are all incredible people. So I didn't think 

much about it at that point. Well Lisa Shippy-Gonzalez 

scheduled a couple's dinner with us, but we had to cancel 

as my mother-in-law had broken her wrist that evening. 

It took six to eight weeks to reschedule, but now I know 

that she was trying to work around the schedules of a 

bunch of people. At board meetings it would come up 

and someone would ask how the award presentation was 

going, and Angel would say "we're working on it." So 

I kind of had it in my head that maybe something is up. 

But when we finally did meet for dinner, I was surprised. 

Angel [Cook] did a great job and it was nice to have 

Tina [Shelton] come back and present the award. She 

had trained me to be Program Chair and had pretty much 

trained me to do everything that I had done. And of 

course Lisa was there, and also Evie Parks who has really 

been a big part of Leadership Pasco. So it was really, really 

nice and super sweet. So I was surprised but I had an 

inkling by the time we got around to round two. 


Congratulations on your new position. Tell us about 

your career move. 

I'm very excited to be the next Executive Director for The 

Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind (LVIB) of 

Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus Counties. The mission of the 

Lighthouse is to educate, empower, and employ people 

who are visually impaired and blind. 

How did you hear about Leadership Pasco before you 

applied? 

I actually heard about Leadership Jacksonville from a coworker 

so when I moved back to Pasco, I knew I wanted to 

be in it. I knew it was a great networking group and organization 

to be a part of, but honestly I couldn't afford it, and 

the company I was working with wasn't willing to support 

me. So I had to wait and Derek [Pontlitz] ended up going 

before I did and I was so upset because I was the one who 

wanted to go and he got to do it two years before I did. 

When I finally got to a position and organization where 

they would let me go - United Way of Pasco - I applied 

and got in. Cami Austin and Cindy Ewald were my two 

supporters along with Tina Shelton and I was really excited 

when I got into the class. I met Lisa [Shippy-Gonzalez] 

on bus tour day. She's now one of my best friends, but we 

didn't meet until the class. She sat next to me and said “we 

have a ton of friends in common, how have we not met 

before?” We've been super close ever since. 

Did you meet your husband, Derek in Pasco? 

We did not meet exactly in Pasco. I was President of the 

West Pasco Young Professionals and two of his close 

friends saw a picture of the Immediate Past President in 

the paper and thought she was good looking, so decided 

they were going to come check out the meeting. In true 

style of them, it took them quite some time to actually get 

around to attending. By that time I was President but in 

talking with them, we decided that we should be friends. 

We hung out a few times and at one of their birthday parties, 

I met Derek. We technically met through networking. 

You and Derek are both Rotary Club presidents. What 

does it mean to be a Rotarian? 

We are now Immediate Past Presidents. I'm with Trinity 

Rotary, and Derek is New Port Richey. Being a Rotarian is 

one of the greatest honors. It is an organization of people 

who purely want to give back to their community and 

never ask for anything for themselves. It is the most selfless 

giving family you could be a part of. And each group 

has its own personality. Each Club has something that 

makes them individually special and so I enjoy visiting 

other clubs because they are so much different then mine. 

But Trinity is my home and those members are my family. 

How did you spend your socially distancing time? 

We moved. We had been renovating a house for almost 

two years, and so it gave us the time on the weekends that 

we hadn't had before. We actually finished the renovations, 

and so my time was packing boxes, unpacking 

boxes, and moving. We are officially out of the other 

house and we'll get it up on the market soon. But yeah, 

that's pretty much been my COVID project. 

As Leadership Pasco Program chair for a number of 

years, can you provide a statement to inspire applicants 

for the Class of 2022? 

I think it's important for people to encourage their coworkers 

and their friends who are looking to get more 

involved to become part of Leadership Pasco. It builds 

friendships and connections that if I needed anything from 

the County, from the city, or from another nonprofit there's 

someone in Leadership Pasco that I can call and say, "Can 

you help me out with this or do you know who can help 

me with this?" I'm probably only one or two phone calls 

away from getting the information that I need. We think 

we're a small town, but we're really 600,000 people and it 

does take a village. I think Leadership Pasco helps make it 

smaller. It's very important that people share that opportunity 

with their family and friends. Unfortunately we can't 

do it this year; but, when we do come back, as Program 

Day Chair we are working on some new and exciting stuff 

and we will be bigger, better, and stronger. 

Tina Shelton '09, Angel Cook '18, Stefanie Pontlitz '13, and Evie 

Parks '00 at a surprise dinner in honor of our 2020 Judith Rochelle 

Award winner, Stefanie. 



9

Kim Rymanowski '19, New Board Member and 

Entrepreneur in the Uncertain Times of COVID-19 


Tell me about your family. Are they involved in the 

businesses as well? 

My husband Mitch (pictured) and I relocated to Florida 

from Connecticut. In 2012, we bought our house here in 

New Port Richey and by 2014 after we both retired, we 

moved here full-time, which is how I was able to take 

on a business and not have it affect my day-to-day work. 

My husband is trying really hard to stay retired, but he's 

kind of a silent partner. He does a lot of the maintenance 

work for us and technology if we are having trouble with 

internet and things. I do all the office work, the accounting, 

the hard labor. We have about six jump ropes at each 

location, and it's amazing how often they break. I come 

home about once a week with a jump rope that needs 

repair, and he fixes it, so I can bring it back the next day. 

Kim, you are one of our new board members, and a 

business owner that expanded your business during 

COVID. Let's talk about your business first. 

We bought 9Round Chelsea Place in New Port Richey 

on November 1st, 2016. The gym had been two years old 

when we bought it. During the pandemic, I bought two 

more 9Round gyms that were at risk of closing permanently. 

Those are in Pinellas County, but our primary business 

is here in Pasco County. Because we're individually 

owned, even though it's a franchise, we operate independently 

as if we're small business owners. So I purchased 

two more licenses and bought those two locations (Dunedin) 

and (Safety Harbor). I know what these gyms are 

capable of doing and I love the brand and concept. 

Why we bought two more during the pandemic when I 

was forced closure by the government is beyond me. 

COVID effected the fitness industry in a huge way. 

Tell us about that, including what innovations you 

added to keep customers safe. 

Owning any business is challenging during COVID, but 

owning a gym is even more challenging. We had a lot of 

frustrations early on, you know we were closed for two 

months. That was hard because around Saint Patrick's 

Day we had to decide if we were going to close. That's 

when I started seeing all the gyms in the area start voluntarily 

closing and we were faced with a decision. We 

were having our house painted at the time, and the windows 

were all covered up, with us inside. We ended that 

day with a beautiful newly painted house and made the 

decision to close up. As soon as we sent that notification, 

the government also had a mandate. I had five employees 

at the time, and I still had rent to pay. We had 175 members, 

and what we decided to do was to continue charging 

our members. We asked them to please stick it out with 

us, and we in turn continued to pay the trainers and the 

rent. It was a really hard hole to dig out of, and we're still 

working on it. When we finally did open up, we offered 

our members two months of credit, spread out across the 

rest of the calendar year. So we were able to maintain 

salary for five people, one of which is full-time and has 

benefits, pay rent, and keep as much afloat as possible. 

When we did open back up, we didn't get a lot of cancellations; 

but what we did get was a lot of "I'm not ready to 


come back." Maintaining social distancing is really hard to 

do in the gym, especially when you're doing kickboxing in 

your personal training. Our stations are normally six feet 

apart by design. So now we keep one station in between 

them. They have ten to twelve feet between each person 

in there. Our employees are all wearing masks while 

they're working. When you're exercising, and that was a an 

exception to the mask rule, so the members don't have to 

wear masks. Some of them do, but they don't have to. Just 

gathering all the PPE supplies just to open, you know my 

husband was at Sam's Club every morning at 6 a.m. bless 

his heart. That was probably our biggest challenge, just 

gathering the cleaning supplies to open up; because they 

were nowhere to be found. 

Where did you relocate to when you moved to Pasco? 

We originally bought our house on the water in Gulf Harbors. 

We recently sold it and have since moved to Odessa 

to be closer to all three of the gyms. 

What was your experience in Pasco that lead you to 

become a part of the Class of 2019? 

When we bought our business in 2016 we immediately 

joined the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce. and started 

networking. It was through networking that we met a lot of 

people, and how I heard about Leadership Pasco. So, you 

know, word-of-mouth, and seeing people that have gone 

through the program, and being new to the area - I thought 

it was a great opportunity for me to get to know more 

about Pasco, be a part of the community, and to network as 

well. 

You know there's a lot of rivalry among the Program 

Day organizers. What class was your favorite? 

I had a lot of favorites because there is so much to take in, 

but I think my favorite because I love dogs was Criminal 

Justice Day. I own two German Shepherds, so that was 

great. 

So, besides opening two more businesses; what did you 

do during the days when we had to socially distance? 

Did you do any binge Netflix watching? 

No we didn't get into any new TV shows during the 

shutdown. For two months I took advantage of cooking. 

I love to cook, and my husband loves to cook, so around 

the holidays that's what we do together. We took advantage 

of that time to just cook everything from scratch. We 

were making pasta from scratch, different sauces, and just 

getting creative and learning new recipes. Because my 

employees were still working, and I wanted to keep our 

members engaged, I had each employee make a 60 second 

video every day, so that I could post it on social media to 

create content. It was nice and members appreciated that 

so that they could see their trainers and see what they were 

doing. We were all still working but from home. 

If you open up two more businesses during COVID 

that becomes your hobby, right? 

Exactly, and I do have a nice little home gym, so I spent a 

lot of time keeping up with my workouts. I actually lost six 

pounds while we were closed, so that's good. 

I saw a Tweet about you having a connection to Art For 

Hope. Can you tell me more about that? 

I like to get involved with different things that are near and 

dear to my heart. I was the presenting sponsor for Art For 

Hope during September, which is a fundraiser for suicide 

awareness - The Bobby White Foundation. I am very 

involved in that. 

In 2020, you became a Leadership Pasco Board Member. 

What inspired you to continue to be involved? 

Well, after going through the program and enjoying it as 

much as I did, I wanted to be involved in a higher capacity 

and hopefully influence others to also be involved in 

Leadership Pasco and go through the program because it 

was very beneficial for me. I learned so much about the 

County. Living on the west side. I wasn't very familiar 

with the rest of Pasco, so I really got to know the community 

in my county and I'm hoping that this program stays 

alive. The only way it will, is to keep talking about it and 

supporting it. 

Angel Cook '18 and Kim Rymanowski '19 at an event in 2018. 



11

Interviewing a Legendary Leader & Beloved Pasco 

County Resident, Kurt Conover '92 


Do you remember how you heard about Leadership 

Pasco? 

I do. At the time, I was the Land O' Lakes District Manager 

for Florida Power and worked with Bob Creson, who 

happened to be one of the founding board members of 

Leadership Pasco. Bob wanted me to get involved right 

away, so we started hosting the board meetings at the 

brand new Land O' Lakes Florida Power District Office. 

So I became a class member the year after that. 

I feel like your career has been about reinventing yourself. 

Can you tell us about that, and your early work 

history? 

Early on, when I was a very young man, I was fortunate 

enough to be working for the City of New Port Richey and 

it's interesting because at that time I was starting college. 

I was right out of high school and going to St. Petersburg 

Junior College; there was no Pasco/Hernando Community 

College. One summer day, I went to the Recreation 

Center in New Port Richey and there was a Recreation 

Leader there by the name of John Gallagher and he was 

a friend of the family. My brother and him hung around 

a lot together, and so I said "Hey do you know anybody 

that's hiring for the summer?" And John said, "Oh yeah, 

Lana (Goluba) Howe is running a summer playground 

program. You might want to go over and apply." So I 

got hired, and then I got hired as a custodial person. 

Then I worked my way up to a Recreation Leader, then 

Assistant Parks and Recreation Director and then at the 

ripe age of 22, I was appointed as Director of Parks and 

Recreation. My bosses always look at me with dissapointment 

when I say that's the best job I ever had. 

But it truly was. It was a wonderful job. And at that 

time, the City of New Port Richey had everything. They 

had that brand new Recreation Center had a new Olympic-sized 

swimming pool, we had the tennis courts, golf 

tournaments, and golf leagues. We had bowling leagues, 

we had Southwestern United States qualifiers for horseshoe 

tournaments. We had roller skating, record hops, 

and teen dances. We had so many things out there and 

always exciting stuff going on and I still see people to 

this day that remember when I was at the Recreation 

Center. They bring their grandchildren and sometimes 

great grandchildren and say "That's the guy that used to 

work the Rec Center when I was little." The Rec Center 

obviously looks a lot different today than what it did 

back then but that was a was a was a great job. I did get 

to be really good friends with Chuck Nelson who was 

Pasco County's first Parks and Recreation Director. I 

also became good good friends with co-workers Steve 

Luikart (he worked as our Athletic Supervisor) and 

Chuck Bellerose '92 (he worked as Assistant Director) 

who later became a Leadership Pasco Alumni and was 

also later awarded the Judith Rochelle Excellence in 

Leadership Award (2003). 

You have been so involved with Pasco County. Can 

you take us back to the beginning? 

I was very young when I moved to New Port Richey. 

My dad was a retired military officer and my mom was 

a registered nurse. When we first came down from up 


New York, my father drove down Grand Boulevard. He 

happened to see the water and the houses right on the 

water and he said, "That's where we've got to live." So 

we moved into a house off of Sunset Point, which is now 

Manatee Drive and there were only like six houses on the 

whole peninsula, because it is a peninsula. It's right in 

between the City of New Port Richey and the City of Port 

Richey. It was a big three-story house that had a boathouse, 

literally right down from the living room. It was 

really neat growing up there as a kid. I had two brothers 

and two sisters and our grandfather moved in with us. 

It was really a small town and everybody kind of knew 

each other. The activities were wonderful and, as we had 

the water right there, you could fish and we used to do 

things that you shouldn't do, like feed the alligator. There 

were lots of fish, lots of crabs and we enjoyed boating 

and scalloping. Just a great place to grow up. 

We were sorry to hear about your wife's passing. Can 

you tell us about her life and about your children? 

I had actually married my next door neighbor. I had built 

a new house on Louisiana Avenue when I was in my late 

20s and my future bride, when she came down from New 

York. She rented one of the duplexes next door. We fell 

in love and got married and have two beautiful children. 

Unfortunately, I lost my wife, it will be five years ago 

this December, to a very unexpected aneurysm and then 

a stroke. She was a very active, energetic, and vibrant 

person. She had been a dance instructor. So it was a challenging 

time and I have a lot of empathy for people who 

lose loved ones after so many years. 

I have always wondered when you met Harold Sample, 

your friend and Bus Tour Days' colleague? 

So Harold and I go way back. I had an older brother that 

knew Harold. Harold's dad used to work for the Pasco 

County Sheriff's Office. That's not how I got to meet 

Harold, but I did know him. His mom used to work at 

the Florida Power Office in New Port Richey when I first 

started there and he had a sister that worked there too. 

Harold has been all over the County. More recently, he's 

lived in the east side, but he grew up on the west side. 

Like I said, it's a small knit community so mainly through 

his activity in West Pasco is where I got to know Harold 

real well. I have to say this about Harold and I echo 

it whenever I can; I am totally amazed at his ability to 

remember things about the whole county. I've been doing 

tours with him for 10 years, 15 years... I don't even know 

how long. We will go through a new area that we don't 

normally cover and he says something significant about 

that area and things that happened in that area. I've never 

heard of anybody say that they haven't learned something 

new while on tour with Harold, no matter how long 

they've lived here. 

How did you make the transition to a hospital marketing 

role? 

The thing that was similar to all of those jobs, whether 

it was with the City or the power company, is that it was 

a lot of public relations. That's my favorite thing. I love 

people and I know a lot of people. At the time, I was the 

Chairman of Chasco and I had met a man by the name of 

Alan Levine, who who has since held several impressive 

executive positions in healthcare. In working with him, 

Alan became a really good advocate for me and he was 

the one that encouraged Dan Miller, who was President & 

CEO at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point, to hire 

me. That was just under 25 years ago. 

COVID has greatly effected the new normal, but tell us 

about the effect to service and safety at the hospital. 

So they have implimented precautions. We get screened 

every day and we have to wear masks. With COVID hitting 

the hospital, we had to go about redesigning everything. 

We went from five different entrances to one for 

patients and one for employees. 

Can you tell us about any hidden talents or hobbies 

that you picked up this year? 

I do play some online poker. Texas hold 'em with some 

buddies who are soccer coaches from Land O Lakes, 

because I used to be really involved in the Central Pasco 

Youth Soccer Association (CPUSA) and made some 

lifelong friends. The in-person stuff is out, but now we 

just do the online playing. I've also remodeled my kitchen, 

installed new windows and doors, installed Bermuda 

Shutters, and have done a lot of painting and gardening. 

Kurt Connover '92, Richard Jenkins '20, and Thomas O'Conner 

Bruno '20 at Bus Tour Day (West). 



13

Class Notes 

Accomplishments 

Don Anderson '16 is now President of the 

Leadership Pasco Board of Directors. 

Tom Celotto '11 is now a Director Emeritus of the 


Heather Grimes '11 is now a Director Emerita of 

the Leadership Pasco Board of Directors. 

Manny Long '16 is now President Elect of the 


Tara O'Connor '16 is now Secretary of the 


Stefanie Pontlitz '13 is the 2020 Judith Rochelle 

Award winner and hired as Executive Director for The 

Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind (LVIB) 

of Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus Counties. 

Kim Rymanowski '19 opened two additional 

9Round Fitness franchises this year. 

John Willis '15 is now Treasurer of the Leadership 

Pasco Board of Directors and was named Employee 

of the Year 2020 by the Florida West Coast Credit 

Union. 

In Memoriam 

Candace Glewen '14 

Visit LeadershipPasco.com/ClassNotes 

to submit accomplishments, marriages, 

engagements, births, and memoriam 

information. We will continue to share in this 

quarterly newsletter. 

Class of 2020 Graduation 

Save the Date 

Tuesday, December 1, 2020 

Spartan Manor - New Port Richey 

6:00-9:00 p.m. 

We appreciate our sponsors 

14 FALL 2020 NEWSLETTER 

www.LeadershipPasco.com

Leadership Pasco Newsletter - Fall 2020

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