wcw FEB 2022

you’re news
Accolades
■ Jennifer Jaso, a social studies
and critical thinking teacher
at Sarasota Middle School, was
named the 2022 Sarasota County
Teacher of the Year at the annual
celebration
of educators
hosted
by the
Education
Foundation
of Sarasota
County.
Event
organizers
Jennifer Jaso
were happy
to resume
an in-person celebration, held
this year at Michael’s on East in
Sarasota, after producing the 2021
tribute as a virtual event due to the
pandemic.
Before Jaso was named as the
district’s 2022 Teacher of the Year,
videos were shown of her and
fellow district finalists—Shannon
Haddad of Ashton Elementary
School and Loridia Urquiza of
Booker High School —and they
were welcomed to the stage by their
respective 2021 district finalists Emily
O’BrienSwope, Samantha Miller,
and Becky Satterly.
In addition, Stephanie Vlahakis,
the 2021 Innovation Award recipient,
announced Jacob Lasorso, an
industrial education instructor at
Suncoast Technical College, as the
2022 Innovation Award honoree.
The award recognizes a Teacher
of the Year who is creative in approach,
willing to think outside the
box, and able to connect students
with learning in unique ways.
The 43 Teacher of the Year designees
representing their respective
schools also were recognized and
received cash awards. Dr. Jennifer
Jaso will represent district teachers
throughout the 2022 calendar year
and serve as the district’s nominee
for state Teacher of the Year.
The Education Foundation
presented Jaso with a $5,000 cash
award and Haddad and Urquiza
with awards of $2,500 each. Vigne
thanked Sunset Automotive Group
for providing the cash awards and
other generous supporters who
made it possible to sponsor the
celebration event.
■ Sarasota County Sheriff department
has promoted two sheriff’s
office members to new ranks. Deputy
Justin Weaver is promoted to
the rank of Sergeant assigned to the
Patrol Bureau. Weaver began his law
enforcement career in 2015 when
he was hired by the sheriff’s office
as a patrol deputy. He transferred
to the Tactical Unit in 2017 and has
served as a detective within the
Special Investigations Section since
2019. Weaver is a current member
of the agency’s SWAT Team and has
advanced training in several areas
including rifle techniques, firearm
instruction, explosive breaching,
and more.
from left: Sergeants Justin Weaver
and Jenna Dubose with Sheriff
Kurt A. Hoffman.
Corrections Deputy Jenna
Dubose was promoted to the rank
of Sergeant assigned to the Corrections
Operations Bureau. Dubose
began her law enforcement career
with the Florida Department of
Corrections before joining the sheriff’s
office in 2011. She is currently
assigned to the Power Squad within
the correctional facility and serves
as the secretary for the county jail
inspection group, participating in
assessments by the Florida Model
Jail Standards Committee. She
received several nominations for
Employee of the Month throughout
her career, earning the distinction in
2017. Dubose has advanced training
in crisis intervention, firearms, defensive
tactics, incident command
systems, and hostage negotiation.
Appointments
■ The Jewish Federation of
Sarasota-Manatee has announced
the appointment of its new Chief
Advancement Officer, Hermione
Gilpin. Gilpin will be leading a team
of development professionals and
volunteers to support the Federation’s
mission:
to strengthen
Jewish life, provide
for people
in need, and
promote support
for Israel.
Gilpin joined
the Federation
on January 24.
Hermione Gilpin
As Vice
President of
Institutional Advancement and
Planning at Marie Selby Botanical
Gardens for the past several years,
she was instrumental in securing
many leadership gifts and building
a winning team of development
professionals. Gilpin also played
key roles in the capital campaign
for Selby Gardens’ Master Plan. She
was a Philanthropic Advisor for the
Gulf Coast Foundation for three
years. She started her local development
career in this community at
the Asolo Repertory Theater.
Gilpin said “I’ve long been
impressed with the Jewish Federation’s
mission, especially how the
Federation inspires deep conversations,
broadminded perspectives
and dedication to learning. I’m
energized by the vision for the
Larry and Mary Greenspon Family
Campus for Jewish Life. It will be a
unique community gathering place
where people with different backgrounds
will exchange ideas and
pass on Jewish values and traditions
to the next generation. I can’t
wait to help realize that vision.”
For more information, contact
Kim Adler at kadler@jfedsrq.org or
941-552-6300.
■ The Community Foundation of
Sarasota County has announced
the promotion of a longstanding
staff member, appointment of a
seasoned development professional,
and the acceptance of a Vice
President into a prestigious national
fellowship.
Representing the state of
Florida, Ranata Reeder, Vice
President of Knowledge and Equity,
has joined
the 2021-
2022 class of
the Hull Fellows
Leadership
Program,
a philanthropic
leadership
development
program of
Ranata Reeder
Philanthropy
Southeast.
Julie Avins
Throughout the year, Reeder
alongside 21 other philanthropic
leaders from across the southeastern
United States will explore the
evolution of philanthropy in the
South, emerging trends and best
practices, and the challenges facing
foundations today.
Julie Avins has assumed the role
of Director of Accounting. Since
joining the
Community
Foundation
as Senior
Accountant
in 2015, Avins
has continually
expanded
her leadership
in the day-today
operations
of the
finance department from analyzing
investment accounts to supervising
two staff accountants to overseeing
the processing of gifts at all levels.
During her tenure, the foundation’s
assets have grown from $274 million
to $520 million.
Newly appointed as Philanthropic
Advisor, Laurie Scott will work
closely with donors throughout our
community
to help them
achieve their
philanthropic
goals through
charitable
investments.
Scott joins the
Community
Foundation
Laurie Scott
with more
than 30 years
as a development professional with
experiences in the United States, Japan,
and New Zealand. She has held
development roles at the University
of South Florida, The Baker Institute
for Public Policy at Rice University,
the Medical University of South Carolina,
and University of Auckland.
For more information, visit
www.CFSarasota.org or call (941)
955-3000.
■ Graci McGillicuddy, All Star
Children’s Foundation’s co-founder
and board chair, announced
recently that the board of directors
has appointed Sharon Ghazarian,
Ph.D, as its new CEO. Dr. Ghazarian
had served as
All Star’s chief
research officer
since July
2020. Before
she joined All
Star, Dr. Ghazarian,
was the
former senior
director for
Sharon Ghazarian
health informatics
at Johns
Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
“Answering the call to lead All
Star is an honor and a privilege,”
says Dr. Ghazarian. “I hope to build
upon the incredible foundation that
has been created here and help the
organization become a true leader
in addressing childhood trauma,
not only for Sarasota, but across the
state and country. I am truly humbled
by this opportunity.”
Dr. Ghazarian is a research methodologist
and an expert in complex
statistical analysis and research processes
for medical, behavioral, and
social sciences. In her career with
Johns Hopkins and other health
organizations, Dr. Ghazarian pursued
methodological advances in
healthcare data, with a particular focus
on pediatric development. She
has also contributed substantively
to the field of parenting behaviors,
parent-child relationships and
family dynamics by applying robust
techniques to examine mechanisms
by which parenting and
family interactions affect child and
adolescent outcomes. Her resulting
expertise encompasses behavioral
health, public health, social sciences,
and hospital medicine. She also
has an extensive background as a
methodology consultant for federally
funded research grants
During her time at All Star, Dr.
Ghazarian has provided leadership
and oversight for the research
department and served as the Data
Security and Privacy Officer ensuring
safe, reliable, and robust process
and procedure for all aspects of data
entry, collection, and storage.
For more information, visit www.
allstarchildren.org.
Board News
■ Island Gallery West welcomes
our three newest member artists
— Renee Pagan, Steve Oliver and
Dawn Gerardot. Their works in
diverse styles are now on display at
Island Gallery West.
Renee Pagan loves capturing
the beauty of the world through
an imaginative lens of brilliant
color. “There is creativity within
every individual and as an educator
and therapist, I strive to help
others tap into this expression by
cultivating talents and increasing
skills.” Although a life-long graphite
artist, Renee discovered her love for
watercolors about 10 years ago. She
prefers to paint landscapes, nature,
seascapes and the animal kingdom.
Steve Oliver is a flintknapper,
primitive artist and painter. His
flintknapping journey began 15
years ago while traveling Denmark,
and the art form continues to
intrigue him. Steve takes rock, glass
and other materials in the raw form
and chips (or knaps) it into tools
and weapons. What was an absolute
prehistoric necessity for survival
is now a beautiful art form, one
that links the past to the present.
Spray painting is a much newer medium,
which allows Steve to express
himself in a whole new way. It is a
fast form of art that requires careful
conception and planning as well as
careful execution.
Dawn Gerardot says “From a
very early age, the passion to create
has always been present in all that I
see and do. I feel a creative energy
that tugs at the artist in me and this
is where “happy accidents” happen:
an exciting unpredictable result,
an unexpected color mingling or
a combination of mediums that
causes a turn in direction. Every
painting is an experiment and for
me, pushing the boundaries is what
it is all about.”Dawn graduated
from the University of St. Francis
and taught secondary education
for 14 years. She loves to teach and
this background provides the tools
to share her knowledge of multiple
mediums, including painting on
silk fabric. Dawn has taught classes,
workshops and seminars in Indiana
and Florida for the past 20 years
and has won numerous awards in a
variety of media.
Island West Gallery is located at
5368 Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach,
Trolley Stop 15, on Anna Maria
Island. For updates, visit www.
islandgallerywest.com or call the
gallery at 941-778-6648.
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22 WEST COAST WOMAN FEBRUARY 2022