Elections Process:
Ballots will be handed out to Members during meeting sign in. During the meeting, there will be a final call for nominations from the floor and then members will vote. Ballots will be collected and we will ask for a Member to volunteer to help with counting.
Board Nominees:
Deborah Swisher-Hicks
Deb, current GPICA Board President, was born and raised in Sacramento and retired from the state of California after 25 years of reviewing, interpreting, and applying complex and ever-changing laws. She moved to Pine Island in 2019, a place she not only calls home, but a community she embraces. While working in California, she saw how natural resources such as soil-rich farmland, and natural preserves disappeared in the name of progress. She raised her children to believe in protecting what is important, which is why her son serves in the U.S. Air Force. With the great community of Pine Island as her home — a place that she holds dear to her heart — she believes that it is important to protect the natural resources from overdevelopment, to provide smart mitigation measures to protect the community, and to provide the heartfelt service to the community that she loves and embraces.
Nadine Slimak
Nadine, current GPICA Vice President, has lived in Bokeelia since 2000 and joined the GPICA board in 2017 to help protect the coastal-rural lifestyle that drew her to the Island. She spent 15 years as a journalist in Ohio, upstate New York and Florida before joining Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, where she served as Director of Communications for 11 years, directing national, regional and local media activities, handling crisis communications and helping the organization develop direct communications with its members and supporters. In 2015 (tired of the long commute from Pine Island), she left Mote to develop her own communications and public relations consulting business, Vetted Communications, LLC. Her main clients are nonprofit organizations working in the marine environment.
Scott Wilkinson
Scott, a current Board Member, was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He received his BA (Cum Laude) from the University of New Hampshire and has been a Florida resident since 2005 and has lived in Bokeelia since 2008. He served active duty in the U.S. Army from 1971-1973 and was honorably discharged in 1977. Scott worked for the USPS from 1974-1975, then became a U.S. Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division Field Investigator from 1975-2001 in Manchester, New Hampshire. From 2001-2005, he worked in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, U.S. Department of Labor. He retired in 2005. He is a current member of the American Legion Pine Island Post 0136, Loyal Order of Moose Pine Island Lodge 1954, Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program — Civilian Advisory Committee, Calusa Land Trust, Charlotte Shores One Property Owners’ Association, S.W. Florida Central Labor Council.
Kathy Chumley
Kathy, who is currently serving on the GPICA as an honorary/non-voting member, was born and raised in New Jersey. She traveled the world as a military dependent before settling in Ormond Beach, Florida, in 1973, where she met and married her husband, Jim. Kathy has one son, Ben, who works as a Senior Planner for Alachua County. Kathy has a BA in History from Stetson University in Deland, Florida, and an MA in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida. She worked for 10 years at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, ultimately serving as Manager of Library Services for the University’s Extended Campus and Distance Learning programs. Kathy moved to Bokeelia in 2002 to work as a reference librarian at the Cape Coral Lee County Public Library and retired in 2019 as a Senior Librarian and branch manager at the North Fort Myers Public Library. Since retiring, Kathy has been involved with a number of community organizations, including the Beacon of Hope, Calusa Land Trust and the Pine Island Garden Club. She is interested in protecting our environment and way of life, building for resilience, and preserving our fishing and agricultural communities. Kathy would like to serve on the GPICA board to help preserve the beauty, uniqueness and Old Florida atmosphere of Pine Island.
Interested in Serving on the Board? We continue to have open seats to fill!
Do you want to support Pine Island and help ensure that community residents have a say in development, growth, zoning, water quality and other issues affecting the islands? You can help chart the course for Pine Island’s future by serving as a GPICA Board member. GPICA Board Members must:
- Be a GPICA member for at least six months and current in their dues;
- Self-nominations are welcome!
- If you’re interested or have questions about serving on the Board email Info@GPICA.org
The GPICA was created in 1957 as a voice for residents, advocating for the health, safety and quality of life in our community. The organization works for the betterment of the entire community — north to south and east to west — including Matlacha Isles, Matlacha, Pine Island Center, St. James City, Pineland and Bokeelia.
Over the decades, GPICA has worked to preserve and maintain a desirable, livable community that promotes smart growth and preserves sensitive natural areas by working with Island residents to develop a future land-use plan — commonly called the Pine Island Plan and implemented through the Lee County Development Code — that governs growth rules. |
