New board chair, directors at Sarasota's Safe Children Coalition | Business People
• Child welfare agency Safe Children Coalition has named its 2022-2023 board of directors, a volunteer leadership group tasked with providing expertise in areas including child welfare, fostering, adopting and education, and assisting the organization in achieving its organizational directives.
Michael Rahn is the new chair of the board. New directors are Jamara Clark and Lee Lipton, joined by continuing directors Ken Alexander, Tony Gamelin, David Fairy, Brian Goodrich and Anne Marie Jones.
Rahn is the SWFL regional production manager for SouthState Bank, with nearly 30 years of experience as a mortgage broker in Sarasota/Manatee.
This will be Rahn’s third year on the board, his first as chair. He was previously vice chair.
Clark is the principal at Rowlett Middle Academy, in Bradenton, and has over 15 years of experience as an educator in Manatee County.
Lipton spent nearly 30 years in the health care industry, working for national organizations in both the home health and physician management fields.
• Forza Wealth Management, an SEC-registered investment adviser in Sarasota, has hired Kimberly Evener as its new director of client services.
In this role, Evener will be responsible for all aspects of client services to further the company’s goal of continuously enhancing the client experience.
Before joining Forza, Evener worked for six years at Caldwell Trust Co., most recently as an assistant vice president and trust officer. Before that, she spent 12 years at Northern Trust Co., advancing to the roles of officer and account manager.
• Shumaker Senior Attorney Alicia J. Lewis has the opportunity to impact the Sarasota community as Leadership Sarasota has selected her to join its Class of 2023.
Leadership Sarasota is a program of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce that focuses on identifying and inspiring current and future leaders and helping them explore different organizations and facets within the community, while also creating lifelong relationships with their classmates.
Lewis will join 52 other participants in the 10-month program.
Lewis focuses her law practice on land use, zoning, government procurement, public-private partnerships, affordable housing, environmental law, entitlement due diligence, community outreach and municipal government law.
• Shumaker Partner Brett Henson has been appointed co-chair of the Legislative Subcommittee of the Florida Bar Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Sections Construction Law Committee.
He has also been appointed to the Steering Committee for Division 1: Litigation and Dispute Resolution of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Construction Law.
The Florida Bar RPPTL Section’s Construction Law Committee is a statewide organization of over 500 construction lawyers committed to promoting the highest levels of knowledge, experience and professionalism within the field of construction law. As subcommittee co-chair, Henson will co-lead the Committee’s involvement in providing technical guidance to the RPPTL regarding proposed legislation affecting the construction industry.
As a member of the Steering Committee for the ABA Forum’s on Construction Law, he will assist in representing all segments of the construction industry. The forum’s mission is to serve the construction industry through education and leadership while building the best construction lawyers.
Henson is board certified by the Florida Bar in Construction Law. He focuses in the areas of commercial and construction litigation and devotes a substantial portion of his practice to handling all types of construction disputes.
Shumaker is based in Sarasota.
• Rita Hollingsworth has been named one of Bankers Life’s 2022 Top Women Financial Advisors. She has been with the company for three years.
The recognition campaign showcases “The Best of the Best” women financial advisers representing Bankers Life Securities, Inc. and Bankers Life Advisory Services, Inc. Financial advisers qualify annually for the recognition by achieving specific production and client service criteria.
Hollingsworth attended the University of Delaware and was registered as a financial adviser in 2020. She has completed the Uniform Exam - Series 65.
She was recognized as the Top Medicare Supplement Producer and Bankers Life 2019 Rising Star of the Southeast.
Bankers Life is a national life and health insurance brand that focuses on the insurance needs of Americans who are near or in retirement.
• April Ranceful was recently hired by the Safe Children Coalition as its new vice president of child welfare. In this role, Ranceful will be responsible for providing leadership, supervision and management to the community-based care operations in Circuit 12 (Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties).
She will be specifically responsible for assuring the operations meet the established outcomes, comply with related federal, state and local laws and rules, and all contractual requirements as well as integrating Safe Children Coalition's vision, mission and values internally and with state agency, contractual agencies and partners.
Previously, Ranceful was the chief operating officer for First Step of Sarasota.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia Southern University and a Master of Arts from Hawaii University of Phoenix.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: New board at Safe Children Coalition, agent ranks on Bankers Life list
