BUSINESS PEOPLE: Shumaker Law picks first woman to lead firm

Sarasota attorney Jennifer B. Compton will become the first woman to lead the Shumaker Law Firm, a national firm with offices in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The announcement came after the Shumaker Management Committee voted to promote Compton to chair and Jaime Austrich to vice chair of the Management Committee.

Before becoming chair, Compton was vice chair of the Management Committee for the past two consecutive years, in addition to managing partner of the Sarasota office. For more than 25 years, she has focused her practice on employment law counseling and litigation.

In addition to her legal work, Compton is committed to supporting Sarasota, the community where she grew up. As a founding member of the Sarasota Bayfront Planning Organization and chair of The Bay Park Conservancy Board, she is helping to create a world class 54-acre park on the Sarasota Bayfront.

Austrich was chair of Shumaker’s Tampa litigation department for over a decade before being elected to the firmwide Management Committee. This marks his second consecutive year on the Management Committee.

The Central West Coast chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association recently honored two longtime members who have distinguished themselves with an impressive record of leadership and service.

Joe Curley has reached the 50-year mark and Colleen Thayer has reached the 25-year mark with the Florida Public Relations Association.

Curley is co-founder and former president of one of Florida’s oldest and largest PR firms, Curley & Pynn Public Relations Management. He joined the Orlando Area chapter in 1973 and served as president in 1978-1979.

He served as state president in 1981-1982 and as Counselors’ Network Chair in 2010-2011. He moved to the Sarasota/Manatee area in the early 2000s and became a Central West Coast chapter member, serving as a board member since 2016.

During his long membership in the association, Curley has mentored many FPRA members. His passion for developing future leaders led him in 2010 to endow the Joe Curley Rising Leader program, which annually identifies and honors up-and-coming FPRA leaders with cash rewards and professional development scholarships.

He also endowed the Dr. Jay Rayburn annual scholarship to support the professional development of students studying to enter the public relations profession.Thayer, who currently serves as the executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Sarasota and Manatee Counties, quickly rose to leadership after joining the Central West Coast chapter, serving as treasurer, vice president and president, in addition to assisting members with earning their accreditation/certification and judging the Image Awards.

She went on to serve on the FPRA state board in chapter services and professional development, and as Counselors Network chair and FPRA Foundation chair.

Venice resident Barry Anderson had total knee replacement surgery at HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital. He was impressed by the compassion and skill of his recovery nurse, Lisa Lilligren, RN.

As a veteran of the hotel and hospitality industry, Anderson says he knows and appreciates good care and service.

He has made a full recovery and recently returned to the hospital to say thank you to his nurse and be there as she was presented with the DAISY Award.

The Daisy Award is an international award that recognizes nurses for extraordinary acts of compassion or a relationship they create with a patient that makes a difference.

Williams Parker, the longest-standing law firm in the Sarasota-Manatee area, has added a deeply experienced new partner to its roster of attorneys.

With over half a century at the Bar, Florida native Barry Spivey was one of the initial class of board-certified attorneys in wills, trusts and estates in 1986.

Executive editor of the Stetson Law Review in law school, Spivey has practiced law in Sarasota since 1972. His practice has evolved from focusing exclusively on estate planning and administration to predominantly focusing on estate and trust litigation.

He is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and serves on its Fiduciary Litigation Committee.

His litigation practice includes representation of personal representatives, trustees and beneficiaries in will and trust contests, fiduciary surcharge and removal proceedings, guardianship litigation, the modification and termination of irrevocable trusts, and appellate proceedings.

Spivey received his high school, university and law school education in Florida and served in the Army in Vietnam.

As All Faiths Food Bank begins a journey guided by its new five-year strategic plan, it welcomes a new board chair and three new board members to its leadership team.

All Faiths Food Bank’s 2023 board of directors will help support and guide its operations and continue the organization’s decades of committed service as a trusted organization working to better the community.The officers are Terri Vitale, chair; Patricia Courtois, vice chair; Dennis Doughty, treasurer; and Dr. LaShawn Frost, secretary.

New board members are Rich Cautero, Ron Jadin and Mitch Olan, who join members Ben Hanan (immediate past chair), Lisa Keverian-Press, Bart Lowther, Elton White and Mary Kay Burns.Vitale, previously vice chair, has been a dedicated community activist for over 15 years. She has volunteered on behalf of many important community organizations. Her professional background includes strategic media and marketing with Leo Burnett in Chicago, Ill.

She graduated with an MBA from Notre Dame.Cautero has had a long career as a board member, including serving on the All Faiths Food Bank board and finance committee from 2013 to 2016. A retired executive, he spent 30 years at Kraft Foods/Altria in numerous leadership positions.

He was previously elected to two terms on the Venice City Council and elected vice mayor three times.

Jadin, who previously served on the food bank’s finance committee, and his wife are major supporters of and volunteers for All Faiths.

He retired from W.W. Grainger, where he was senior vice president and chief financial officer from 2008 to 2018, after holding other leadership and finance roles there.

Olan has also previously served on All Faiths Food Bank’s finance committee. For the past 28 years, he has been dedicated to building the Dental Care Alliance, one of the largest dental support organizations in the country.

He served 18 years as chief operating officer, six years as CEO for six years, and the past four years as executive chairman.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: First woman to lead law firm, PR chapter honors longtime members