Our Board
De Palazzo, Chair
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De Palazzo is a conflict resolution educator with a deep interest in opening up dialogue with youth and adults who have diverse interests and backgrounds. De is President of Perspectives Unlimited, Inc. and in this role delivers intercultural understanding workshops, anti-bias trainings and conflict solution workshops to community and corporate organizations. She also writes violence prevention curriculum as a consultant and contractor with various school districts across the nation, and has delivered peacebuilding curriculum to youth in Central America. Holding her masters in education and conflict resolution, De is an activist and an advocate for marginalized youth and is committed to empowering young people in schools and universities, as well as adults, to become change agents for a more peace-filled world. |
Jim VanRiper
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Originally from Colorado Springs Colorado, Jim VanRiper, began organizing in 1996 in the fight against Colorado's anti-gay state constitutional amendment, which the US Supreme Court ultimately struck down in Romer vs. Evans. Jim served on the board of directors for the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Colorado Springs. During this time he also worked to help pass a domestic partner benefits program for City employees in Colorado Springs. Jim has also been the Board Chair for The Family Tree LGBT Community Center in Tallahassee Florida chaired the Leon County Human Relations Advisory Committee and facilitated the passing of a human relations ordinance for Leon County which expands the 1964 civil Rights act (Title VII) by including protections for all citizens including protection from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Jim is currently the board chair for Equality Florida. Equality Florida is the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Equality Florida works to improve the lives of the LGBT community through lobbying, grassroots organizing, education, and coalition building. |
Michelle Ott
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An Information Technology Project Manager by trade, Michelle Ott's support of the LGBT community includes serving on the board of the Stonewall Democrats of Alachua County and as spokesperson for Equality is Gainesville's Business, as political action committee formed in 2007 to defeat an amendment to the City of Gainesville's charter that would have removed protections in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation and gender identity. She also serves as Vice Chair of the City of Gainesville's Human Rights Board and Secretary of the Alachua County Democratic Party. Michelle was named Gainesville Pride 2008's Community Person of the Year and is a 2009 recipient of Equality Florida's "Voice for Equality" award. |
Amy Mandel
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A transplant to Tampa from New York City, Amy Mandel holds a degree in business management from the University of South Florida. Since 1979, Amy has owned and operated FEET FIRST, a successful chain of sporting goods stores throughout the Tampa Bay area. Amy has been a volunteer and board member of Equality Florida since 1992 (then called the Human Rights Task Force) in the capacity of Treasurer and Co-Chair, and has been a prime organizer of Equality Florida's major donor membership program in the Central part of the state. |
Pat Padilla
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Pat lives in Orlando and has over 14 years of experience in software sales. She currently works as a sales trainer for Symantec Corporation. While previously living in Venezuela for ten years, Pat had the opportunity to work with Mother Teresa and the Sisters of Charity as their translator. Pat is a longtime activist for LGBT equality. She is a leader in the Orlando PFLAG chapter and has been active in the passage of human rights ordinances in Orlando and its surrounding counties. Pat is also involved with various organizations supporting the rights of LGBT youth in schools. She became a passionate straight ally after seeing the discrimination her LGBT friends experienced. Pat's three grown children support her in all her endeavors. |
Chuck V. Loring
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Chuck is the Senior Partner of the nonprofit consulting firm of Loring, Sternberg & Associates with offices in Fort Lauderdale and Indianapolis and a Senior Governance Associate for BoardSource in Washington, D.C. He holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). Chuck has consulted with such prominent institutions as the Smithsonian Museum, Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. In 2008 Chuck completed six years of service on the national board of Lambda Legal and continues as a member of their National Leadership Council. He was a founder of Lamda Legal's Fort Lauderdale and Indianapolis steering committees. In Fort Lauderdale he is active donor and participant with the Gay & Lesbian Center, the Stonewall Library, SunServe, Equality Florida and local LGBT candidates. Nationally Chuck has done work with the Gill Foundation, the Stonewall Community Foundation, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center and many other LGBT organizations. |
B. Rodney White
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Originally from North Carolina and recently from Atlanta, GA, B. Rodney White has been active in the LGBT movement for the past 20+ years. As Executive Vice President and co-owner of Making Projects Work, Inc. (an Atlanta-based project management consulting firm) with his husband, Michael P. Williams, Rodney networked the access and opportunity afforded to them through both business and personal relationships to support local organizations like AID Atlanta, Project Open Hand, CHRIS Kids and P.A.L.S. and national groups including HRC, Lambda Legal and GLAAD. Now as a resident of Hollywood, FL Rodney serves as a member of GLAAD's National Leadership Council, co-chairs GLAAD's South Florida Leadership Council and is an active fundraiser for Lambda Legal and Equality Florida. Rodney and Michael continue as committed donors to Equality Florida, GLAAD, HRC, Lambda Legal, SunServe, The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of South Florida, Georgia Equality, AID Atlanta, The Atlanta Botanical Garden, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and The High Museum of Art. |
Ron Carzoli
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Ron is a physician working with Pediatrix Medical Group, specializing in Neonatology – the care of premature babies. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, and his medical degree from University of Michigan. Following residency and fellowship, he settled in Jacksonville, FL, where he has lived and worked for over 20 years. Ron became involved with Equality Florida 5 years ago, and for the past several years has been the Chair of the Jacksonville Steering Committee, which has been rapidly expanding EQFL membership in northeast Florida. He has personally and through friends recognized what it is like to have rights and then lose them, based solely on societal labels, and is an avid believer in equal rights for all people. Ron is also involved in medical mission trips to Haiti, and has made over 25 trips in the past 8 years. He sits on the Board of the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, and serves as medical liaison to their hospital in Haiti. Ron considers himself fortunate to have 4 wonderful grown children who support him in his efforts. |
Ted Bradford
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Ted is currently Vice President,Team Lead with the Commercial Asset Resolution Team at BB&T. He has over 20 years of banking experience assisting businesses with their financing needs. Ted also has been a dedicated community volunteer. He has served as Treasurer and Board Chair of Hope and Help, central Florida's largest HIV/Aids service organization. Ted is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Orlando Science Center where he has served in various positions including Board Chair. Ted chaired the committee that created the Science Center's annual gala. He has served on numerous committees for other not for profits assisting them with fundraising, planning and executive searches. Since 2009, Ted has been a member of Equality Florida's Orlando Steering Committee. He currently serves as Treasurer of the Board. |
Charlie Hounchell
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Charlie Hounchell is the current acting Chair of Equality Florida’s Development Committee and he has participated on the Tampa EQFL Gala Steering Committee for the last four years. Charlie has over 20 years of legal experience, serving as an assistant state attorney, an insurance coverage litigator representing homeowners and as a real estate attorney specializing in commercial and residential buyer and seller representation. Mr. Hounchell is a Tampa Bay native and a graduate of The George Washington University and The University of Florida College of Law. He also earned his MBA in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, AZ. For seven years in Tampa, Mr. Hounchell owned and operated an award winning medical bill and contract negotiation company, Zeneks, Inc (sold in 2006). Charlie currently specializes in real estate law with an emphasis on foreclosure defense, short sale negotiations and contract dispute resolution. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese and has lived a total of five years in many different countries including Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Germany and Brazil. |
Jim Harper
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Jim Harper is a writer, editor, educator and community activist. Most recently he developed a chain of free tutoring programs for low-income children in Sarasota, Lee and Collier counties. His gay activism began in the early 1990s when, as a long-time reporter and columnist at the St. Petersburg Times, he was among the first mainstream journalists in the U.S. to write openly as a gay man. He served on the board of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, and at the Times, helped to pioneer a more open, community-based coverage of LGBT issues. He also covered politics, education, music, and cultural issues. In 1997 he was part of a reporting/editing team that was runner-up for a Pulitzer Prize, for its coverage of a police shooting and racial violence in St. Petersburg. Jim was founding president of Friends of the Festival Inc., the non-profit entity that produces the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Festival. He also was board chair of the Tampa Gay and Lesbian Community Center and helped negotiate its successful merger with Tampa Bay’s Metropolitan Charities. For more than a decade, he has participated in a student mentoring program at his undergraduate alma mater, The University of the South, in Sewanee, Tenn. He joined Equality Florida’s board of directors in 2007, where he has focused on strategic planning, fundraising and governance. He lives with his dog Booker in Tampa. |