Meet the Board

Sallie Parks has been a resident of Pinellas County for more than 50 years, and she is a recipient of the Governor’s Points of Light Award, which recognizes Florida residents who demonstrate exemplary service to the community.

Parks retired as a lobbyist for St. Petersburg College in 2003. From 1992 to 2000, she served as a commissioner for Pinellas County and spent two years serving on the board of directors of Tampa Bay Water.

As the first executive director of the Pinellas County Arts Council, Parks helped expand the arts council’s services and grow its operating budget. She also founded the PACE (Practical Academic Cultural Education) Center for Girls Pinellas, a nonprofit prevention program for at-risk girls in Pinellas County.

Committee Appointments: Capital Improvements Grants • Nominating

Judith Powers, M.A., brings a strong leadership background in arts and cultural education to the Pinellas Community Foundation. She was the executive director of the Pinellas County Arts Council and the Pinellas Cultural Affairs department for 21 years and served as a board member and president of the Florida Association of Local Arts Agencies.

Powers is active in several community organizations and holds board positions with the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and St. Petersburg Arts Advisory Committee. She also holds a seat on the Public Art & Design Board for the city of Clearwater and has served on the boards of the Junior League of Clearwater-Dunedin and the PACE Center for Girls.

Powers received her Bachelor of Arts in education and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of South Florida.

Committee Appointments: Huntley/Tonne Arts Grants Chair

Virginia “Ginny” Rowell spent her career in social services, both with the State of Florida and the city of St. Petersburg. The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners appointed Rowell to the Pinellas Community Foundation Board of Governors.

Rowell is a graduate of Florida State University and has long been active in a wide variety of community affairs in the St. Petersburg area.

Today, Rowell is president of the board for Area Agency on Aging for both Pasco and Pinellas counties. She serves as secretary of the Homeless Leadership Board of Pinellas County and is the president of the board of trustees of Peterborough Apartments Inc., a senior retirement apartment building located in downtown St. Petersburg.

Committee Appointments: Operating Grants Chair

Byron Smith, CPA, is a shareholder and leader of the Wealth Strategies & Services Team at Gregory, Sharer & Stuart. He also serves as a managing member of the firm’s tax accounting practice where his primary areas of concentration include planning for wealth accumulation and preservation, tax and accounting issues regarding estates and trusts, and business valuations.

An expert in guiding nonprofit organizations, Smith is also widely recognized for his extensive knowledge in charitable giving and succession planning for closely held businesses.

In addition to being the recent past chair of the Board of Governors of the Pinellas Community Foundation, Smith’s history of leadership in Pinellas includes having the positions of past chair of both the Tampa Bay Estate Planning Council and the Salvation Army Tampa Area Command. Smith has provided pro bono assistance to the Pinellas Education Foundation Planned Gifts, National Christian Foundation and The Idlewild Foundation.

Smith holds a degree in accounting from the University of South Florida.

Committee Appointments: Planning Chair • Investment Oversight Chair • Nominating

William “Bill” Sturtevant spent his entire business career in Atlanta, Georgia, including as Senior Vice President responsible for commercial real estate finance at Trust Company Bank.

Bill and his wife, Beverly, retired to Clearwater in 2003. Bill came out of retirement to form Bluewater Investments LLC – Florida, a global private equity fund focused on funding large-scale humanitarian projects, primarily in Tampa Bay. As Chairman of the Clearwater Downtown Partnership, a 501c3, Bill guided the growth of a small nonprofit into a significant, private sector partner to the City of Clearwater.

In 2015, Bill was elected President of Senior Citizens Services, Inc. (SCS). Incorporated in 1960 as a 501(c)(3). SCS was initially an activity agency for seniors. Funded by the sale of a senior-living facility, Bill and an outstanding Board of Directors transformed SCS into a donor-advised fund providing grants to area agencies focused on seniors. From April, 2016 to July, 2018 the Foundation awarded $1.7 Million to 43 agencies, affecting over 12,000 seniors.

In 2018, SCS moved its $11 million investment portfolio to the Pinellas Community Foundation (PCF). Bill currently sits on PCF’s Board of Governors and hopes to assist PCF in the area of affordable housing for seniors in Pinellas and Pasco counties, as well as other endeavors PCF undertakes.

Bill graduated from Memphis State University with a degree in Business Administration and majors in Finance and Real Estate.

Committee Appointments: Investment Oversight

Irene Sullivan, J.D., served as a juvenile and family court judge from 1999 to 2011 in St. Petersburg and Clearwater. Before serving on the bench, she was a general partner at Harris, Barrett, Mann & Dew, LLP, where she had a civil trial practice for 22 years and became an AV-rated trial lawyer.

Sullivan is a notable author of the books “Raised by the Courts: One Judge’s Insight into Juvenile Justice” and “Restorative Justice Evanston: Restoring Justice … One Circle at a Time.”

In addition, she sits on many boards and committees involving children’s issues. Sullivan received numerous national and local awards including her recent induction into the Stetson University College of Law Hall of Fame.

Sullivan received her law degree from Stetson University College of Law.

Sarah Williams, Ph.D., J.D., is an attorney practicing in the areas of estate planning, probate and trust administration. She also teaches estate planning as an adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law.

Prior to earning her law degree, Williams was a clinical and research speech and language pathologist at Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Williams possesses an extensive educational background with a Master of Science degree in speech pathology from the University of South Florida, a Doctor of Philosophy in communicative sciences and disorders from Northwestern University, and a Doctor of Law degree from Stetson University College of Law, where she graduated summa cum laude. Williams is active in numerous local professional and civic organizations.

Committee Appointments: Operating Grants