Meet the Board

David Sietsma, CPA, is a partner with Carr Riggs & Ingram with over 20 years of experience in public accounting. David also spent more than a decade as the owner of a closely held retail sales business.

In addition to tax and opportunity planning for high net worth individuals, David now focuses on estate and trust planning providing a variety of tax and advisory services to business owners.

A graduate of the University of South Florida, David is also active in a variety of civic and professional organizations including serving as a volunteer planned giving advisor for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the Dunedin Fine Arts Center and the Morton Plant Mease Health Care Foundation.

David serves as a trustee to the board of directors of Directions for Living and is a member of both the Pinellas County and Suncoast Estate Planning Councils. He is also a proud member of the Clearwater Jazz Festival’s High Note Society.

Joseph W. “Jay” Fleece III, J.D., is an attorney with practices in estate and trust litigation with the firm of Legacy Protection Lawyers LLC. Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Jay began practicing law in 1980 focusing on estate, trust and fiduciary litigation. Since 2007, he holds the recognition of a Florida Super Lawyer and one of the Best Lawyers in America since 2010.

Jay sits on the Board of Trustees for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital having previously served as chairman. He is a past president of PARC and the Police Athletic League of St. Petersburg. In addition to serving on numerous boards in the St. Petersburg area, Jay has also been commodore of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club and is the former chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida.

Jay is a graduate of Tulane University and Stetson University College of Law.

Bo Brault began her career with Gregory, Sharer & Stuart Certified Public Accountants and Business Consultants (GSS) in 2005, advancing steadily within the firm from staff to shareholder. Bo is primarily responsible for audits, reviews, and compliance for a wide range of clientele including nonprofit organizations, financial service and insurance providers, professional employer organizations and other service providers, both publicly and privately held.

A leader of the firm’s Not-for-Profit Industry Service Team, Bo works with a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. Among other responsibilities, she leads assurance teams in the preparation of financial statements, the performance of audit fieldwork and review of results. Bo also manages federal and Florida single audits.

Bo also leads the firm’s recruiting efforts. In this capacity, she develops relationships with local university professors, presents at Beta Alpha Psi, the international honor society for accountants and other financial services professionals and interviews candidates for identified positions.

Rick Buschart, CPA, J.D. is a shareholder of Bollenback & Forret, PA, CPAs and Consultants with over 21 years of public accounting experience and over 25 years of combined legal and accounting experience. His responsibilities include providing business valuation, litigation support and estate/trust planning and compliance services. Rick also has extensive experience in individual, corporate and partnership tax planning and preparation, as well as assisting attorneys and clients with the preparation and planning of fiduciary accountings.

Rick received his law degree and his Masters in tax law from the Washington University School of Law, where he specialized in business law and corporate and partnership taxation as well as estate taxation and planning. He is a member of the American and Florida Institutes of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA and FICPA) and the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA). Rick is also a member of the Missouri Bar Association.

Dr. Ulyee Choe was appointed Director of the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County in September 2015. He is board certified in both internal medicine and infectious diseases and is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine with the Division of Infectious Disease and International Medicine at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine.

Dr. Choe is a graduate of the University of Florida where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology and received a Doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine from Nova Southeastern University in 2005. He completed his internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship at the University of South Florida in 2011. Prior to his appointment as the Director in Pinellas, Dr. Choe served as Director of the Florida Department of Health in Polk as well as Interim Director of the Florida Department of Health in Hardee County.

Dr. Choe grew up in Clearwater and is a Dunedin High School alumnus.

Rene Flowers presently serves on the Board of County Commissioners in Pinellas County, having previously been the Chairperson of the Pinellas County School Board. She has also served as a member of the City Council of St. Petersburg and as President of the League of Cities. Active in civic life, Rene has held or currently holds service affiliations with PSTA, City of St. Petersburg Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, CDBG Committee, YMCA of Greater Tampa Bay, The National Council of Negro Women, and the MLK Day of Service Committee.

Rene attended Howard University and the University of South Florida and is a graduate of Eckerd College.

Bill Horne serves as City Manager for the City of Clearwater. He is directly responsible for 1685 employees and accountable for the annual operating and capital budget of $385 million.

With a wealth of management experience in dynamic and fast paced environments, Bill came to Clearwater in 1998 as the General Support Services Administrator. Prior to that, he served as a Colonel in the United States Air Force. Bill earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Tulsa, a Masters in Human Resources Management from Pepperdine University, and a Masters in Political Science from Auburn University.

In September 2005, Bill was designated a Credentialed Manager by the International City County Manager Association (ICMA).

Myriam Irizarry was appointed a Pinellas County Judge by Gov. Rick Scott in 2015, and was re-elected until retiring in 2020. She sat in the Unified Family Court Division at the County Justice Center in Clearwater after having presided over county criminal cases there.

Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Irizarry was general counsel for the Pinellas County Clerk of the Circuit Court, and also worked as a defense attorney in New Jersey. She received her juris doctorate degree from Rutgers-Newark School of Law in New Jersey, and her bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College. She has received various awards for her pro bono work as a lawyer, and for her work in the Hispanic community.

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.

Sallie 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, Sallie 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.

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.

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 Ginny to the Pinellas Community Foundation Board of Governors.

Ginny 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, she is secretary of the board for Area Agency on Aging for both Pasco and Pinellas counties. Ginny also serves as president of the board of trustees of Peterborough Apartments Inc., a senior retirement apartment building located in downtown St. Petersburg.

A St. Petersburg native and life-long resident, Erica K. Smith is a partner at Fisher & Sauls and Chair of the Wills, Trusts, and Estates Department. Prior to this, Erica served for three years as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of St. Petersburg and spent two years in a private law office practicing in the areas of wills, trusts and estates, real property, and corporate law.

In the community, Erica volunteers her time at the Community Law Program Elder Law and Probate Clinics, providing legal advice and services to low-income Pinellas residents. She also served as a Guardian ad Litem in the Sixth Judicial Circuit from 2008 to 2016 and had the distinction of being named a “Master Guardian ad Litem” for her dedication and skill in advocating for children in the dependency system in Pinellas County.

She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Stetson University College of Law, where she received a full merit scholarship and was selected for the Honors Program. She received her undergraduate degree from The College of William and Mary.

Elithia Stanfield worked in the non-profit sector early in her career, going on to 30 years in government service. Initially working with the Juvenile Welfare Board, Elithia retired in 2010 from her position as an Assistant County Administrator for the Pinellas Board of County Commissioners.

She has served on boards of numerous organizations. Professionally, Elithia was President of the Florida Association for Intergovernmental Relations and President of the National Association of County Intergovernmental Relations Officials. She currently serves on the Board of the Area Agency on Aging and the City of Pinellas Park’s Library Advisory Council (Past President).

Committed to serving the community, Elithia also served on the boards of Eckerd College; Bayfront Medical Center; American Red Cross; Pinellas County Education Foundation; Junior League of St. Petersburg (Past President); United Way’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program Board (Past Chair); and Pinellas County Schools’ Busing Task Force (Co-Chair), and its District Monitoring Advisory Committee.

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 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.

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.

Freddy Williams is the President & CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast, which provides services to over 11,000 at-risk kids and teens in Pinellas County. He has over a decade of executive level experience with Boys & Girls Club organizations throughout Florida and serves on the National Board for Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Professional Association.

Freddy is a graduate of Harvard University’s Performance Measurement and Management Program. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and his MBA from Florida International University.

In addition to his role with PCF, Freddy serves on the Board of Governors for the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce and the Board for Leadership Tampa Bay.

Freddy is married to Melissa Williams, the owner and Principal Attorney of Finley Williams Law Firm in St. Petersburg.

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, Sarah was a clinical and research speech and language pathologist at Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Sarah 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.