Pauline Wamsler Elected Board Chair of Gulf Coast Community Foundation

July 2, 2021 – Venice

The Board of Directors of Gulf Coast Community Foundation has elected Pauline Wamsler as Chair and David Green as Vice Chair for a one-year term as officers. The Board also reelected Green and Rod Hershberger to a second three-year term as directors. All terms began on July 1.

Pauline Wamsler, who succeeds Hershberger as Chair, has served on the Gulf Coast Board for eight years. In that time she has helped lead several important initiatives for the foundation. As co-chair of Gulf Coast’s Finance Committee, she played a key role in overseeing the foundation’s selection of a new outsourced chief investment officer last year. A longtime environmental and land conservation supporter, she also has championed the foundation’s prioritization of environmental grantmaking in the region throughout her Board tenure. 

“It is an honor and a deep responsibility to be elected Chair by my fellow Board members,” said Wamsler. “Under Rod Hershberger’s leadership over the past year, Gulf Coast has provided vital support to our nonprofit partners and relief to many of our neighbors through the height of the COVID-19 crisis. I am eager to sustain our momentum and identify new areas where we can make a difference in our region as only Gulf Coast can.”  

In addition to the Gulf Coast Board, Wamsler serves as a board member of Gulf Coast Strategic Investments, a supporting organization that accepts charitable gifts of complex assets to advance the foundation’s mission. She also recently completed two years as board chair of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, where she has played a leadership role in Selby Gardens’ transformative master planning process, and she serves on the advisory board of Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast, an organization she co-founded in 2003. 

David Green begins his fourth year on the Gulf Coast Board and his second year as its Vice Chair. In this role, Green has been overseeing a comprehensive review of the foundation’s board governance process, an initiative designed to ensure that Gulf Coast remains on the leading edge of the nonprofit sector in its board oversight and governance practices. In addition to Gulf Coast, Green serves on the boards of The Hermitage Artist Retreat and Sarasota Orchestra. Prior to retiring to the Gulf Coast region, Green spent his 45-year career in marketing and branding with major international consumer brands, most recently as senior global marketing officer of McDonald’s Corporation.

The members of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation Board of Directors for the foundation’s 2021-22 fiscal year are:

·         Pauline Wamsler, Chair

·         David Green, Vice Chair

·         Anne Essner

·         Ping Faulhaber

·         Rod Hershberger

·         Tracy Knight

·         Lisa Krouse

·         William L. Mehserle Jr.

·         Anand Pallegar

·         Mark Pritchett, President/CEO

·         David Sessions

·         Peter Soderberg

·         Susan Sofia

·         Joe Stephan

About Gulf Coast Community Foundation

Together with our donors, Gulf Coast Community Foundation transforms our region through bold and proactive philanthropy.  Gulf Coast is a public charity that was created in 1995 through the sale of the Venice Hospital. Since then, we have become the philanthropic home of nearly 1,000 families, individuals, organizations, and businesses that have established charitable funds here, and we have invested over $390 million in grants in the areas of health and human services, civic and economic development, education, arts and culture, and the environment. Learn more at GulfCoastCF.org.