Board of Directors
Dr. Connie Ellis, President, served as a community mental health therapist in Nashville, Tennessee before relocating to Venice. She then joined the Women's Resource Center of Sarasota County as South County Offsite Coordinator, opening offices in North Port and Englewood. Now retired, Connie continues her longstanding commitment to women's rights and community-based volunteerism. Before elected President of the UNIFEM Gulf Coast Chapter in May 2009, she was Board Member At Large. She hosts the Thursday radio show "All About Women" on WENG 1530 AM and 107.5 FM. Connie is currently a board member of the Sun Coast Humane Society and Englewood Helping Hand, and Volunteer Coordinator for the Hermitage Artist Retreat. She received her EdD from Vanderbilt University.
Phyllis Johnston, VP, Strategic Planning, served for the past five years as Communications Chair of the GCC's annual Through Women's Eyes International Film Festival. Based in Sarasota, the strategic communications consultant has managed or consulted on 41 ballot question campaigns across the U.S. addressing such public policy issues as stem cell research, energy and healthcare. She also designs and implements strategic plans for private and non-profit clients. She has authored numerous articles, and her essay "Flat Follies" appears in the anthology A Matter of Choice. A native of Boston, Phyllis holds an MS from Boston University and a BA from Simmons College.
Jan Holmes, VP, Programs, has been active in Gulf Coast Chapter of UNIFEM for 12 years, mostly notably as the organizer of the Through Women's Eyes International Film Festival from 2000 to 2009. A social worker by profession, Jan has worked as a community organizer in Milwaukee and Philadelphia and taught social work for 16 years at Ball State University. Since moving to Sarasota in 1993, she has taught English as a Second Language to adults in the Sarasota schools and to athletes at IMG Academies. Jan and her husband, Dwight Hoover, have been privileged to live and work in England, Hungary and Japan over the course of their careers.
Terry Brackett, VP, Fund Development, is an attorney specializing in energy law who is licensed to practice in Washington, D.C. and Texas. A former volunteer at the Women's Legal Defense Fund on Welfare Reform and for women's healthcare issues, Terry also served on the Board of the Coalition to End Gun Violence. Currently, she is involved with the Ixtatan Foundation, which is building a high school in San Mateo, Guatemala. She also serves as a board member of the UNIFEM U.S. National Committee and the Sarasota K-9 Search and Rescue Team.
Constance D. Anderson, Treasurer, was a career civil servant with the Department of Housing an Urban Development (HUD), primarily in the Washington D.C. headquarters. During her 34-year career, she worked in a wide range of financial management and systems development positions; completing her service in the Office of the Deputy Secretary in field management and community building in the Mississippi State Office. Upon retiring in 2003, she and her husband, Jesse, moved to Sarasota where Connie is active in numerous church and civic organizations. She has a BA in mathematics from Fisk University and a Masters in Public Financial Management from American University. She is the mother of an adult son, and an active grandmother to 13 grandchildren in the blended relationship.
Sharon Burde, Recording Secretary, is a mediator with special concentration on deeply rooted and ethnic conflict and issues involving women globally. She has worked and taught in the Midwest, Mid East, New York City and the region of former Yugoslavia, engaging diverse women in strategic planning to increase their influence and participation at the highest levels of decision-making and rebuilding post-war societies with new models of power-sharing. Sharon and Ron Burde relocated to Sarasota permanently in 2006. Her interests are travel, travel, travel, the ecosystem, politics, the arts and, of course, family.
Dr. Francine Brown, Past President, is a former trainer, HR director, educator and consultant who has taught Organizational Leadership and Change at Purdue University, University of Wisconsin, Dominican University, Keller Graduate School of Management and Argosy University. Over the past 30 years, Fran has been involved in the design and development of leadership workshops, seminars, team dynamics and organizational assessments for corporate and non-profit organizations. The Sarasota resident serves as a board member on numerous community organizations.
