Gene Engle is a member of the USF Board of Trustees and chairman of the USF Polytechnic Campus Board. He is also President and owner of Gene Engle Realtor. He has been active in numerous civic and educational organizations, including the University of South Florida Foundation Board, University of South Florida Foundation Audit Committee, Center of Entrepreneurship USF Board of Advisors, Polk Economic Education Council Board and Tampa Bay Partnership Board of Directors. Mr. Engle was one of the founders of the Central Florida Development Council and has served as its President for three terms. He has received the Distinguished Service Award from USF's campus in Lakeland, the prestigious Lakeland Chamber of Commerce George Jenkins Award (the Chamber's highest honor), the Florida Economic Development Council Volunteer of the Year Award and has served as the President of the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce and as Chairman of the University of South Florida Polytechnic Community Advisory Board. His Board of Trustees assignments include USF Lakeland Campus Board and the Academic and Campus Environment work group. Mr. Engle is a resident of Lakeland.

Michael E. Carter, CPA, is managing partner of The NCT Group CPA’s, L.L.P. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Florida and is a Florida Certified Public Accountant. He has received the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Governmental Accounting and Auditing Certificate of Educational Achievement. Mr. Carter served as president of the Ridge Area Chapter of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants and as president of the Polk County Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants. He is active in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Government Finance Officers Association and the Florida Government Finance Officers Association He has also been actively involved with a variety of community organizations, including the United Way of Central Florida, Sebring Community Redevelopment Agency, Sebring Sunrise Rotary Club, Learning Resource Center, Polk County Crime Stoppers, Leadership Lakeland, and the Florida Hospital Foundation. Mr. Carter and his wife, Debbi, have been married for 24 years and have two children. They live in Highlands County.

Mark Kaylor is a civil trial attorney and principal shareholder of Kaylor & Kaylor, P.A. with offices in Winter Haven, Lakeland and Sebring. His firm practices in the area of personal injury and wrongful death. In 2005, he received peer review rating as a Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers and is a member of the Million Dollar Advocacy Forum. As of 1996, he has served as appointed Special Magistrate to the Highlands County Value Adjustment Board. He has also served as secretary to the Polk County Trial Lawyers Association, past committee member of 10th Judicial Circuit, Committee for Attorney's Fee Disputes and past treasurer of the Winter Haven/Lake Alfred/Auburndale Bar Association. He earned a Bachelor's of Arts degree and Masters degree in Education from the University of Florida and received his Juris Doctor from Florida State University, College of Law in 1982. He has served as founding trustee of All Saints' Academy, a K-12 college preparatory school. He has also served as past president of the Friends of the Winter Haven Public Library, and past board member of the Polk Museum of Art. Mr. Kaylor is a native of Polk County and resides in Lake Wales, Florida.

Ron Morrow is a community liaison for CSX and formlerly served as executive director of the East Polk Committee of 100, a coalition for economic development among the cities, communities, and chambers in the eastern half of Polk County. Ron spent 33 years in the banking business and was president and CEO of Meritor Savings Bank of Winter Haven. Throughout his career, Ron has been involved in and committed to community activities. He has served on the boards of several organizations, including Winter Haven Hospital, the Tampa Bay Partnership and the Gulf Ridge Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Ron is a founding chairman of the Central Florida Development Council and a past president of the Winter Haven Area Chamber of Commerce. He has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Banker’s Cup for outstanding contributions to the Winter Haven community. Born in Pittsburgh, Ron has lived in Polk County since 1972. He and his wife, Carol, have been married 48 years and have three daughters.

Carole F. Philipson is Vice President, Lakeland Regional Medical Center. She graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Masters in Health Administration. Ms. Philipson currently serves on the Advisory Board for the USF Polytechnic Campus and on the ACHE Regent's Advisory Council for Western Central Florida. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Polk Museum of Art, a Board member of the Midtown CRA Advisory Board, West Polk County Unit and a member of the Polk Vision Steering Committee and the Kiwanis Club of Downtown Lakeland. Ms. Philipson resides in Lakeland.