The University of West Florida Board of Trustees Chair Rebecca Matthews created another dramatic moment when she withheld from the public the names of the Presidential Search Committee until 1:03 p.m., when roll call was done at the committee’s first meeting yesterday. The secrecy allowed her to avoid pre-meeting criticism.
- Background: Inweekly made a public request for the list on Thursday morning, but was told the person who handles public records requests had left the university, and the Office of General Counsel (OGC) was experiencing delays in any response. We have not received any further notification from the OGC.
After the meeting, UWF released a letter from Matthews that had been written long before the meeting.
The UWF Presidential Search Committee members are:
- Zack Smith – Chair, Presidential Search Committee; UWF Board of Trustees; Chair, UWF Student Affairs Committee; Senior Legal Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
- Trista Bennett – UWF Board of Trustees; President, UWF Student Government Association
- Dr. Ken Ford – Founder and Chief Executive Officer Emeritus, Institute for Human & Machine Cognition
- Ashton Hayward – President, Andrews Research & Education Foundation; Co-founder, Andrews Medicine; Principal at Shumaker; Former Pensacola Mayor (2011-2018)
- Alan Levine – Vice Chair, Florida Board of Governors; Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ballad Health
- Ginger Bowden Madden – State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida
- Sabrina McLaughlin – Owner and Executive Creative Director, 3125 Communications
- Collier Merrill – President, Merrill Land Company; President and Owner, Great Southern Restaurants; Chair, UWF Historic Trust
- Paul Mixon – District 1 Okaloosa County Commissioner
- Dr. Rachel Moya – UWF Board of Trustees; Chair, UWF Finance and Facilities Committee; Chief Executive Officer, Scale Strategies Inc.
- David Peaden – External Affairs Manager (Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties), Florida Power & Light
- Dr. David Ramsey – Chair and Professor, UWF Reubin O’D. Askew Department of Government
- Dr. Heather Riddell – 2025-2026 Faculty Senate Representative, UWF Board of Trustees; Associate Professor, UWF Department of Communication
- Ashley Ross – UWF Board of Trustees; President, Ross Consulting
- Retired Captain Terrence “Village” Shashaty – President, American Heritage Financial; Former Commanding Officer, Pensacola Naval Air Station
Good – Local Representation
It’s encouraging that the committee has strong representation from the Pensacola area. Ashton Hayward, Dr. Ken Ford, Collier Merrill, David Peaden, State Attorney Ginger Madden, Sabrina McLaughlin and Capt. “Village” Shashaty have the university’s best interest in mind, as do Dr. David Ramsey, Dr. Heather Riddell and SGA President Trista Bennett.
Bad – All White, No Foundation Board Members
Matthews ignored the most experienced trustees—Dick Baker, Dr. Paul Hsu and Alzonie Scott. Instead, she named Ashley Ross, Rachel Moya and Zach Smith.
- Her committee is all white, leaving the Black community with no representation. The University of South Florida search committee has Pensacola’s Derrick Brooks. The University of Florida search committee has Dr. Duane Mitchell, who is a prominent Black researcher.
There are no members of the UWF Foundation Board, which is highly irregular. The University of South Florida search committee has two USF Foundation board members. The University of Florida search committee has the chair of the UF Foundation Executive Board and proudly lists five alumni.
Who is on the UWF Foundation Board?
Bruce Vredenburg – Board Chair & Executive Committee Chair
President, Northwest Florida Market, Hancock Whitney Bank
Megan Fry – Board Vice Chair & Investment Committee Chair
Shareholder & Commercial Litigation Department Chair, Clark, Partington, Hart, Larry, Bond & Stackhouse
Hong Potomski ’07, MBA, FACHE – Treasurer & Audit/Budget Committee Chair
Market Leader, Florida Blue
James Hosman ’99, ’01 – Nominating Committee Chair
Immediate Past Board Chair, UWF Foundation Board of Directors
Prospecta Growth Partners, Managing Partner
Chris Roney ’98 – Grant Committee Chair
Owner, Ace Unlocks
Amber Griffith ’03, ‘05–Secretary
Solutions Architect, OpenGov
Presidential Elected
Gerald Adcox ’77
Owner, Adcox Import
Connie Bookman
Founder & CEO, Pathways for Change
DeeDee Davis
CEO, NAI Pensacola
Nikki Nash ’10
COO, Presidio Development
William Rone ’73, ’78
DoD Senior Executive Service (Ret.), Eglin Federal Credit Union
Rodney Sutton ’91
Partner/Broker, SNS Realty Inc.
Cyndi Warren, CPA
Office Managing Member, Pensacola & Foley
Warren Averett, CPA & Advisors
Stephen Wright ’81
Retired, CHRISTUS Health, Senior Vice President, Group Operations at CHRISTUS Health Louisiana and Texas
Board Elected
Alex Bell
Partner, Catalyst Healthcare Real Estate & SVP of Investments
Charles Gheen ’86
Retired, Department of Defense, Chief Security Officer (CSO)
Victoria Baynes Mullet ’98
Retired Educator & Community Volunteer
John T. Porter
Retired, Baptist Health Care, VP Corporate Construction Services
Kathy Sandstrom ’96
Advisor, Catalyst Healthcare Real Estate
Independent Board Member, PEAK, EGP
Jeff Weeks ’97
Managing Director – Investment Officer, Quenneville/Weeks Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors
Alumni Association Elected
Amber Griffith ’03, ’05 – Secretary
Solutions Architect, OpenGov
Denis A. McKinnon III ’18
Executive Director, Capital Trust Agency
Heritage Foundation Chair
Once again, a Heritage Foundation employee is given control of a key committee, which will shape the future of the University of West Florida.
Zack Smith serves on the UWF Board of Trustees and the Pensacola State College Board of Trustees. His UWF appointment will not be considered by the Florida Senate until next January. He has only served on the UWF Board of Trustees for three months.
History Lesson
On the day after his appointment, he ambushed then-UWF President Dr. Martha Saunders during his first Trustee meeting in May.
Trustee Smith directly challenged President Saunders about past university programming – programming that occurred when the Board of Governors was encouraging diversity on campuses:
“I’ll be frank with you, some of the things I’ve seen are very concerning to me,” Smith stated. He proceeded to question Saunders about university-sponsored events, including a drag show called “Drag Me to Hell” and programming related to certain authors and speakers.
When President Saunders indicated she was unfamiliar with some of the events, Smith pressed further: “What are the safeguards, Dr. Saunders?” and later said, “I appreciate that answer, Dr. Saunders, but again, I’ll be frank, that doesn’t give me much comfort.”
The line of questioning prompted a sharp rebuke from Trustee Alonzie Scott: “I see one trustee ambush our president. I’m not very happy about that, Trustee Zach Smith, at all. Essentially, what I see you doing is what I’ve read in your book, ‘Rogue Prosecutors and How Radical Stories Lawyers are Destroying American Communities.’ I can tell you, you’re about as radical as I’ve seen in any place I’ve ever been.”
The BOT meetings are almost always disastrous. In addition to the illegal action referenced by Mr. Cephas above, Zack Smith also, in his very first BOT meeting, spoke of confidential personnel information in an open meeting. There’s another incident ripe for a lawsuit.
And yet this is the trustee selected to chair the presidential search. This would be entertaining, were it not so damning to UWF’s hard-won reputation.
Matthews knows that this is a fake search and is violating all kinds of rules and standards to get to DeSantis’ preordained conclusion. This is already a legal case, especially after she had Diaz fire the general counsel in a direct violation sunshine laws, official separation of BOTs from university day-to-day work, and conflict of interest rules.