Sarah Whitfield
President
Sarah Whitfield is the public information officer for the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners. She is responsible for the dissemination of accurate and timely information to Santa Rosa County residents, the media and employees via traditional media and social media. Sarah has been with Santa Rosa County since 2010 after earning a bachelor's degree in art with a specialization in graphic design from the University of West Florida, starting out as a library assistant and eventually moving to the public information office in 2014 – the same year she joined FPRA and the Pensacola Chapter Board of Directors.
Actively involved in her community, Sarah serves as a co-leader of the Living Truth Church-Pace Soul Sisters, acts as a buddy for kiddos with disabilities on Sundays and during monthly respite programs, nerds out with the church A/V team at least once a month and serves as the secretary for One Heart Outreach – a group that performs acts of kindness throughout Santa Rosa County each year during the week leading up to Easter. In her spare time, she enjoys perusing the latest The Office memes, taking too many photos of her two cats, coffee dates with friends and spending time with her family.
Brittany Sherwood
President Elect
Brittany Sherwood serves as the Director of Strategic and Presidential Communications for the University of West Florida, where she oversees the development and implementation of communication plans, strategies and initiatives that enhance the University’s visibility. In this role, Brittany manages integrated projects, as well as institutional social media and public relations strategies.
Brittany earned a bachelor's degree in communication arts with an emphasis in public relations and minors in marketing and hospitality from UWF. Previously, she served as the Assistant Director of Strategic Communications, where she managed media relations, publicity and communication strategies for the University.
Kaycee Lagarde
Secretary
Kaycee Lagarde is the Public Information Officer for the City of Pensacola, working in the Office of the Mayor to facilitate the city’s communications with the media and public. Kaycee joined the city in May 2019 from the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners, where she worked in the Community and Media Relations Office since 2016. She graduated from the University of West Florida with a bachelor’s degree in communication arts/journalism in 2011. Prior to working in government public relations, Kaycee worked at the Pensacola News Journal as a multimedia reporter and local government reporter. She was named a 2019 Inweekly Rising Star.
Kaycee is passionate about media and public relations, transparency in local government and government communications. In her free time, she enjoys going to the beach, traveling, listening to true crime podcasts, taking long walks around downtown Pensacola and drinking all of the coffee.
Frank Giammaria
Vice President of Finance
Frank Giammaria is the Director of Community Relations at Gulf Winds Credit Union, responsible for community outreach and corporate communications. In 2020, he helped found the Gulf Winds Cares Foundation, which provides a sustainable funding source for local nonprofit organizations. He also oversees corporate sponsorships, employee volunteer activities, member-focused communication, and media relations.
Before joining Gulf Winds in 2019, Giammaria served the nonprofit community as the Executive Director of Ballet Pensacola, the Director of Campaign Development for the Combined Federal Campaign, and the Campaign Manager for the United Way of West Florida. Giammaria holds a master’s degree in public administration from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and a bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communication from Purdue University.
Giammaria is the proud father of three sons and is expecting a daughter in January.
Mary Mabins
Vice President of Networking
Mary L. Mabins is the Marketing and Information Coordinator at Pensacola State College.
She is a former journalist who spent more than 30 years in newsrooms as a reporter, copy editor, page designer as well as a news, business and features editor. She most recently worked at the Pensacola News Journal.
An Alabama native, Mary is a University of Alabama graduate.
Payton Anderson
Vice President of Communication and Digital Media
Payton Anderson is the Director of Media & Member Engagement for the Pensacola Association of REALTORS®, where her primary focus is communicating & engaging with a membership of 3,000+ REALTORS® & Business Partners in Escambia & Santa Rosa counties.
Since 2019, Payton has owned & operated a photography business – Payton Kee Photo Co. While growing her business, she’s been given the opportunity to build relationships, travel internationally, and support the Pensacola community.
Payton earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts with a focus in public relations and minors in marketing and business from the University of West Florida. She is a current member of the Greater Pensacola Chamber's Leadership Pensacola class of 2023. Payton is actively involved in her community, serving on the Bands On The Bayou Committee, the Escambia County School District Workforce Education Marketing & Multimedia Advisory Councils, the Florida Realtors Communications Committee, the Florida Public Relations Association Pensacola Chapter Board of Directors, and is a member of the Krewe of Hip Huggers. She was named an InWeekly Rising Star in 2020.
Gordon Paulus, AP, CPRC
Vice President of Professional Development
Gordon Paulus is a Sr. Communication Specialist for Florida Power and Light. He has been with the company for 18 years and before that was the sports editor of the Pensacola News Journal.
He has twice been the Pensacola chapter president and was the FPRA state president from 2019-20.
Janice Holmes
Vice President of Image
Janice Cooper Holmes is the Communications Manager for Recycling & Global Manufacturing for International Paper. She oversees and develops the strategic communication and change strategies for the Recycling business. She also provides counsel and strategies to support employee engagement and internal communications for 38 mill facilities and 18 recycling plants, globally. She serves as the internal communications subject-matter-expert for communication systems that engage 18,000+ employees. Previously, she served as the mill communications manager for the Pensacola mill and prior to that was Director of Communications for the University of West Florida.
Janice holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations, Latin American Politics from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and a master’s degree in Strategic Communications and Leadership from the University of West Florida. She is a past board chair for the Creative Learning Academy, a past president of the Junior League of Pensacola and a 2003 graduate of Leadership Pensacola.