Sarasota community foundation adds board members, appoints officers

As the new fiscal year approaches, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County has added three new members to its board of directors and appointed officers for the year to come.

Dan Denton, Erin Duggan and Mitzie Henson will join the board of directors for the foundation, which oversees about half a billion dollars in charitable assets. 

"It is an honor for our Board of Directors to welcome these new members,” Board Chair Marilyn Thompson says in a statement. “Each brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will preserve the excellence of our community foundation and ensure the foundation continues to create a community where everyone can achieve their full potential.”

Dan Denton is the founder and retired president of Sarasota Magazine and its parent company, Gulfshore Media, according to the statement. He is a Florida native who attended Manatee High School, interned with the St. Petersburg Times and was a reporter for the Bradenton Herald before he went on to start his own ventures. For the past three years, Denton has served on the board of Florida Humanities. He was also a trustee of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

Erin Duggan is the president and CEO of Visit Sarasota County, the tourism arm for the area, where she started working in 2005 as a public relations manager. She serves on the Lakewood Ranch Community Activities Board and was president from 2017–2018 of the Junior League of Sarasota, of which she is a current member.

Mitzie Henson is an independent consultant whose career path has ranged from working in sales and marketing for biotechnology company Genentech to co-founding Sarasota’s Butterfly Effects, a business specializing in autism services that she sold in 2014. From 2013 to 2016, she served as board chair at Out-of-Door Academy. She is the current chair of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Sarasota and Manatee county and serves on the Ringling College Library Association board. 

In addition to the appointments of Denton, Duggan and Henson to the board, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County has elected officers for the coming fiscal year.

Circuit Court Judge Charles E. Williams will become the secretary of the board, while retired HR executive with Johnson & Johnson Marilyn Thompson will continue as board chair. Market leader at Northern Trust Paul G. Hudson will stay on as vice chair, and Atlas Building Co. of Florida President and owner Andrew Stultz will remain treasurer, according to the statement.

All the appointments will take effect July 1, according to a foundation spokesperson.

These board members will continue their duties, according to a statement from the foundation: Daniel DeLeo, Dr. Karen Hamad, David Joyner, Patricia A. Mathews, Laura Mattia, Mercedes Soler, Jeff Troiano, Dr. Janet Taylor, Terri Vitale and Mary Lou Winnick.

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County had nearly $489 million in total assets in 2023 in more than 1,580 charitable funds, according to its annual report. It was founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council.