FGCU Board of Trustees

Trustee Blake Gable is Chief Executive Officer and President of Barron Collier Companies, and brings to his role in-depth knowledge of the Naples area, the Collier family, the development business, and the political process.

A native Neapolitan, Mr. Gable graduated from Naples High School prior to attending Tulane University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a History major.  More recently, he received a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Executive MBA program of Florida Gulf Coast University.

Commitment to his community remains a priority for Mr. Gable, who has graduated from both the Leadership Collier and Leadership Florida programs; he serves on the Leadership Council of Advisors for the latter.  In addition, he is a former Trustee of the area YMCA; the area American Heart Association; United Way and also currently sits on the Boards of The Immokalee Foundation; Enterprise Florida; and The Florida Sports Foundation, as well as the Randy Roberts Foundation. He also was the 2012 Chair for the Farm City Barbeque.

For five years after having received his undergraduate degree, he was Legislative Director of United States Representative Ed Pastor (AZ) in Washington.  After a half year of worldwide travel, Mr. Gable joined the Barron Collier Companies in 1999.  Since that time, he has served in various capacities of increasing responsibility throughout the firm, including as project manager for the town of Ave Maria.

Current Appointment Term: January 6, 2018 – January 6, 2023 

Mr. Blake Gable (Chair)
c/o Office of Board Relations
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Boulevard South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565

Trustee Stephen Smith is a retired partner of Accenture where he spent 30 years and was admitted to the partnership of Arthur Andersen & Company, that later became Accenture, in 1984. Mr. Smith served in numerous U.S. and global leadership roles at Accenture in a variety of industries including Consumer Goods, Financial Services and Government. During his career Mr. Smith focused on helping the firm’s clients develop strategies to deal with changing markets and apply new technologies to enhance operations and gain competitive advantage.

At the time of his retirement, Mr. Smith was serving on the Board of Accenture. More recently, Mr. Smith has served on the Board of a number of emerging companies, including Procurian, Gestalt and Adondo.

Mr. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Lafayette College and a Master of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Current Appointment Term: January 26, 2018 – January 6, 2021

Mr. Stephen Smith (Vice Chair)
c/o Office of Board Relations
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Boulevard South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565

Trustee Anna Carlin is an Associate University Librarian and 2021-2022 President of the Faculty Senate. Ms. Carlin has worked at the FGCU Library since 2004 and joined the FGCU faculty in 2008.

Ms. Carlin is a native of Fort Myers, FL and attended Lee County public schools, graduating from Cypress Lake High School. She is now proud to send her own two children, Darcy and Finn, to the same schools she attended in middle and elementary school. She earned a BA in Chinese from Georgetown University and spent an academic year abroad in a Chinese language program at Beijing University. She also earned an MS in Library and Information Studies with a concentration in Information Architecture from Florida State University.

At FGCU, Ms. Carlin has served on numerous faculty governance teams and committees and is a past chair of the Institutional Affairs Team, University Undergraduate Curriculum Team, and University Library Peer Review Committee. Ms. Carlin was a key contributor to the development and implementation of FGCU’s 2015-2020 Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which was focused on building student skills in writing, critical thinking, and information literacy through scholarly activity and undergraduate research. Within the University Library, Ms. Carlin has been a subject librarian, designer of instructional materials and tutorials, and most recently, manager of the library’s media production studio services

Current Appointment Term: August 7, 2021 - August 6, 2022

Ms. Anna Carlin
President, FGCU Faculty Senate
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565

Trustee Darleen Cors is the president of the Naples Community Church Board of Trustees. 

She currently serves as a member of the League Club Inc. Ms. Cors previously served as the vice president for development of Capital Caring and as president of the Junior League of Northern Virginia.  She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education from the University of Cincinnati.

Current Appointment Term: March 24, 2016 – January 6, 2021

Ms. Darleen Cors
c/o Office of Board Relations
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Boulevard South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565

Trustee Richard P. Eide, Jr. was born in Cleveland OH in 1947, educated at Williams College (BA in American History, 1968), and served in the United States Marine Corps.

In 34 years at J.P. Morgan and Co., Inc., New York NY, he managed the Municipal Bond Department, managed trading and underwriting for the U.S. Treasury, Federal Agency, Fixed-income Futures, and Derivatives markets, and worked in Institutional Sales, primarily with hedge funds. He retired from Morgan in 2003. In 2009, he helped the principals to found Pierpont Securities, Stamford CT (today called Amherst Pierpont Securities) where he worked until 2013.

Mr. Eide married Lulie Simmons Pierpont of Worcester MA in 1969. They lived in Short Hills NJ until 2002 when they moved to Naples. Their four children and nine grandchildren are regular visitors to SW Florida. Mrs. Eide was a fifth-grade teacher at Peck School, Morristown NJ and the Board Chair at Kent Place School, Summit NJ and Miss Porter’s School, Farmington CT.

The Eides remain residents of Naples and spend summers in Harbor Springs, MI. Mr. Eide currently serves as Treasurer of the Port Royal Club in Naples.

Current Appointment Term: January 6, 2018 – January 6, 2023

Mr. Richard Eide, Jr.
340 Little Harbour Lane
Naples, FL 34102

Trustee Alyssa Fleischer has the honor of serving as Florida Gulf Coast University's Student Body President for the 2021-2022 school year.

Ms. Fleischer grew up in Windermere Florida and graduated from West Orange High School in 2018. She is a proud first-generation college student and a senior at FGCU majoring in Legal Studies with a double minor in Peace and Social Justice and Political Science with plans to graduate in May 2022. Ms. Fleischer plans to continue her education in law school after earning her bachelor's degree from FGCU.

Since arriving at FGCU, Ms. Fleischer has served in multiple leadership capacities all throughout campus. Ms. Fleischer is the captain of the FGCU Cheerleading team and is finishing her fourth season with the program. She has served as teh Appropriations Chair in Student Government as well as the 2020-2021 Student Body Vice President. Her other involvements include serving as a Frosh Mosh Peer Mentor 2021-2022 with the Multicultural Leadership Development Center.

Current Appointment Term: April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022

Ms. Alyssa Fleischer
President, FGCU Student Government
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565

Trustee Joseph G. Fogg III is the retired Chairman and CEO of Westbury Capital Partners L.L.C., a Long Island based late stage venture capital firm.  Trustee Fogg founded Westbury in 1990. Mr. Fogg began his career on Wall Street at Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. following his graduation from Harvard Business School in 1970. He retired as a Senior Managing Director and member of the Management Committee at Morgan Stanley in 1994. While at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Fogg served in various capacities, including founding member and head of the Mergers and Acquisitions Department; the Corporate Finance Department; and ultimately as head of Morgan Stanley’s worldwide investment banking operations. As head of Morgan Stanley’s 1,000-person Investment Banking Division, he oversaw the operations of 16 offices on four continents.

In 1990, Mr. Fogg founded Princes Gate Investors L.P., a $750 million private equity investment partnership managed by Morgan Stanley. He currently serves as an Advisory Director of Morgan Stanley.

Mr. Fogg serves as a Director and Vice President of The Forum Club of Naples, a director of The Yale Club of Southwest Florida and is a member of the Yale Development Board.  He is Vice Chairman of the City of Naples Citizens’ Police Review Board. He was a director of the Yale University Art Gallery and the Trust for the National Mall (DC) for many years. He is a graduate of the Greater Naples Leadership Masters Class XX.

Long active in Republican politics, Mr. Fogg served as National Finance Chairman of Robert Dole for President in 1988, National Vice Chairman of Phil Gramm for President in 1994, and Finance Chairman of the New York State Republican Party and Florida Finance Chairman for Rudy Giuliani for President and Newt Gingrich for President.  He was also actively involved in the Florida campaign of Marco Rubio for President.

Mr. Fogg earned his B.A. in Economics from Yale College in 1968 where he was a member of the Fence Club and his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1970, where he was a George F. Baker Scholar. 

He presently resides in Naples, FL and Seal Harbor, ME with his wife Leslie Kirk Solbert Fogg. He has three grown children and three grandchildren.

Current Appointment Term: January 7, 2021 – January 6, 2026

Mr. Joseph Fogg III
c/o Office of Board Relations
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Boulevard South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565

Trustee Leo Montgomery spent more than 39 years as a senior partner with Ernst & Young LLP.  Mr. Montgomery has served in several leadership roles at Ernst & Young, one of those being the Southeast Area Industry Leader for the Technology, Communications and Entertainment Group and serving on the International Telecommunications Advisory Committee. He has significant experience serving publicly held companies with merger and acquisition transactions as well as structuring financing arrangements.  Trustee Montgomery has assisted companies with more than 100 Securities and Exchange Commission filings including 20 initial public offering registration statements. At Ernst & Young, he served clients of all sizes from entrepreneurial enterprises to professionally managed companies including: Cingular Wireless, Bellsouth Corporation and AT&T Latin America (formerly FirstCom Corporation). Upon retirement, he was an Advisory Director at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and served as a director on corporate boards. Mr. Montgomery holds a B.A. degree from Harding University and is also currently a member of the Board of Artis Naples.

Current Appointment Term: January 7, 2021 – January 6, 2026

Mr. J. Leo Montgomery
c/o Office of Board Relations
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Boulevard South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565

Trustee Edward Morton, of Naples, has served as a Principal and Managing Director of the investment firm Wasmer & Schroeder & Co. since 2007.  He retired in 2006 after 34 years of service as the CEO of the NCH Healthcare System, a diversified healthcare holding company.

Mr. Morton is a Florida native and was raised in Islamorada.  He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Miami, and a Master’s of Health Science degree from Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU).

He served on the Florida Board of Governors for the State University System of Florida, and is a past Vice Chair of the FGCU Board of Trustees and a past Chair of the FGCU Foundation Board of Directors.  Mr. Morton received the Florida Gulf Coast University 2017 Alumni of Distinction award for outstanding career achievements, commitment to community, and dedication to the University. 

Mr. Morton has served and currently sits on a number of civic-minded boards serving the citizens of Southwest Florida.

Current Appointment Term:  January 6, 2020 – January 6, 2025

Mr. Edward Morton
Wasmer Schroeder
600 5th Ave S., STE 210
Naples, FL 34102

Trustee Robbie Roepstorff is a founder and President of Edison National Bank and Bank of the Islands in Fort Myers/Sanibel Island. She is the principal representative and spokesperson of the institution and is a member of the bank’s board of directors and holding company.

Ms. Roepstorff’s extensive list of community involvement includes director and past president of the American Heart Association; director and past president of the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools; voting member and past president of Horizon Council and its Foundation; Commissioner appointed member of Lee County Industrial Development Authority and Airports Special Management Committee/Lee County Port Authority.  In service to the State of Florida, she was appointed as Commissioner to the Florida Transportation Commission from 1997 to 1999. Ms. Roepstorff is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Southwest Florida Community Foundation.

Trustee Roepstorff previously served two terms on the Florida Gulf Coast University Board of Trustees from January 2010 to January 2020, including holding the offices of Chair, and Vice Chair, as well as chairing various committees.

In addition to her community involvement, Ms. Roepstorff has received numerous awards for her community service, including the 2014 Horizon Council Lifetime Achievement Award; 2012 Lifetime Award by the Uncommon Friends Foundation; 2010 Florida Bankers Association Banker of the Year; 2008 Paulette Burton Lee County Citizen of the Year Award presented by the Board of County Commissioners; 2004 University of North Alabama Alumnus of the Year Award; and the 2002 ATHENA Award.

Ms. Roepstorff earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology/Political Science from the University of North Alabama.

Current Appointment Term:  November 6, 2020 - January 6, 2025

Ms. Robbie Roepstorff
c/o Office of Board Relations
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Boulevard South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565

Trustee Jaye Hewitt Semrod received her BA from the University of Illinois and her MA from Fairfield University in Education.  Following graduation she was a public high-school teacher for eight years.  She left the classroom to work in New York City for Jack Morton Productions, a Corporate Communications Company, now Jack Morton Worldwide, a subsidiary of Interpublic.  During her twenty-year career she worked in production management, account supervision, and as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the New York Office.  For over ten years she served on the Board and Executive Committee of Outward Bound USA, an outdoor education organization.  She received Outward Bound’s distinguished Kurt Hahn award, named after its founder for her leadership and service.

In 1998 Ms. Semrod retired to Princeton, NJ where she continued to work as a community volunteer.  She served as Chair of the Board of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, a K-12 all girls’ school.  Under her leadership, she managed a capital campaign, developed scholarship programs, and organized a speakers’ forum to encourage leadership for young women.  She served as Vice Chair of Princeton University’s Art Museum Friends’ Board and was on the Board of Princeton Girl Choir.  She is one of the recipients of the Princeton YWCA’s Tribute to Women Award.

Ms. Semrod now resides in Naples, Florida and is a past President of the Port Royal Club.

Current Appointment Term:  January 6, 2020 – January 6, 2025

Ms. Jaye Semrod
c/o Office of Board Relations
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Boulevard South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565