Anne is the Director of the Florida Legislative Research Center & Museum at the Historic Capitol. As a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1982 to 1998, she chaired several committees and served as the first female Majority Leader and chair of the Rules Committee. In addition, she served on numerous boards and committees in her hometown of Fort Lauderdale before relocating to Tallahassee permanently in 1998 where her community involvement has continued through associations with United Way (Power of the Purse), Capital Tiger Bay, the boards of Healthy Start and COCA, and several cultural organizations.

Ken is a former Senior Policy Analyst with the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, where he reviewed programs for effectiveness and efficiency, a former Staff Director of the Florida House of Representatives' Committee on Workforce and Technical Skills and a Legislative Analyst with the Committee on Water and Natural Resources. Ken has also staffed House committees on Community Colleges, Corrections, Juvenile Justice, and Commerce. Ken is currently a Senior Legislative Analyst with the Florida Senate Democratic Office. Ken is a blues musician and was a founding member of the Apalachee Blues Society.

Valliere is the Assistant Director of the undergraduate program of the FSU Film School. She served as FSU's Faculty Senate President from 2002-2005 and is a past member of the FSU Board of Trustees. Presently, she serves on the Board of Trustees for the Ringling School of the Arts in Sarasota, the Chautauqua Assembly in DeFuniak Springs, and chairs the Torch Awards Committee for FSU. She also currently serves on the Faculty Senate Steering Committee, the Graduate Policy Committee, the Library Committee, and the Ringling School of the Arts Academic and Student Affairs Committee. 

Mickey Brady is the General Manager of the Cabot Lodge-North. He is a member of the Tourist Development Council of Leon County and is a previous chairman of the Tallahassee Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is also a member of the Florida Lodging Advisory Council of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

Lydia A. McKinley-Floyd, Dean of the School of Business and Industry at Florida A&M University, is a Chicago native who received a BA from the University of Illinois Chicago Circle, and an MBA from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, with a concentration in marketing. She worked as a marketing representative for Xerox, a stock broker at Merrill Lynch, and as a professor of Marketing at Morehouse College before returning to Emory University to complete her doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies. She served as dean of the College of Business at Chicago State University (CSU) and as chair of the Marketing Department at Clark Atlanta University (CAU). An avid arts lover and collector, Lydia has traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean, collecting art and artifacts from the African Diaspora. Her scholarly research interests are in the area of cultural influences on consumer behavior, and marketing history. Her works have appeared in Psychology and Marketing, and The Journal of Macromarketing.

Longineu has been hailed by critics internationally as one of the world's finest trumpet players. He is also a master of recorders, flute, percussion, sings the blues, and has performed in more than thirty countries all over the world. Over his 25-year career, Longineu has shared the stage and recording studio with Cab Calloway, Nat Adderley, Cecil Taylor, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Herbie Mann, Frank Foster, and many others. Longineu is also a composer of orchestral and chamber works. His Incantation and Dance for violin and piano was premiered by the great violinist Tasmin Little. Longineu has appeared as guest soloist with "pops" symphony orchestras. He has played with the Palm Beach Pops Orchestra, the Tallahassee Symphony, the Gainesville Symphony, the Augusta Symphony, the University of South Carolina Symphony, the Savannah Symphony, and the St. Johns River City Band. During this past year, he held the leading role and was the musical director for the Canadian dance musical production of Forever Swing. He also appears as trumpet soloist on the hit PBS Great Performances special, Three Mo' Tenors. Longineu is Associate Professor of Trumpet at Florida A&M University, where he also obtained his Bachelor of Music degree. He also coaches the trumpet section of the celebrated Florida A&M Marching 100 Band. Longineu earned his Master of Music in classical trumpet from the University of Florida and pursued supplementary jazz studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He was a guest clinician for the Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga, in Colombia (1999 and 2000), High School of the Arts, in Bogota, Colombia (2000), and the Conservatoire Nationale de la Region, in Nantes, France in August 2001.

Susan A. Stratton provides assistance in Downtown Business Development and Marketing to the Downtown Improvement Authority and is best known as the founder and organizer of the Downtown Marketplace - a regionally, celebrated weekly community arts festival - as well as the annual ";Just One More" Invitational Arts Festival. Her expertise in advertising and merchandising grew from her 18 years experience as a retailer. Susan owned Care Packages, a local gift shop specializing in art, gifts, and gourmet baskets, and was a founding member and president of the Downtown Merchants and Business Association. Dubbed a "downtown diva" and an "idea-a-minute" personality, Susan lives and breathes downtown projects. She was also an elementary and middle school teacher in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Alachua counties and holds a Bachelors of Education. Susan was named a finalist in the arts category of the Tallahassee Democrat's Volunteer of the Year program and was twice named Advocate of the Year in the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Excellence Awards for her dedication to the community. In 2004 she was selected by the Tallahassee Democrat as one of the "Top 33 Persons Who Made a Difference" in Tallahassee. Susan is married to Charles Stratton, an attorney with Broad and Cassel. They have three children: Joshua, LLM candidate Intellectual Property at Franklin Pierce School of Law, and twins Sarah, a junior at the University of Florida, and Eric, a junior at Florida State University.

Marge Banocy-Payne, Ph.D. currently serves as Dean of Communications and Humanities at Tallahassee Community College. Prior to her administrative experience, she served as a full-time faculty member for 15 years at TCC. Additionally, she taught reading and English for six years in the public school systems in both Pennsylvania and Florida before beginning her career at the community college. Dr. Banocy-Payne has served on various educational and civic state and local committees and organizations including the Florida Department of Education State Common Course Numbering System for English, Florida College Level Academic Skills Test, Keystone State Reading Association, the State Board for Easter Seals of Florida, Florida Association of Community Colleges, and Women in Communications. Her presentations and workshops include the International Reading Association, Florida Reading Association, League for Innovation, and the annual Teaching and Learning Conference. She earned her Ph.D. in Reading and Language Arts from Florida State University. Her previous degrees include a B.A. in English and Sociology-Anthropology, and an M.Ed. in Reading from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Richard Fallon is Dean Emeritus of The School of Theatre at Florida State University. He came to Tallahassee in 1956 and has been active in theatre community ever since. Dr. Fallon is a Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor, a recipient of the Florida Governor's Award for the Arts, the Suzanne M. Davis Award for service to professional theatre, and was one of ten national recipients of the Harbison Prize for gifted teaching. He was elected to the College of Fellows of American Theatre, the National Theatre Conference, and is one of the founders of the University Resident Theatre Association. The Florida State University School of Theatre's Richard G. Fallon Theatre was named in his honor.

Bio of Mayor Marks

Valencia E. Matthews, an associate professor of theatre, serves as an assistant dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. She also serves as Director of Theatre and is the founder and director of the Irene C. Edmonds Youth Theatre, a program for young people between the ages of 6-16.

Donna is the Assistant Vice President of Community Relations for Florida State University. Through FSU's University Relations, Donna was an inaugural organizer of the Seven Days of Opening Nights Festival and participated in campus beautification projects, special events management, and visitor services. She was also Director of Development for WFSU where she also developed special programming projects. Donna has served as a volunteer and board member for arts and community organizations in Tallahassee; Albany, NY; and Washington D.C. Before her career with Florida State University, Donna was an obstetrical nurse. She and her husband, William McHugh, have three children of their own and enjoy spoiling their four grandchildren.

Bio of Commissioner Rackleff