* FCSR's Advisory Board *

Mary Repper

In 1992, the St. Petersburg Times wrote a 1A story about Mary Repper in which it summed up her career in this way: In the 12 years since she started a political consulting business in her Safety Harbor home, Repper has cultivated a reputation as the woman who wins."

Dozens and dozens of candidates throughout Tampa Bay and the state of Florida can attest to that. In the 18 years that Mary Repper has been providing political and governmental consulting services, winning and ethics have been the cornerstones of her career.

Mary rose to prominence in the Tampa Bay area in the late 1980s when she guided efforts by Hillsborough County newcomers Phyllis Busansky and Ed Turanchik to County Commission victories over better known and better financed opponents, as well as helping Everett Rice unseat incumbent Pinellas Sheriff Gerry Coleman in 1988.

For a full list of Mary’s extensive political career, click here...

Bill Paul

Bill Paul has been working in the building industry for more than 25 years as both a developer and consultant and has a keen interest in governmental and political affairs. He is known personally to many local and state government officials.

Bill is well known throughout the state as a champion of charitable causes. During the 2003 legislative session he was instrumental in securing funding and support for the Home Builder’s Institute juvenile rehabilitation effort known as Project Craft.

Bill is past President of The Tampa Bay Builder Association and serves in the following capacities::

Vice Chair of Governmental Affairs Committee
Vice Chair of the local PAC
Co-Chair of the Downtown Housing Program
Life Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Executive Committee
Very active Life Spike

And as an active member at the state level, he serves on the following Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA) committees and boards:

Member of the Board of Directors
Active Member of the FHBA PAC
Member of the Education Committee
Member of the Workforce Training Advisory Committee
Member of the Legal Action Committee
Member of the Industry Issues Committee
Member of the Executive Committee
Chair of the Local President Council
Florida Home Builders Association Foundation - Trustee
Previously served on the Governmental Affairs Committee

Recognized nationally for his commitment to his profession as an Eagle Award recipient, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) also selected Bill to serve as part of their inner circle of advisors by appointing him to the following positions:

Member of the Board of Directors
Gold Key member of Build-PAC
Congressional Contact

Home Builders Institute – Trustee

Click Here to Read an Article about Bill Paul from the Florida Home Builders Association...

Nancy Watkins

Nancy Watkins is a Certified Public Accountant and has provided professional accounting services to a diverse range of businesses and political organizations for more than 25 years. She is in the Tampa accounting firm Robert Watkins & Company.

She is highly experienced and respected in campaign finance law compliance and Federal tax law for tax-exempt organizations, with an emphasis on political organizations. She has served a number of political campaigns including current and former members of the United States Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Florida Cabinet, the Florida Legislature and various political party committees, political action committees and other political and policy organizations within the United States.

She is a graduate of the University of South Florida and Hillsborough Community College. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. While at USF, she was a member of Beta Alpha Psi, the national honorary accounting fraternity. While at HCC, she was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year colleges and was listed in Who’s Who in American Junior Colleges.

In addition to serving as a member of the Hillsborough Community College District Board of Trustees, she is active in community affairs as a member various civic and historical lineage societies, which support historic preservation, education and academic scholarships.

Akshay M. Desai, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Desai is Founder, President and CEO of Universal Health Care, Inc. and is well known as a caring individual who actively participates in many in social, educational and governmental programs intended to help people live better lives.

His professional career includes being Chief of Staff at Pinellas Community Hospital; Chief of Staff, Northside Hospital and Heart Institute and St. Petersburg General Hospital; Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Northside Hospital and Heart Institute and St. Petersburg General Hospital; and Senior Member of the Credentials Committee, Humana Medical Plan.

Dr. Desai is a Board Member of the Florida Medical Association Political Action Committee; Commissioner, President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; Commissioner, Postsecondary Education Planning Commission as appointed by Governor Jeb Bush; Vice President, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin; and Chairman, Council for Education Policy and Research Improvement as appointed by Governor Jeb Bush.

Dr. Desai attended Government Medical College in India and received his Masters in Public Health in Administrative Medicine from George Washington University and is Board certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Quality Assurance.

G. Edward Best

Glenn Edward Best received his B.A. in Economics from Colgate University, Hamilton, NY in 1973, and was admitted as one of eighteen minority students. As a young man from Brooklyn, NY, he was awarded the prestigious National Achievement Scholarship and the New York State Regents Scholarship.

Mr. Best began his career as a broker and analyst at Weinberg Bros. /American Futures, one of Wall Street’s oldest commodity firms and the founder of the International Monetary Market. Next, Mr. Best joined Lux Investor Services as Senior Vice President. Lux Investor Services is a boutique investment banking firm involved in leveraged buyouts.

In 1992, Mr. Best founded GEB Securities, Inc., a NASD broker/dealer, which was approved as a direct dealer for Freddie Mac, a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1970 to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and rental housing. In addition, GEB Securities, Inc. was only the second minority firm approved as a broker for the California State Teachers Retirement System.

As Managing Director of GEB Financial, Mr. Best is an established member of the securities industry. Mr. Best has been engaged in various aspects of securities analysis, capital markets and portfolio management for both institutional and retail clients for over twenty years.

Mr. Best holds licenses as a General Securities Principal (Series 24), Financial Operations Principal (Series 28), Registered Representative (Series 7), Uniform Combined State Law License (Series 66), Uniform Securities State Law License (Series 63) and is a Licensed Life, Health and Annuities Agent.

G. Edward Best is now featured in the National Who’s Who’s registrar for 2004 and has been appointed honorary chairman of the National Business Advisory Council and GEB Financial Services Group, LLC is positioned to be one of the few national financial services firms owned by an African American.

Mr. Best also is an official member of Mensa, the intellectual society which welcomes people from every walk of life whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population, with the objective of enjoying each other's company and participating in a wide range of social and cultural activities.

Mr. Best is involved in many community efforts as well. He has been appointed a member of the Belleair Rotarians whose motto is “Service above self” and is the Treasurer for the Uno Federation, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to advocacy and expanding the inclusion of all people into the American dream. He was also a fundraiser for the World Literacy Crusade, a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating illiteracy on the planet.

Tom Wright

As a volunteer, Tom is the executive director of FairTax.org, having recently served as Florida state director and American Farm Bureau Federation national liaison. Over the past eight years, he has also served as floor leader for the national retail sales tax at the Texas Democratic and Republican conventions.

For 13 years, he is or has served as a grassroots organizer, coalition builder, citizen lobbyist, and spokesman for several organizations working to replace the income tax with a national retail sales tax. These organizations include FairTax.org, American Tax Freedom Foundation, Citizens for an Alternative Tax System, the National Ask Your Candidate Campaign, and National Tax Research Committee.

To make the house payment, Tom is director of investor relations and corporate affairs for a Clearwater-based hedge funds: Emory Partners, L.P. Emory has more than $50 million under management.

Tom joined the hedge fund after taking time off to tend to his wife’s health. Prior to this he sold his advertising/public relations/lobbying business to Fogarty Klein & Partners, Houston’s largest marketing communications firm. He was co-founder and president of Wright Marketing Communications, a full-service marketing consulting and communications company specializing in technology-based clients. For more than 15 years, his company provided marketing research, strategic planning, and implemented advertising, public relations, and sales support projects for clients ranging from large public corporations to venture-capital-based startups.

Tom is also a co-founder of a Houston urban literacy project, partnered with Mayor Lee P. Brown in his middle school violence reduction initiative, co-founded Houston’s Tanglewood Academy, and volunteers as a spokesman for other charities involved in school violence reduction, education improvement & literacy, and psychiatric patients’ rights.

Click Here to download a PDF of Tom's Bio...
FairTax.org

Celine Pastore

Celine recently served as Executive Director for Pinellas County Chiropractic Society, the largest and most politically active chiropractic society in the state of Florida.

Her duties included assisting with fundraisers for candidates such as Senator Dennis Jones and Senator Mike Fasano. And the planning and coordination of Chiropractic Day, an annual trip to Tallahassee of approx. 125 members to meet with local legislators.

Celine is the only non-chiropractor to have won the PCCS Presidents award for her outstanding service and contribution to the chiropractic profession . She also briefly held the position of the Executive Director for the North Suncoast Chiropractic Society to assist them in establishing a more structured organization for that area.

She is also the Founder and CEO of Windsor Marketing Group, a marketing company located in Clearwater that provides graphic design, printing, promotional items and marketing services for the financial, healthcare, political and educational arenas.