Our Board

Originally from Colorado Springs Colorado, Jim VanRiper, began organizing in 1996 in the fight against Colorado's anti-gay state constitutional amendment, which the US Supreme Court ultimately struck down in Romer vs. Evans. Jim served on the board of directors for the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Colorado Springs. During this time he also worked to help pass a domestic partner benefits program for City employees in Colorado Springs. Jim has also been the Board Chair for The Family Tree LGBT Community Center in Tallahassee Florida chaired the Leon County Human Relations Advisory Committee and facilitated the passing of a human relations ordinance for Leon County which expands the 1964 civil Rights act (Title VII) by including protections for all citizens including protection from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

Jim is currently the board chair for Equality Florida. Equality Florida is the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Equality Florida works to improve the lives of the LGBT community through lobbying, grassroots organizing, education, and coalition building.

A transplant to Tampa from New York City, Amy Mandel holds a degree in business management from the University of South Florida. Since 1979, Amy has owned and operated FEET FIRST, a successful chain of sporting goods stores throughout the Tampa Bay area. Amy has been a volunteer and board member of Equality Florida since 1992 (then called the Human Rights Task Force) in the capacity of Treasurer and Co-Chair, and has been a prime organizer of Equality Florida's major donor membership program in the Central part of the state.

Chuck is the Senior Partner of the nonprofit consulting firm of Loring, Sternberg & Associates with offices in Fort Lauderdale and Indianapolis and a Senior Governance Associate for BoardSource in Washington, D.C. He holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). Chuck has consulted with such prominent institutions as the Smithsonian Museum, Special Olympics, Easter Seals, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. 

In 2008 Chuck completed six years of service on the national board of Lambda Legal and continues as a member of their National Leadership Council. He was a founder of Lamda Legal's Fort Lauderdale and Indianapolis steering committees. In Fort Lauderdale he is active donor and participant with the Gay & Lesbian Center, the Stonewall Library, SunServe, Equality Florida and local LGBT candidates. Nationally Chuck has done work with the Gill Foundation, the Stonewall Community Foundation, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center and many other LGBT organizations.

Originally from North Carolina and recently from Atlanta, GA, B. Rodney White has been active in the LGBT movement for the past 20+ years. As Executive Vice President and co-owner of Making Projects Work, Inc. (an Atlanta-based project management consulting firm) with his husband, Michael P. Williams, Rodney networked the access and opportunity afforded to them through both business and personal relationships to support local organizations like AID Atlanta, Project Open Hand, CHRIS Kids and P.A.L.S. and national groups including HRC, Lambda Legal and GLAAD. 

Now as a resident of Hollywood, FL Rodney serves as a member of GLAAD's National Leadership Council, co-chairs GLAAD's South Florida Leadership Council and is an active fundraiser for Lambda Legal and Equality Florida. 

Rodney and Michael continue as committed donors to Equality Florida, GLAAD, HRC, Lambda Legal, SunServe, The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of South Florida, Georgia Equality, AID Atlanta, The Atlanta Botanical Garden, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and The High Museum of Art.

Evie Evers Kling graduated cum laude from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Political Science, having also attended Wheaton College and Ohio University.  She has worked for charitable health, civic, and arts organizations, including:  American Heart Association in Cincinnati, American Cancer Society in Atlanta, the Friends of the Maryland Federation of Art and Annapolis Hobbycrafters.  While living in Oakwood, a suburb of Dayton, OH, Evie chaired her city’s Environmental Committee and played a critical role in starting the city’s recycling program. 

Evie was instrumental in raising awareness about the prudent and careful use of pesticides, including the posting of areas that had been treated.  Having been an AFS high school exchange student to Brazil, Evie served as President, Public Relations Chair and for 15 years as Host Family Finder for Oakwood’s AFS Chapter.  Along with many other leadership positions, Evie served on the Board of Directors of The Little Exchange, a fine gift shop that donates its proceeds to Dayton Children’s Hospital.  Evie and her husband of 40 years, George Kling, split their time between their homes in Dayton and Key West.  They have two grown daughters and three grandchildren. They have two grown daughters and three grandchildren.

Vivian Rodriguez is the Constituent Field Representative for Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-9) - Osceola/Polk Counties Outreach and the Vice Chair of the Orange County Democratic Executive Committee. She was the Political Director of Hispanic Outreach for FL State House Representative Joe Saunders, District 49, which contributed to the successful election of one of our first openly gay legislatures in Tallahassee. 

Vivian is on the state wide board of the GLBT Democratic Caucus and the Female Regional Director of District 3, covering several counties along the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. She is also one of the Board of Directors for the newly formed Central Florida Community Initiative, a non-profit organization which facilitate's communication and cooperation between the Office of the State Attorney of the Ninth Circuit, led by State Attorney Jeff Ashton and the community it serves. Vivian was a private consultant for the Department of Homeland Security on issues relating to intelligence and terrorism.

Vivian retired from the NYPD in August 2004, as a 1st Grade Detective, with twenty one years of service. She was assigned to several specialized units which included the Intelligence Division, Executive and Dignitary Protection Unit, the Organized Crime Control Bureau, Recruitment Section, and the LGBT Sensitivity Training Program for all incoming NYPD police cadets. She was the past President of the NYPD, Gay Officers Action League (2004), which advocated for the rights, protections, and community awareness of LGBT issues.

Katee Tully spent twenty years in higher education leadership positions in North Carolina and New York. During her tenure, Katee raised significant funding and established a strong reputation for building collaborations and partnerships. Katee became known for her expertise in leadership development and business outreach during her ten years with East Carolina University; implementing a nationally recognized leadership program for middle grade and high school students which was featured on PBS.

Katee then moved to NYC to join Medgar Evers College, a Historically Black Institution, where she directed the School of Continuing Education and External Programs. It was in this setting that Katee developed a wide range of corporate, government and community constituencies which furthered her work in economic and workforce development. She continued this focus when she became Dean of Continuing Education and Workforce Development at Borough of Manhattan Community College (City University of New York) shortly before 9/11. In the years that followed, Katee was intimately involved with the Mayor's office and the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan — creating and implementing strategic partnerships with well over a hundred agencies and businesses — and raising nearly $18M to foster those partnerships.

Prior to her academic career, Katee trained as a master jeweler and subsequently opened retail shops in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Gatlinburg and Tallahassee.

As a fifth generation Floridian, Katee was delighted to return to her native state and join her wife, Helen Levine, in January of 2007. 

Now retired, Katee is parent and guardian to 60,000 bees in a backyard hive. She maintains a potter’s studio in the arts warehouse district of St Petersburg, and she seeks out any opportunity to stir up trouble when justice and equality are in the mix.