GOVERNANCE & BOARD

Mary Beth brings a caring and comprehensive approach to estate planning and provides her clients and their families with both the technical and personal guidance they need in developing the proper plan.

Education:

• University of Florida, Levin College of Law (LL.M. in Taxation, 1998)
• University of Florida, Levin College of Law (J.D., with honors, 1997)
• University of Florida (B.A., 1992)

Bar Admissions

• Florida, 1997

Professional Organizations:

• Florida Bar Association, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, Member
• Collier County Bar Association, Trusts and Estate Section, Member
• Collier County Women’s Bar Association, Member
• Junior League of Fort Myers, Past Member

Professional Recognition:

• Board Certified by the Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts and & Estates – 2004-present
• The Best Lawyers in America, 2018 – Present
• Martindale-Hubbell, AV Rated
• The Women’s Foundation of Collier County, 2017 Women of Initiative
• Distinctive Women, 2011
• Gulfshore Business, “40 Under 40” Award, 2004

Civic and Philanthropic Activity

• Angels Undercover of Collier County, Inc., Board of Directors
• David Lawrence Center & Foundation, Board of Directors, Past President; Planned Giving Committee, Chairman
• Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs, Board of Directors, Past President
• American Red Cross, Planned Giving Committee, Chair
• Speakers Assembly of Southwest Florida, Membership Committee
• Leadership Bonita, Class of 2004

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Tri-County Apprenticeship Academy (TCAA) (President 2005)
• Florida Building Commission (Commissioner 2005 – 2008)
• FL Building Commission-Mechanical TAC, Member since 2005 (Chairman 2008 – 09)
• Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), Member since 1997 (BOD 2010 to present)
• Southwest FL Air Conditioning Contractors Assoc. (SWACCA) (President 2006)

ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

• Foundation for Lee County Public Schools, Chair, Board Member since 2010
• Horizon Council, Member at Large, Member (Lee County Economic Development Office) since 2010
• Southwest Florida Economic Development Alliance, Board and Executive Member
• United Way of Lee County, Board Member since 2007
• The Chamber of Southwest Florida, Board Member since 2011
• The STEM TEAM of Southwest Florida, Board Member since 2010
• Construction Advisory Committee for Lee County Public Schools, Member 2007
• Compliance Advisory Committee for Lee County Public Schools, Member 2006-07
• Edison Festival of Light, Board of Directors, President 2000 – 2001
• First Jobs/First Wages Committee of SWF Workforce Development Board
• Horizon Foundation, President
• Healthy Lee Steering and Executive Committees, Chair
• FGCU/U. A. Whitaker College of Engineering Council, Chair

FREDERICK MOON

Born and raised in New York City, Moon graduated from Amherst College and the Harvard Business School. After business school he served as an Assistant Treasurer at the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company in New York City. During that time, he engaged in a variety of community based educational and health activities which led him to a career shift from banking to the nonprofit sector. From 1975 to 1990 he was Vice President and Treasurer of Pomona College. Pomona College is the founding institution of The Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five independent colleges. As a consequence, administrative work there focused on collaboration and partnership.  In that timeframe he was active with the California accrediting body (WASC) rewriting the financial and governance standards for college and university accreditation. In 1990, he opened the west coast office of Cambridge Associates, the national consulting firm serving the investment and endowment management needs of large nonprofits across the US. His consulting clients focused on west coast colleges, universities and foundations.

After leaving Cambridge in the late 1990s, Moon worked as a director of The Surdna Foundation in New York City.  He was a director for 20 years, chair for 6, and chairman of the Investment Committee for his full tenure there. He helped transform the foundation from a low-key family foundation to a professionally managed one, noted by field building, collaboration with other national funders, and partnering with grantees.  In addition to grant making activities, Surdna had founded two operating nonprofits (a residential treatment center for learning challenged youth and a retirement home) which Moon helped transform to self-sustaining, locally managed institutions.  The Foundation held extensive timber assets in California which Moon managed.  Consistent with Surdna’s environmental grant making program goals, Moon developed sustainable forestry practices and positioned the foundations timber assets as a demonstration model for others in the business.  As chair of the Investment Committee, he sought to bridge the gap between the separation that exists between grantmaking and endowment investing.  These efforts helped encourage grant making to be more strategic and business like on one hand and helped locate endowment investment opportunities which could support the Foundation’s overall mission and program goals on the other.

Moon has served on numerous nonprofit boards over his career in Southern and Northern CA and Maine. He continues to be active in many causes, notably environmental sustainability and energy issues, human and civil rights, and finding strategies for local communities to be healthy and sustainable.  He has two daughters, each of whom has three sons.  In addition to living in Florida, he has a house on the coast of Maine.