Phoebe Ball, Esq., is a staff attorney with the Self-Determination Team at the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, Inc.  In this position, Ms. Ball works to expand opportunities for person-centered planning, economic self-empowerment, expand access to alternatives to guardianship, reduce occurrences of abuse, neglect and exploitation in the community and expand access to voting rights.

Rebecca Berg  - Ms. Berg  heads the elder law firm of Berg and Associates, in Jacksonville, Florida.  A member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys since 1990, she was among the charter class of attorneys to be certified by the National Elder Law Foundation.  She is also board certified through The Florida Bar.  Her practice focuses on elder law issues serving all ages in the areas of estate planning, probate, long-term care planning, guardianship, special needs trust development and administration.

Edwin M. Boyer, Esq., is a Florida Bar Board Certified Elder Law Attorney and a member of the law firm of Boyer & Jackson, P.A. Mr. Boyer has practiced law in Bradenton and Sarasota, Florida since 1978. He received his Juris Doctor Degree in 1978 from Stetson University College of Law.  Mr. Boyer is Vice President of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, a fellow in the Academy, a member of the Council of Advanced Practitioners of the Academy.  He is also Past  President of the Academy of Florida Elder Law Attorneys, the Florida Chapter of NAELA .  Mr. Boyer is a member of the Department of Children and Families Select Advisory Panel for Adult Protective Services.  He also served as a member of the State of Florida Long Term Care Ombudsman Council for 12 years. In 2008, Mr. Boyer was selected as a Distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Center of Elder Law.  Mr. Boyer practices in the area of Elder Law with an emphasis on guardianship, estate planning and administration, advance directives, end of life issues, nursing home resident’s rights, and elder exploitation.  He is a co-author of the book Planning for the Elderly in Florida, and speaks frequently on Elder Law issues.  He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law, where he teaches Trusts and Estates, Survey of Florida Probate and Guardianship and Alternatives in the Stetson Elder Law LLM program.

Karen Campbell, Esq., has been employed in several attorney positions involving elder and disabilities law.  She has worked for legal aid agencies, a consumer protection agency, and was employed first as a senior staff attorney and later as the general counsel for the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.  Presently, Ms. Campbell is Executive Director of the Office of Public Guardian, Inc.  Ms. Campbell is responsible for public guardianship administration in 13 counties for over 140 incapacitated persons.  She is also an instructor for the Forty Hour Professional Guardianship Course. She is the Immediate Past-President of the Florida State Guardianship Association.

Melinda Coulter works for the Agency for Persons with Disabilities in their central office training unit.  Ms. Coulter is the agency’s resident expert on the legal rights of persons with disabilities and as such advises agency legal staff and policy makers.  Recently, Ms. Coulter worked with the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, and the Florida Bar to educate legislators on the need to revise the guardian advocacy statutes.

Susan Dunbar is a member of Big Bend Transition Council, a group of agencies, service providers, school districts and other community partners who coordinate transition services in the Big Bend area for youth with disabilities.   Ms. Dunbar has also participated in other organizations focusing on transition issues, community living, employment and education for persons with disabilities.

Michelle Hollister -  Ms. Hollister is Executive Director of the Statewide Public Guardianship Office where she is responsible for the oversight of Florida’s Public Guardianship Offices and for the education and registration of Professional Guardians.  She is a member of the Executive Council of The Florida Bar’s Real Property Probate and Trust Law Section.  Formerly she served as counsel to the Broward County guardianship monitoring program.

Mary Alice Jackson, Esq., is a Florida Bar board certified Elder Law Attorney and a partner at Boyer & Jackson, P.A. in Sarasota, Florida.  Her practice emphasizes special needs trusts, long term care and incapacity planning.  She is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell, and has been named as one of Florida’s Legal Elite by Florida Trend Magazine from 2006-2009.  She is a member of the Special Needs Alliance, a not-for-profit association of special needs attorneys throughout the nation.  Mary Alice is a co-author of Planning for the Elderly in Florida, a LexisNexis publication.  She presently serves as chair of the Grass Roots Advocacy Committee for the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, as President of Senior Friendship Centers, Inc., and as strategic planning chair for The Pines of Sarasota, a long term care facility.   Mary Alice is a past Chair of the Florida Bar Elder Law Section and served as President of the Sarasota County Bar Association in 2005.  An adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law, Mary Alice has resided in Austin, Texas since 2006 and telecommutes to her Florida office daily. 

Sara Romine is an emerging leader with a disability with a goal to improve the future for herself and others with disabilities.  She has participated on several committees and summits like the Inclusion Summit and the Annual Youth Summit.  Last year she was a junior staff member at the Youth Leadership Forum.  Along with fellow Florida Youth Council members, she wrote and helped pass legislation insuring disability history and awareness be a part of the curriculum in every public school in Florida. The Disability History and Awareness Weeks bill was signed into legislation last June.  With a lot of medical care, therapists, tutors, mom’s love, and determination to study very hard, she recently graduated from high school earning high honors. She has spoken at the European Union in support of International Adoption. She has used her savings to start “Awareness and Action Partners” to produce disability awareness videos which are on the Polk County School Board web site.  To learn more about her efforts to raise awareness and support for abandoned children worldwide visit her website, www.allthechildrenoftheworld.org.