Collaboratory welcomed new Board leadership on July 1. Dennie Hamilton will serve as board chair, Dr. Aysegul Timur will serve as vice chair and Sally Jackson will become a new board trustee.

Hamilton retired in 2019 from a 39-year career in the electric utility industry. His last 12 years, he served as executive vice president and chief executive officer of Lee County Electric Cooperative. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University and a master of business administration degree from Tulane University. Hamilton also completed executive education programs at Columbia and the University of Michigan. He currently serves as a board member for Florida Southwestern State College’s Financing Corporation and a board member of Texas A&M’s Energy Institute.

Dr. Timur is vice president and vice provost of Strategy and Program Innovation and a member of the Regional Economic Research Institute at Florida Gulf Coast University. She received her doctoral degree in business administration, majoring in economics, from the University of South Florida, and both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration from the University of Istanbul. Her areas of specialization include business policy and organizational development, quality and continuous improvement, health (especially pharmaceutical pricing), and international economics.

Dr. Timur has served on the Collaboratory board since 2019.

In 2017, Jackson retired from Lee Health after 12 years as system director, government and community relations. Her 40-plus-year career spans executive roles in business, state government and chambers of commerce including advocacy, visioning, administration, management and collaborative leadership. Jackson earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in administration of justice from Southern Illinois University. She has volunteered her time with numerous boards including Pace Center for Girls, Fort Myers Republican Women’s Club, American Heart Association, Hodges University, Park Royal Psychiatric Hospital, United Way, American Cancer Society and American Red Cross. She has been named a finalist for the News-Press Trailblazer of the Year and the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce APEX Award.

Collaboratory was founded in 1976 as the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. It has made over $83 million in grants since then and is home to more than 400 philanthropic funds. To learn more and get involved, call 239-274-5900 or visit www.collaboratory.org.