Leadership
Board of Directors
Steve Brendtro, Chairman
Steve Brendtro grew up in South Dakota and chipped in with his entire family to run a nonprofit training network for youth-work professionals around the globe. Steve’s first experience with Pensacola was in 1997 on a college spring break trip, rough camping on Fort Pickens for an entire week when he fell in love with the area. During that trip, the Gulf tested his lifeguard experience as he rescued a drowning friend from the Gulf. Twenty years later, when the opportunity finally presented itself, Steve and his family were excited to relocate to the Perdido community. Mr. Brendtro holds a four-year degree in computer science and has spent the past 25 years working with businesses of all sizes to achieve their technical and operational goals. In his quest for solutions, Steve has honed his talents as both a professional researcher and a business founder. As Chairman, he brings all his research, technical, and organizational skills to the table.
Mae Dean, Director
As a multi-generational resident of Escambia County and the Perdido area, Mae has served the community for years, both on and off Perdido Key. She began her nonprofit leadership on the board of our local Habitat for Humanity chapter. Continuing from there, she served for years on the board of directors of the nonprofit Perdido Key Association, including several years as President. Mae worked with community leaders to keep a casino off the Key and helped spearhead the multi-use path. Mae Dean helped facilitate public meetings for the Perdido Key Master Plans and has always been active and interested in working within the land development code to make the community a better place to live, for development and growth that makes sense to our local citizens.
Ann Griffin, Director
Ann Griffin and her family fell in love with and moved to Perdido in 1989, living on Innerarity and Perdido Key. A 34-year resident, Ann led the Perdido Key Association for twelve years, both on the board of directors and as the President for seven years. She worked with county commissioners and staff through many challenges facing the Perdido community, including hurricanes Ivan and Opal, and volunteering with Coastal Clean-Up and the Turtle Watch. After retiring, Ann and her husband spent two years cruising America’s Great Loop, followed by three years and 40,000 miles touring by RV. Eventually, they settled back into the Perdido area they fell in love with all those years ago. Ann volunteers at United Bay Methodist Church, cooking hundreds of meals weekly for the community.
Craig Dalton, Director
Craig is a twenty-four-year resident of Perdido, a former naval officer, and a graduate of the University of Illinois. As a local small business owner, he has built valuable connections with our community’s leaders at both the local and state levels. For the past ten years, Craig served our community as President of the nonprofit Perdido Bay Youth Sports Association, facilitating baseball, softball, track and field, football, and lacrosse programs at Southwest Escambia Sports Complex, for Perdido’s youth. He also represented local businesses as an officer on multiple Chamber of Commerce organizations. Craig’s understanding of local government has placed him in key positions for intergovernmental relations.
Mickie Cameron, Director
Mickie grew up in Perdido, spending free time with friends in her “backyard,” the area now known as Big Lagoon State Park. Her family founded the well-known local business, Perdido Heating and Air. At age twenty, Mickey moved away, started a family, became a teacher, and raised her kids. Over the years, she’s been on many adventures with her husband, a retired US Marine and space shuttle pilot. Twenty years ago, Mickie decided it was time to come home to the place most dear to her, Perdido. As a resident of the Paradise Beach area, she is concerned about the health and longevity of the Perdido community and preserving its charm. She believes Perdido may better address these challenges directly as a town.
Charter Committee
Fred Smith
A retired Navy Captian, Fred Smith concluded his 26-year career at NAS Pensacola leading NETSAFA, their international training program. After his retirement, he spent twelve years as a sale executive for Boeing leading global sales for commercial military derivitive aircraft, including the P-8 Poseidon, Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tanker, and VC-25A presidential aircraft. Fred now works for Blue Water Advisors assisting senior military officers in transitioning to the civilian sector. Fred and his wife, Patty, live on Innerarity Point and have two grown sons, now Navy pilots.
Dick Padlo
Dick is a former Air Force Base Commander, where he managed community services for 9,600 residents and supervised human resources, information systems, engineering services, environmental assessments, facility maintenance, and security operations for a workforce of 1,065. For the past thirteen years, Dick Padlo has served as an executive at several national and international nonprofits. He and his wife, Dedra, live in Perdido Bay Country Club Estates.
Anthony Garcia
Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, Anthony grew up in small communities within Jackson and Harris counties. He spent nearly a decade in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he began his architectural career. Anthony and his wife made Perdido Manor their home on Cummings Point five years ago, where he continues his architectural work with a firm in Fairhope, Alabama. Together, Anthony and his wife are raising their two children among the natural beauty of Northwest Florida and lower Alabama, steps away from Perdido Bay.
Jim Fluhart
Jim is a retired senior communications industry executive with 40 years of experience at Verizon, Lucent, Belcore, and Unity Fiber. He has managed divisions with more than 1100 employees, holding full profit and loss responsibility. Jim served as Vice President, Vice President, and board member of multiple homeowner associations in Dallas, Denver, and Tampa. He is a golfer, avid sailor, chef, and grandfather-in-training.
Mike Smith
Mike Smith is a retired executive and co-founder of an agricultural chemical company with a Chemical Engineering background with a Masters’s in Business Administration. Mike taught in Memphis for several years as a Professor of Management and Marketing and as an MBA program director. He has lived in Perdido Key for over 20 years.
Ed Wilson
Ed Wilson is a Duke, George Washington, and Iona University graduate. He also served as a Medical Officer in the US Coast Guard. Following his military retirement, Ed worked with Orthopedic Group in Tallahassee for ten years and Children’s Orthopedic for nineteen years. He and his wife of 51 years, Valerie, have two grown children and three grandchildren. After many years of vacationing in the Perdido area, they bought a house in Perdido Key to call it home.
Kenneth Cameron
A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michigan State University, Kenneth Cameron is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel, and test pilot, having logged over 4000 flight hours in 48 different types of aircraft, including time with NASA as an astronaut piloting the space shuttle. Following his NASA retirement, Kenneth served as an executive director of Hughes Training in Texas, Saab Automobile in Sweden, General Motors in Detroit, and Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Texas. He and his wife, Mickie, now live in Perdido, where Mickie grew up.