An official from Florida International University, a vice president of a Tallahassee consulting firm, and a doctor and professor of anesthesiology at the University of Florida are the three finalists to be the next public member on The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors.
At its March 30 meeting, the board selected Carmen A. Brown of Miami, Arnell Bryant-Willis of Tallahassee, and Dr. David Paulus of Gainesville as the three nominees for the post. The Florida Supreme Court will make the final appointment to replace Dr. Solomon Badger, an educator from Jacksonville who has served the two-term limit set in Bar rules for public members.
A total of 18 people applied for the public member seat, and a screening committee selected eight for interviews. The final three were chosen from those eight.
Brown was born in Santiago, Cuba, and has lived in Florida for 46 years. She is the assistant vice president for enrollment management at FIU, and has served on the 11th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, has twice served on local grievance committees, and served on the Bar’s statewide advertising grievance committee. She also has served on the governor’s Blue Ribbon Access and Diversity Commission, the One Florida Accountability Commission and the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers.
Bryant-Willis is the vice president of operations for E.W. Bryant Associates in Tallahassee, which consults and conducts training sessions on leadership, team building, and diversity. She has held several management positions in state government. She has served on Florida’s Youth Council, the state’s Building Codes Study Commission, the Governor’s Council on Farmworker Affairs, the Florida School to Community Transition Project to help disabled students, and the Florida Coordinating Council on the Americans with Disability Act.
Paulus is a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Florida, where he both practices and teaches, has served on the Shands Hospital Board of Directors, and is currently president of the Faculty Council of the College of Medicine. He is also a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Paulus has served on an Eighth Circuit grievance committee. He has written extensively, both books and articles, and served on a variety of committees on local, state, and national medical organizations.
— Courtesy The Florida Bar Journal