Board of Directors Executive Committee

2026-2027 

Heidi Goff, President  As a member of  University Park Women’s Club since 2022, Heidi has taken theopportunity to meeting many of the women of UPWC through SIGs, Marvelous Mondays and Quarterly Luncheons.  Currently, Heidi is First VP of UPWC having recently been appointed by Daria Charlesworth and has retained her work as the Club’s Website Administrator.  Previously, she has been Co-Chair of the Membership Committee working with Barbara Kowalyk to welcome and expand the UPWC Membership.  Also, working with Daria, she participated in the 2025-26 Nominating Committee and was Co-Chairman of the 2026-2027 Nominating Committee with Nancy Erskine.  Supporting Barbara Kowalyk and Susan Zabriskie in presenting the web side of the New Member Orientations has been an enjoyable opportunity to meet the new members of the Club.  After a successful career as a senior financial executive in NYC, Heidi moved to Sarasota in 2005.  Heidi is an avid reader, golfs two or three times a week, needlepoints and spends much of her time with her large family in the Sarasota area. She loves the beach, her family and friends, traveling and a good glass of wine.

Lisa Blair, First Vice President     A proud Wisconsin Badger, Lisa and her husband, Dave, raised their three now-grown(!) children in Wauwatosa – a Milwaukee suburb.  Along with their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Walter, they moved to University Park (Eaton) in 2023, and have been warmly welcomed and extremely inspired by the active and engaging community. In her professional life, Lisa has partnered with both for-profit and nonprofit organizations to help them maximize their potential through innovative and creative strategies and opportunities. Most recently, over the last 15+ years, she has worked extensively with nonprofits to enhance their development efforts, cultivate donor relationships, and implement effective fundraising initiatives.As an avid and lifelong volunteer, Lisa believes passionately in the importance of giving back and making a meaningful difference within a community.  As a relative newcomer to the University Park Women’s Club, she has been thoroughly impressed by the plethora of opportunities for fellowship as well as the strong sense of connection and involvement.  Committed to honoring UPWC’s legacy and storied history of 25+ years of lasting impact and service, she hopes to help foster an environment which supports our continued growth and success, and empowers members to contribute fresh ideas – with the goal of expanding our organization’s reach for another 25+ years!  

Nancy Erskine, Recording SecretaryNancy served the UPWC as head of Communications and Publicity for three years (from 2023 to 2026). She and her husband, Mark Vassalotti, have lived in the Park since 2021; they spend summers in Stamford, CT. Nancy retired in 2022 from a long career in IT and business research and consulting so she could spend time with her two grandkids, who live in Dallas, TX, as well as with her husband. Nancy has served on a number of non-profit boards in CT. She graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. Nancy participates in many SIG activities at UPWC, having discovered this wealth of opportunities for interaction and learning when she retired.

Jan Doench, Treasurer     Jan graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in Business Education. Shortly thereafter she joined IBM and moved to Dallas, Texas. Over the next 12 years, IBM moved her every two years from Dallas to Houston and back to Dallas. She loved living in Texas! IBM next sent her to Washington D.C where she spent the 14 years. Her job responsibilities continued to increase over time and she spent the last 25 years as a global manager and a global Executive.

When she retired she was serving as the Global Sales Executive responsible for Platform Computing. IBM sponsored her for an Executive MBA at George Mason University where she had the opportunity to attend Oxford. In 2009, she went back to school and earned a doctorate in business administration. She began teaching as an Adjunct Professor and retired from IBM after 41 years. She is still teaching for two universities. She has served UPWC in the past as Social Chairman, Outreach Chairman, 2nd Vice President, and President. She is looking forward to working on the Board again. Did she mention she also loves living in Sarasota?

Daria Charlesworth,   Special Interest Group Executive and President Ex Officio     Daria lives in Kenwood Park with her husband Paul and has been a full-time resident of UP since 2008. "Every day, I say we are the luckiest people in the world to live in UP!" Prior to moving to Florida, Daria and Paul lived in Morristown, NJ. They have two daughters, one in Los Angeles and one (plus a new granddaughter!) in Seattle. Daria has been involved in the UPWC since 2022, when she retired from her full-time job as Director of Nursing at a residential adolescent behavioral health facility in Bradenton. Daria has a master's in nursing from Rutgers University and she still works part-time as an RN. She is a member of the UPCC LGA, loves to spend time in her pool doing aqua aerobics.   Her UPWC involvements are French Conversation, Art Discovery, and Dining Around Town , in addition to being a past luncheon chair in 2023-2024 and Board of Directors President for 2025-2026.  

Alison Sackley, Membership Executive     Alison was born and raised in the United Kingdom, the eldest daughter of a Royal Naval helicopter Test Pilot and Special Ed. Teacher/Child Psychologist. For educational and social stability Alison attended boarding school in the UK from ages 11-18 where she made some long-lasting friendships. She graduated as a Food Process Engineer from Loughborough University.   After 3 years working at a flavor company and then a flour milling company and baking research center, Alison joined the Kellogg Company in Manchester, England in 1987 as a Product Developer.  Alison moved to Kellogg HQ in Battle Creek Michigan with her new husband Brian in 1997.  After 32 years in various technical leadership positions working long days and traveling globally, she retired in 2019. Alison and Brian purchased their first home in UP from a close friend’s parents in the Wentworth neighborhood and after 5 years decided they loved the community, but needed a little more space and moved to Regents Park.  They still spend summers in West Michigan taking their pontoon boat out on one of Michigan’s many small inland lakes and spending time with friends. Alison and Brian also love to travel, enjoy good food and wine, and play tennis, pickleball and euchre together. After retiring Alison joined the board and started volunteering for a local non-profit providing legal assistance to residents of their county, most of which are unable to afford legal representation. Alison is a member of a book club in Michigan and enjoys knitting including prosthetic breasts for an organization called ‘Knitted Knockers’ distributing these soft and lifelike breasts to those needing them after mastectomy surgery.

Lisa Pafe, Community Engagement Executive

Lisa Pafe lives in Henley with her husband Bob and their chihuahua Little Su. They moved to Florida in 2023 from the Washington, DC area, and spend summers in Maryland. They have two adult children and one grandson. Lisa has 40 years of experience in government contracting, training, project management and business development. She is a devoted yoga practitioner, yoga teacher, and USA Yoga Federation medalist representing Florida in National Competition. She also enjoys strength training, nature, travel, art, reading, and wine. Previous Board experience includes serving on the Outreach Committee for USA Yoga. For the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP), she served in elected two-year terms as President, Vice President, and Speaker Series Chair on the APMP National Capital Area Chapter Board of Directors. She holds a BA in Political Science, Yale University; MPP, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; and an Executive MIS, the George Washington University.  Lisa served as UPWC Outreach Chair for the Club year 2025-2026.  

Carol Shabe, Luncheon Executive

My husband and I are from Queens, New York. We have lived on Long Island, in East Northport, and Commack. And in the Greater Northwest Washington, D.C. area for 32 years where we raised our three children. We came to Florida via Coconut Grove, Miami where I served as Head of School, and we lived there for 14 years.  We have been full time residents of UPCC for seven years and living the “dream” retirement in Virginia Water. Jack and I have been active on various community committees: Jack currently serves on the UPCC Ponds Committee and served on the Virginia Water Committee for several years. I served UPWC as former Publicity Chair and 2nd VP and 1^st VP. I play tennis on the UPCC Tennis Team and am a very beginner golfer. I love to cook and entertain, shop, and be outdoors. We enjoy meeting friends and attending UPCC and UPWC events and the opportunities of the area’s cultural and dining scene.  I am an experienced educator holding a M.S. Ed. in School Leadership, Ph.D. coursework in Educational Leadership and Public Policy, and a B.S. in Education. In my long career in independent education, I have been a Head of School at two schools and Interim Head of school at three schools in Maryland and Florida. My background as senior administrator at the Sidwell Friends School led to the endeavor of a lifetime, the founding of a school in Potomac, Maryland. Along the way I have served as an education consultant for several organizations, and most recently chairing the school accreditation committees for the Association of Independent Schools of Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Betty Boswell, Co-Treasurer

Betty was born and raised in Southern California and moved to Sarasota in August, 2019 from Alexandria, Virginia. Betty met and married a Naval officer, having been introduced to him by her brother Jim Barrett.  They moved every two to three years with the Navy – from Hawaii to Connecticut to Washington, Virginia, Germany and then back to Virginia for post-Navy life. Betty’s first career as a paralegal, of necessity, was transportable due to the frequent moves with the Navy. The second part of her work life was as an analyst at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (a not-for-profit organization that supports the US Government), on projects for several Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. Betty knew she wanted to retire in a year-round warm climate. Having visited her brother and sister-in-law (Jim and Barbara Barrett, our SIG Website Coordinator) several times since they moved to UPCC, and loving the Sarasota area, it was not a hard decision to settle here.  Betty still consults for IDA, sings in her church choir, and enjoys mahjong, book club and the cultural life Sarasota offers.

Lisa Foster, Membership Co-Chair

  After more than four decades navigating the fast-paced world of Marketing Analytics and Research, Lisa has officially closed the laptop and opened a new chapter –retirement.  She and her husband Mike, both proud Michigan State Spartans (GO GREEN), are embracing their long-awaited snowbird lifestyle, splitting time between the charm of coastal Connecticut and the sunshine and culture of Sarasota.  Originally from Westport, CT, Lisa met Bloomfield Hills native Mike at MSU.  They later planted roots in Weston, CT where they raised two children before settling into their current home in Old Saybrook.  But after a few idyllic winters spend renting in Sarasota, the sunshine won them over for good –they made it official with the purchase of a home on Ascot Court, UP, in July 2024.  Lisa’s retirement isn’t about slowing down –it’s about shifting gears.  Her calendar is already packed with golf, pickleball, tennis, long walks and hikes and card games (canasta and euchre are favorites).  She’s a lifelong lover of theater, books, travel and enjoys nothing more than gathering friends and family for good food and conversation.  With years of nonprofit board experience back in Connecticut, Lisa is a welcome addition to the UPWC Team.  

Susan Zabriskie, Co-Recording Secretary

A proud University of Michigan Wolverine, Susan grew up in Michigan.  She moved around the state for her career, which ultimately took her to Chicago, where she lived for 30 years before moving to University Park.  Professionally, Susan's for profit background is in operations, customer service and change management.  Her not-for-profit skills are in membership organization management and fundraising.  The best Florida decision she has made is joining the UPWC!  Susan was the Ways and Means Executive and on the Board for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 years.  This past year she was the facilitator for the inaugural New Member Orientation and is looking forward to her new role as Co-Recording Secretary.  

Bette Graves, Luncheon Co-Executive

Bette and her partner Bruce Howard moved to UPCC as full time residents in 2021 from the New York-New Jersey Metro area, trading life in the "big City" for life on the Gulf Coast.  The Little City on the Bay has not disappointed!  Music, Art, Theater and Fine Dining abound.  An added plus, making fascinating new friends from all over the country.  Bette is a retired profession nurse, having practiced Critical Cardiac Care, Physician Practice management, as well as Nurse Recruitment for the Robert Wood Johnson-Barnabas healthcare System.  Other roles included Clinical research, Quality and Performance Improvement, Director of Home Care Referral Services, and National and State Quality Database management.  Bette has served the UPWC as the Special Interest Group Executive for two seasons, 2023 through 2025.  She has also served as the Luncheon Executive Co-Chair for the 2025/2026 season and the Co-Chair of the Special Interest Group "Dining Around on the Town."  

Lesley Saitta, Co-Executive, Community Engagement

GailGaum and her husband Winston relocated to UPCC permanently in 2021 from Upstate NY, Cincinnati, Ohio and originally from Canada. They have three children and five grandchildren. Gail has a BSN, BBA and MBA and has held several positions due to their frequent moves to facilitate her husband's training. She has been VP of Marketing Research, Director of a Cancer Center, Director of a private Home Care  company and NE Director of Operations for a national home care company which involved P&L oversight and QA compliance of multiple agencies. 

Gail currently serves as Neighborhood Liaison for Heathfield Ct. and Marlow. She is Chair of the Gourmet Cooking SIG and Co-Chair for the Special Interest Group. Her passion is cooking, entertaining and learning to play bridge.

Joanna Martinez, Social Events Chair

Joanna Martinez has lived in University Park since 2018, first in the Wentworth neighborhood and now in Eaton. She holds both BS and MS degrees in engineering from Rutgers University and was a licensed Professional Engineer. Joanna worked in manufacturing and supply chain roles for various Johnson & Johnson companies, then became global Chief Procurement Officer for Diageo, Alliance Bernstein, and finally Cushman & Wakefield. Since 2016, she’s worked independently, often educating individuals and businesses on technology, process improvement, and better ways to engage their stakeholders. She published a book, “A Guide to Positive Disruption” about finding and implementing positive changes at work.

Joanna and her late husband Will have three children and four grandchildren, most of whom live in the NYC area.  She is an avid traveler and has visited the Eight Wonders of the Modern World. Joanna also enjoys entertaining, dining, theater and other live events, watercolor classes, learning new games especially canasta, the movie and wine groups at UP, and Friday night happy hours with her Wentworth friends. She loves to connect interesting people with each other, creating a community along the way.

Patrice Cavallo-Stark blends deep corporate expertise with a lifetime of service to drive meaningful impact in the non-profit sector. After beginning her career in education, she pivoted to build a manufacturing services company that supported major U.S. corporations before executing a successful sale. Guided by a lifelong passion for community leadership and capitalizing on her industry connections, Patrice subsequently served as Executive Director of an international American Chamber of Commerce in Chicago.  Patrice has served as a dedicated volunteer and counselor with the USO, two regional healthcare systems, the Girl Scouts, and Lyric Opera of Chicago.    One fun period of her service with Lyric Opera was the rare privilege of experiencing 20 th-century global opera icons performing from just feet away.