Celebrity Sponsors
We have the honor of having a “Celebrity Sponsor Group”, for the second year. Our Celebrity Sponsor’s are Jackie Pons , Leon County School Board Superintendent, Mayor John Marks, Mrs. Jane Marks, and Bob Gabordi, Tallahassee Democrat Editor, Dee Crumpler, Director of Parks and Recreation. These well known people have committed to help us promote the dance and get the word out! We also hope that they will attend with a daughter, niece, granddaughter, or daughter-in-law, to see what a loving and special evening this is!
Mr. Jackie Pons
Superintendent of Leon County Schools
Leon County School Superintendent Jackie Pons has spent the past 25 years in education. In those years, he has earned an extensive and diverse experience base in education, leadership and community.
He holds a BS in Physical Education from FSU and an MS in Administration and Supervision from FAMU. He began his teaching career at North Florida Christian School in Tallahassee and Robert F. Monroe High School in Quincy. He has served as a basketball coach at both schools and later as an assistant basketball coach at Florida State University, where he also taught as an adjunct professor.
In 1987, Pons came to Leon County Schools joining the faculty at Rickards High School. At Rickards, he worked his way from the classroom as a teacher to administration, athletic director, dean and finally, assistant principal. His next assignment took him to Godby High School as an assistant principal, and in early 1999, he was promoted to Principal of Deerlake Middle School. In November of 2006, he was elected to his current position as the Superintendent of Leon County Schools.
Among his many honors, Pons was named Leon County Schools’ Principal of the Year for 2000. In 2005, he led Deerlake Middle Schoolto the much-coveted recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School of Distinction.
Jane A. Marks, M.A., LMFT, LMHC
Jane A. Marks, M.A., LMFT, LMHC has been a practicing psychotherapist in the Tallahassee area for the past 35 years. Jane received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Florida State University in 1969. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from Chapman University. Jane is a bi-weekly consultant on the WTXL Channel 27 Morning News on teen mental health issues. She is a member of numerous charitable organizations and sits as a member of various boards of directors including Florida State University’s Friends of Dance as well as Girls and Boys Town, San Luis Mission Foundation board, and the Tallahassee Memorial Foundation. Jane has volunteered her time over the last twenty years to promote WFSU Public Radio and WFSU Public Television during their annual membership drives. She is active with the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association. Jane has received many awards including “Family Therapist of the Year”, the NAACP Image Award and the Kids Incorporated Champion for Children award. She was most recently honored as the Woman of the Year for the 2007 Women of Distinction Awards.
JOHN R. MARKS, III
John Marks, Mayor of the City of Tallahassee, is the Managing Partner of the Tallahassee Office of Adorno & Yoss, LLP. Prior to that he was a shareholder and lead utility regulatory attorney for ten (10) years in the law firm of Katz, Kutter, et al., P.A. and thereafter for six (6) years with Knowles, Marks & Randolph, P.A. Appointed by Governor Bob Graham in 1979, he served eight (8) years on the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC); the last two as its Chairman. Before serving on the FPSC, he was employed as an Administrative Law Judge with the Commission. He has been an adjunct professor at the Florida State University College of Law teaching utility regulatory law and a faculty member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ utility rate school.
He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court and is a member of the American, National, Florida and Tallahassee Bar and the Tallahassee Barristers Associations. He is also a member of the American Law Institute, the ABA's Public Utilities Law Section and the Florida Bar's Local Government and Administrative Law Sections. He is past chairman of the Florida Bar's Public Utilities Law and the Equal Opportunities in the Profession Committees. He was named Florida Super Lawyer (Utility Regulatory Law) by Florida Super Lawyers magazine for the years 2006 and 2007.
Apart from his professional affiliations, Mr. Marks was elected (February 25, 2003) to a four year term as Mayor of the City of Tallahassee and re-elected in 2006. He also serves on numerous boards and also served as the first President of the Florida League of Mayors 2005-2007 and was recently elected 2nd Vice President of the Florida League of Cities which puts him in line to be President for the 2009-2010 term. Mayor Marks is a graduate of Class XX of Leadership Florida, he has a life membership in the NAACP, and was formerly a political analyst/co-host on the local television show “The Usual Suspects”. Mr. Marks received his B.S. degree in 1969 from the Florida State University School of Business and his Juris Doctor degree in 1972 from the FSU College of Law, and he also served four years in the U.S. Air Force as a Judge Advocate. He is married to Jane Awkard Marks, a psychotherapist, and has one son, John, IV, a graduate of Harvard University and the Columbia University Law School and a daughter in law Cristina.