2012 Diocesan Board
Margaret Neubauer- President
Patrick Schlenker, Vice President
John Tolan- Treasurer
Dale Knee- Secretary
Robert Emmanuel- Immediate Past President
Elizabeth “Liz” Kuehn – Pensacola Regional President
Tom Weidenhamer – Ft. Walton Beach Regional President
Al Sauline III – Panama City Region President
Mary Coburn – Tallahassee Region President
Gabe Brown - Pensacola Regional Rep.
Jane Hayes – Tallahassee Regional Rep.
Maria Pouncey- At Large
Mark Dufva- Executive Director
Neubauer, Margaret – President
Mrs. Neubauer serves on the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, Bay Arts Alliance, Finance Chairman for St. Dominic Catholic Church and Chair for Catholic Charities in Panama City. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Psychology. She is a licensed real estate broker and has earned the Certified Relocation professional designation from the Employee Relocation Council for her work with relocating families. Margaret has served on and chaired a variety of community boards and organizations.
Schlenker, Patrick - Vice President
Mr. Schlenker has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in Finance. He has worked in healthcare for over 46 years and is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Florida Community Hospital in Chipley, FL. He has served in various administrative positions to include Vice President of Finance, Vice President of Support and Clinical Services, and Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of the 500 bed Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, FL. He and his wife are members of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Milton, FL.
Tolan, John- Treasurer
John is the former founder, owner and CFO of Delta Health Care group, based in Pensacola. John currently serves on the Finance Committee of St. Anne’s Parish in Gulf Breeze, FL.
Knee, Dale – Secretary
Mr. Knee is President and CEO of Covenant hospice. He has been a healthcare administrator for over 36 years. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Hospital Administration and a Masters in Health Services Administration and is a Doctoral Candidate in Health Care Administration. He has served as president and CEO for Covenant hospice since 1993, and is also one of the managing partners of the Studor Covenant Alliance, LLC. He has been an Adjunct in the
School of Public Healthcare Administration and Policy and an Adjunct in the School of Public Health for the University of West Florida since 1994, and is a founding member of the UWF Center for Aging Studies.
Emmanuel, Robert – Immediate Past President
As a lawyer with certification in construction law, Mr. Emmanuel serves on the Construction Law Committee and Forum on the Construction Industry of the American Bar Association and the Florida Construction Law Certification Committee. He received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from Duke University. He serves as counsel to the Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee and to Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida and is a member of the National Diocesan Attorneys Association. He also serves as volunteer legal counsel to Rebuild Northwest Florida an organization established to help the community to recover after Hurricane Ivan. He is a member of the Board of Directors and its Executive committee of Sacred Heart health System. He is also a Shareholder in the law firm of Emmanuel, Sheppard & Condon and a member of St. Michael’s Parish in Pensacola.
Kuehn, Elizabeth “Liz” – Pensacola Regional President
Vice President, Organizational Excellence and Corporate Compliance
Covenant Hospice, Inc.
Liz Kuehn has been with Covenant Hospice since 1994 and currently serves as Vice President of Organizational Excellence and Corporate Compliance. In this role, she supervises professionals in the areas of Performance Improvement, Health and Safety, Corporate Health Information and serves as Covenant’s Corporate Responsibility Coordinator. As the Corporate Responsibility Coordinator, Liz is responsible for regulatory compliance, while focusing on continuous quality improvement for the care of over 1200 patients a day in Northwest Florida and Southern Alabama. Her division recently lead the organization through its fifth Joint Commission On Accreditation of Healthcare Organization’s Survey which was completed as Deemed Status, fulfilling Medicare Certification requirements as a hospice organization.
Liz has served in other capacities at Covenant and these include, Vice President of Operations from 1997 to 2003 and Director of Psychosocial Services, Quality Assurance/Utilization Review and AIDS Program from 1994 to 1997.
Prior to working with Covenant Hospice, Liz served on the Board of Directors for Covenant Hospice, known then as Hospice of Northwest Florida, Inc. At this time, she was employed at West Florida Hospital as an Oncology Social Worker providing counseling, discharge planning, case management and education to cancer patients and families. In addition, she worked for several years in northeast Ohio as a social worker in an acute care hospital on units, including medical, surgical, plastics, emergency room, intensive care unit, neurology and obstetrics-gynecology. She has been actively involved with the National Head Injury Foundation, the American Cancer Society and was a founding member of the Summit County AIDS Task Force in Akron, Ohio in 1981. Liz has also been devoted to working with the developmentally disabled as a case manager for Florida’s Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services and Children’s Home Society of Florida, Inc.
Liz received her Bachelor’s degree in Social Welfare from Ohio State University and obtained a Master’s degree in Social Work from Florida State University. She has received her certification in the Hospice Administrator Certificate Program.
Apart from her professional role at Covenant, Liz volunteers as an Eleventh Hour Volunteer with patient care. Liz is a member of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart where she teaches Primary Class for Children’s Liturgy. She is actively involved in her community as a member of the Bioethics Committee at West Florida Hospital and is currently President of the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida, Regional Board in Pensacola. Liz is a new member of Leadership Pensacola, Class of 2013.
Liz enjoys her family, friends and living in northwest Florida where she prefers sand to snow.
Tom Weidenhamer – Ft. Walton Beach Regional President
Tom has served together on the board and with fund-raising with the Regional Office in Fort Walton. He and his wife are the owners of SOS Printing and have provided for our printing needs for many years. He attends Corpus Christi Parish in Destin, FL and serves on the Parish Council.
Sauline III, Albert- Panama City Regional President
Mr. Sauline has a Law Degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science with minors in Criminal Justice and Sociology. He was on the Dean’s Honor List for 12 of his 13 full-time quarters/semesters. He has handled worker’s compensation defense cases and prosecuted a variety of juvenile and adult misdemeanor and felony crimes. He has served both on the Board and as volunteer for numerous church and other organizations. He is licensed to practice in the jurisdictions of Florida, Ohio, and Washington D.C.
Coburn, Mary – Tallahassee Regional President
Mary B. Coburn was appointed FSU’s Vice President for Student Affairs on January 31, 2003.
She leads more than 1,600 Division of Student Affairs employees who serve more than 40,000 students.
Her areas of responsibility include: Campus Recreation, Career Center, Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement (CARE), Center for Leadership and Civic Education, Dean of Students (including New Student and Family Programs, Student Disability Resource Center, Student Rights and Responsibilities, Victim Advocate Program, Withdrawal, and Greek Life), International Center, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Oglesby Union (including the Askew Student Life and Student Services Buildings and FSU Flying High Circus), University Counseling Center, Student Government Association, Thagard Student Health Center, and University Housing.
Coburn, an FSU alumna, previously served as vice president for Student Affairs of Tallahassee Community College (TCC) from 1995 until 2003. Prior to that role, she served as a counselor at Bainbridge Junior College; returned to her alma mater as the director of student development programs; and the assistant dean of students and director of the orientation center. She was promoted to associate dean of students before moving on to TCC.
A three time alumna, Coburn earned her bachelor’s in sociology from FSU in 1974 and her master’s in counseling and human systems from FSU in 1976. She went on to earn a doctorate in higher education from FSU in 1992.
Coburn’s leadership in the profession on a national level includes serving as national co-chair of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ (APLU) Council on Student Affairs and as the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) faculty and program director of the Institute for Aspiring Senior Student Affairs Officers and the 2011 National Conference Chair. She is also an active participant with the ACC Conference vice presidents of student affairs. On the state level, while at TCC, Coburn chaired the Florida Association of Community Colleges’ (FACC) Council on Student Affairs. She also served as president of Florida Association of Women Educators. She is also the Director of the Hardee Center for Leadership and Ethics in Education.
On a local level, Mary has been active in Leadership Florida and Leon ARC as well as the regional Catholic Charities Board. She previously served as president of the Board in 2002 and 2003 before returning to the Board for a second tour of duty in January 2012. She and her husband, David have two adult daughters.
Brown, Gabe – Pensacola Regional Representative
Gabe is a leader in the Pensacola area, especially in the African American community. He currently serves as the Diocesan Director for Black Catholic’s and is also the Choir Director at St. Joseph’s Church in Pensacola. He is currently employed with ECUA and is a member on the Pensacola Regional Board
Pouncey, Maria- At Large
Maria currently serves as the Regional Migrant Coordinator for the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium (PAEC) and is recognized as one of the most influential and prominent leaders in the Hispanic community in NWFL. She has been frequently recognized for her work in NWFL by the Mexican Government, Florida Hispanic & Migrant Advocacy groups, Florida Education Secretary and local Tallahassee area leaders. She previously served on the Tallahassee Regional Board for Catholic Charities in late 1990’s and early 2000. She was past Parish Council President at St. Thomas the Apostle in Quincy and is a current member at Good Shepherd in Tallahassee.
Hayes, Jane – Tallahassee Regional Representative
Jane is currently serving as the Interim Executive Director of the Florida Virtual Campus. She earned a bachelor’s degree in government and her MPA from Florida State University. She retired in 2008 after serving 20 years as a policy and budget advisor in the Governor’s Office and the Florida Senate. She is a member of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, a member of Our Lady of Grace Legion of Mary Praesidium, and serves on the Board of Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida – Tallahassee. Jane has been married to her husband Bill Crona for 29 years.
