Jeb Bush is Founder, Chairman of the Board and President of the Foundation for Florida’s Future. He served as the 43rd governor of Florida, from 1999 through 2007.

During his two terms, Bush championed major reform of education. Florida raised academic standards, required accountability in public schools and created the most ambitious school choice program in the nation. The transformation is underway and the progress is measurable. More students are reading, writing and doing math and science on or above grade level. More high school seniors are earning a diploma and fewer students are dropping out. Florida’s third through 10th grade students are outscoring 60-70 percent of their peers in all other states in both reading and math.

Under his leadership in the late 1990s, the Foundation for Florida’s Future joined forces with the Greater Miami Urban League to establish the state’s first charter school, Liberty City Charter School, in one of the most underserved parts of Miami-Dade County. He also co-authored Profiles in Character, a book profiling 14 of Florida’s civic heroes—people making a difference without claiming a single news headline.

Bush took time out of his successful business career to serve as Florida’s secretary of commerce under Bob Martinez, Florida\'s 40th governor, where he promoted the state worldwide.

Bush earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. Bush and his wife Columba live in Miami and have three grown children. Bush is the son of President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.

F. Phillip Handy serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Florida’s Future.

Since October, 2001, F. Philip Handy has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Industries, a portfolio of 15 companies in the diversified service and manufacturing businesses.  All of the companies have been significantly restructured and taken globally, 13 have been sold.

Until January, 2007, he served for six years as Chairman of the Florida State Board of Education, a seven person board appointed by Governor Jeb Bush, which has constitutional responsibility for Florida’s public educational system (over 4 million students). Mr. Handy has been appointed twice by President George W. Bush to the National Board of Education Sciences (confirmed by the U.S. Senate), where he has served as Vice Chairman.

Mr. Handy currently serves on the public Board of Directors of Anixter International, Inc., the world’s leading distributor of wire and cable; Rewards Network, Inc., the only national dining rewards company; Owens Corning, a world leader in building materials systems and composite solutions.  He also sits on the private Boards of Directors for Study Group International, leaders in international education and training and WRS Infrastructure and Environment, Inc., a national environmental and remediation company.

He is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and an advisor to the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.  He also co-chaired Senator John McCain’s Florida Presidential Campaign and served as Chairman of Senator McCain’s National Policy Council on Education.

He is a member of the Chief Executives Organization, and is a member of the World Presidents’ Organization.  He has been a member of the Florida Governor’s Council of 100 since 1987.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and graduated Cum Laude from Princeton University and later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He completed the sixth forum at The Rugby School and graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School and received the Doctorate of Laws “h.c.” from Flagler College.  He also served six years in the US Army Reserve and was honorably discharged in 1973.

Mr. Handy has owned and operated many businesses. They include Maryland Club Foods, a nationally branded coffee/beverage company (purchased from Coca Cola), Majik Markets, a 1000 store food/gasoline retailer, and Equality Specialties, a package decoration wholesaler. He has also served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of   two public companies….Chart House Restaurant Group and Rewards Networks.  From 1996 through 1999, Mr. Handy was managing director of Equity Group Corporate Investments, a private investment firm controlled by Sam Zell. Mr. Handy was a securities analyst at Fidelity Management and Research from 1968 to 1970. He then joined Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette where he served as Vice President from 1970 to 1976. In 1976, he became the Chief Executive Officer of Combanks, a multiple bank holding company based in Orlando, Florida.  In 1980 he commenced his career in the private equity business.

In the political and eleemosynary area, Mr. Handy served as the State Chairman of Jeb Bush’s gubernatorial campaigns in Florida in 1993-94 and 1997-98; and as co-chairman of Jeb Bush’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign.  In 1991 and 1992, he was chairman of Limited Political Terms, a political committee, which led the most successful petition drive in Florida’s history, which resulted in a 77 percent affirmative vote.  Mr. Handy has chaired nine statewide political races (won 5, lost 4).

Mr. Handy served as a Trustee of the Northfield Mount Hermon School (his alma mater), where he has served as Treasurer and as a member of the Executive Committee.  He was a member of the Board of Overseers of Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business.  For ten years he was a member, and the president for three years, of the Board of Trustees of the Orlando Museum of Art. In 1980, Mr. Handy was appointed by Governor Bob Graham to serve on the Investment Advisory Board for the State Board of Administration (the State’s pension fund manager). He served as Chairman of the Investment Advisory Committee from 1982 to 1986.

In 1989 and 1990, he served on the Governor’s Commission on the Future of Florida’s Environment, which helped create Preservation 2000.  In September 1989, he was appointed by the Governor to the Board of Directors of PRIDE of Florida (Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, Inc.) and served as Chairman of the Board until December 1992.

Mr. Handy was a long distance runner who successfully completed the New York, London and Sydney marathons. He is now a passionate bicyclist – both mountain and road.

Toni Jennings serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Florida’s Future.

Florida’s first female lieutenant governor, two-term president of the Florida Senate, successful businesswoman and former fifth grade teacher, Toni Jennings is among the most prominent public figures in Florida’s history, dedicating over 27 years to the citizens of Florida.

Ms. Jennings has distinguished herself as a skilled consensus builder, shaping key policy initiatives important to Floridians for almost three decades. Ms. Jennings served as Florida’s 16th Lieutenant Governor, officially taking office in March 2003. She served an unprecedented two consecutive terms as President of the Florida Senate from 1996-2000. When she took the oath of office in 1976 as a member of the House of Representatives, Ms. Jennings became the youngest woman ever elected to the Florida Legislature and the first female Republican leader of either house of the Legislature - her first historic mark on Florida politics with many to follow throughout her political career.

Ms. Jennings’ strong business acumen and years of public service contributed greatly to her successful partnership with Governor Bush as his Lt. Governor. As co-chair of the Governor’s Task Force on Access to Affordable Health Insurance, Ms. Jennings helped craft reforms that apply sound principles of quality, competition and technology to increase patient access and modernize Florida’s health care market. Consumer information and choice, as well as an emphasis on transparency, are cornerstones of the new system. She led the Universal Pre-kindergarten Education Advisory Council, which worked to develop recommendations for a voluntary, free pre-kindergarten education program for all Florida four-year-olds. Ms. Jennings also chaired the Governor’s Hurricane Housing Work Group charged with assessing long-term housing recovery needs following one of the most active and destructive hurricane seasons in Florida’s recorded history. In addition to her role in hurricane recovery initiatives, Ms. Jennings spearheaded the Governor’s Commission on the Future of Space and Aeronautics in Florida to ensure the state remains the premier location for aerospace activities. Her talents were enlisted to tackle the state’s insurance crisis resulting from two unprecedented hurricane seasons. As head of the Governor’s Property and Casualty Insurance Reform Committee, she helped develop recommendations for the Governor and the Legislature on improving Florida’s insurance market for homeowners and businesses.

Ms. Jennings’ contributions to Florida have been far reaching. During her Senate Presidency, she was a driving force behind the state’s welfare reform initiative. She is recognized for her work in creating a system of accountability in public education, championing solutions to Florida’s sky-rocketing workers’ compensation costs and launching Florida’s School Readiness program. Ms. Jennings also shepherded the passage of the Workforce Innovation Act of 2000. This reform initiative re-designed Florida’s workforce development system to establish partnerships among economic development, workforce development and businesses. Workforce Florida, Inc. is managed by a governing board appointed by the Governor to oversee and monitor the administration of the state’s workforce policy, programs and services carried out by business-led regional workforce boards.

Ms. Jennings’ commitment to education and workforce training initiatives has made a significant impact on preparing Florida’s future workforce. Key to the successful integration of education standards and workforce needs were recommendations of the Task Force on Career and Professional Education chaired by Ms. Jennings. The curriculum reforms adopted by the Legislature equip middle school and high school students with skill sets necessary to maximize career and postsecondary education opportunities.

Of these accomplishments, Ms. Jennings considers the University of Central Florida Exceptional Education Institute created in 2000 as one of the most gratifying contributions of her public service. The Institute was named in honor of Ms. Jennings for her leadership in establishing and funding an exceptional education component of the UCF Academy for Teaching, Learning and Leadership. As Senate President, Ms. Jennings was able to turn into reality this ground-breaking approach to providing education and clinical services for children and adults with exceptional needs.

A native of Orlando, Ms. Jennings began her professional career as a public school teacher at Killarney Elementary in Orlando. She graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Elementary Education from Wesleyan College, the world’s oldest women’s college.

At the age of 23, Ms. Jennings joined her father’s commercial construction company, Jack Jennings & Sons, Inc. Founded in 1948, Jack Jennings & Sons has been a longstanding corporate citizen serving the Central Florida area for over 60 years. This award-winning firm has successfully completed a diverse range of construction projects consisting of entertainment and themed facilities, office and retail, institutional and public sector work, health care and medical facilities and specialty restaurants. Ms. Jennings served as its president from the mid-1980’s until becoming Lt. Governor in 2003. She currently serves as chairman of the board.

Ms. Jennings’ commitment to civic duty is reflected by her many years of service on various community boards and commissions. She chaired the Florida Chamber of Commerce and was the first chair of Workforce Florida, Inc. She currently serves on the Rollins College Board of Trustees and the boards of Brown & Brown, Inc., Florida Power & Light Group, Nemours, and SunTrust Bank Central Florida.

Ms. Jennings’ distinguished public career has earned her numerous awards and recognitions. She was named to the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002 and recognized as the “2004 Central Floridian of the Year” by the Orlando Sentinel for her hurricane recovery efforts. The National Association of State Workforce Agencies honored Ms. Jennings with the William L. Heartwell Award for her workforce education and training advocacy. Her accolades also include the “Florida Guardian of Small Business” by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Florida Economic Development Council’s Distinguished Service Award, Florida League of Women Voters’ “Distinguished Florida Women Award,” “Friend of the First Amendment” bestowed twice by the First Amendment Foundation and the coveted “Friend of Education Award” given by the Florida School Boards Association.