Gulfshore Playhouse Announces Shontra Powell as Newest Addition to the Board of Directors

Gulfshore Playhousehas announced its newest addition to the board of directors, Shontra Powell.

A global leader in business, Powell holds more than 25 years of experience in leading growth initiatives and delivering strategic ideas to multinational Fortune 500 industrial, automotive, financial, and travel firms. She is also co-founder and owner of Red Zone Fleet Services, a mobile fleet services startup in Southwest Florida.

"Shontra brings a wealth of valuable experience and knowledge from both the business and nonprofit sectors," said Kristen Coury, CEO and producing artistic director for Gulfshore Playhouse. "Her passion to inspire and motivate others toward positive growth will serve as a great addition to our board."

During her tenure as a top executive for multiple companies such as GE, Johnson Controls, Inc., and Hertz, Powell was an instrumental key leader in transforming strategies and business models. While with Johnson Controls, Inc., a Fortune 500 company specializing in producing safety equipment, she served as vice president and general manager responsible for driving global sales, solutions and commercial operations and as a key leader in a multi-billion-dollar business unit divestiture; appointed to additional duties as chief employee engagement officer.

Powell has advised a portfolio of startup companies with revenue totaling more than $50 million and is often a featured lecturer for early startup events. Having sat on multiple boards for nonprofit organizations, Powell was the recipient of the Girl Scouts of Southeast Wisconsin's Innovation Award and has been highlighted as a worldwide motivational speaker and leader by Odyssey Media. She currently sits on the Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation board of directors, and is an adjunct professor for the university's Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship and Lutgert College of Business. Powell also serves on the board of directors for 8th Light, a global technology firm based in Chicago.

Comprised of esteemed philanthropic, business and community leaders, the Gulfshore Playhouse board of directors provides valuable insight on strategic communications, financial and cultural initiatives drawing from their varied industry experiences. Powell joins Gulfshore Playhouse board of directors: Steve Akin (board chairman), Erika Aron, Patty Baker, Ashley Dewji, David Drobis, Tom Gallagher, Nizar H. Ghoussaini, Tim Habbershon, Jenny Housh, Jason Hunter Korn, Don McCulloch, Sandi Moran, Jack Nortman, Tony Panzica, Gail Kern Paster, Susan Regenstein, Tennille Sevigny, Rich Struthers, Pat Sweet, and Dave Wilson.

Gulfshore Playhouse is passionately committed to enriching the cultural landscape of our region by producing professional theatre to the highest artistic standards and providing unique educational opportunities to diverse groups of people in a spirit of service, adventure, and excitement. The work of Gulfshore Playhouse is inspired by a belief in the magic of theatre to expand the imagination, challenge the senses, provoke discussion, and revitalize in its audiences an understanding of our common humanity. This belief drives the care with which Gulfshore Playhouse treats its artists, audiences, students, staff, and members of the greater community.

The professional theatre is also leading the nation's growth for arts and entertainment with progress for the new Gulfshore Playhouse at the Baker Theatre and Education Center. Recently announcing the public phase for the fundraising campaign for the new building, welcoming gifts of all sizes, the new Cultural Campus is slated to break ground this fall. The Cultural Campus has been created as a cornerstone for culture, education, and community engagement that epitomizes the region's growing reputation as a destination for the arts. The Baker Theatre and Education Center will be home to world-class professional productions that have the power to foster connections, catalyze conversations, and bridge cultural differences. The new theatre and education center will also serve the entire region with accessible education programming and elegant cultural engagement spaces open to the public.

For more information, visit www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org.

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