Executive Committee
President – Michael Barfield
Michael Barfield is a paralegal consultant focusing on the enforcement of open government laws. He is an expert and frequent lecturer on Florida’s Public Records Act and Sunshine Law. Michael previously served two terms as Vice President of the ACLU of Florida and currently chairs the Legal Panel of the Sarasota Chapter of the ACLU of Florida. He is a life member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and received the President’s Extra Mile award in 2008 for work related to indigent criminal defense. Michael is an Associate Member of the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section and the State and Local Government Section, serving on the Racial Justice & Diversity Committee, Electronic Communications Committee, and the Appellate & Habeas Practice Committee. Michael lives in Sarasota, Florida, and was recognized by Sarasota Magazine as one of the 25 most influential individuals in his community.
Vice President - Ann Regan
After graduating from the University of Florida and Stanford University School of Law, Ann began her career in 1973 as a prosecutor in Lake County, IL, where she became Chief of the Criminal Division of the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office. After 7 years as a prosecutor, she joined the 170 member Chicago law firm of Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, now, Edwards Wildman Palmer, as a litigator and became a partner a few years later. After almost 20 years practicing law, Ann changed careers and graduated from the University of Chicago Booth School Of Business with an M.B.A in 1994. She then joined the investment management firm, Harris Associates L.P., and assumed the position of Director of Mutual Fund Operations for its $30 billion mutual fund complex called the Oakmark Funds. In 2004, when the SEC mandated mutual fund compliance programs, Ann became the Funds’ Chief Compliance Officer and designed and directed the Funds’ first compliance program. Ann retired from Harris Associates in 2006 and now is active in the Pensacola community. She is president of the Pensacola Women’s Alliance and is on the board of the non-profit organization Appetite for Life.
Chair of the Development Committee - Jeanne Baker
Jeanne Baker is an attorney who has been a lay leader in the ACLU for more than 40 years, serving on local ACLU Boards of Directors wherever she has practiced law: first in Massachusetts, then in Vermont, then here in Florida, where she first joined the Board of the Miami Chapter of the ACLU in 1991 and, since then, has been a representative from Miami to ACLU-FL’s State Board. Over these years, Jeanne has served the ACLU-FL in a number of capacities – for six years, as its representative to the National ACLU Board; for seven years as its president; and, at various times, as a member of its Budget & Audit Committee, its Legal Panel and its Development Committee. This is the second time that Jeanne is chairing ACLU-FL’s Development Committee, as she held that elected post in 2001-2002, and is happy to return to it again given its importance to the organization.
As an attorney since 1973, Jeanne has concentrated on civil liberties litigation and criminal defense at both the trial and appellate levels. However, she took a break from that work when she lived in Vermont. There she served as Legal Counsel to the Governor of Vermont, Madeleine Kunin (D), for four years from 1986-1990.
Jeanne's legal work on behalf of the ACLU has included establishing a married woman's right to use her own name in Massachusetts; helping to strike down Hialeah ordinances prohibiting adherents of the Santeria religion from sacrificing animals as part of their religious rituals; assisting in protecting rights of homeless in Miami to be free from arrest for engaging in everyday living outside; successfully challenging police actions against a journalist covering the Free Trade of America demonstrations in Miami in 2003; and, most recently, so far unsuccessfully challenging the irrational residency restrictions that force sex offenders into homelessness.
For the past seven years, Jeanne has chaired the Miami Chapter's Police Practices Committee which has focused on police shootings of African-Americans, establishing and supporting civilian oversight of police, and racial disparities in the criminal justice system. She has been recognized by the Miami Chapter with several awards, including the C. Clyde Atkins Award “for a lifetime of extraordinary service in defense of civil liberties.”
In her private practice, Jeanne has tried major criminal cases ranging from child sex and pornography crimes to massive fraud to capital murder to representing the lead defendant in a major terrorism trial. She has been recognized with awards by the Florida Immigration Advocacy Center and by the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Miami Chapter, for her work on important cases. She also served on the Board of Legal Services of Greater Miami for ten years.
National Board Representative – Eric Smaw
Dr. Eric Smaw is a professor of philosophy at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. He received his Ph.D in philosophy of law and political philosophy from the University of Kentucky in 2006, after which he pursued Post-Doctorial studies in international human rights at the University of Massachusetts. Currently, Dr. Smaw works as a Professor of Philosophy at Rollins College. His areas of expertise are philosophy of law, international law, human rights, political philosophy, ethics, and modern philosophy. He has published articles on critical race theory, human rights, terrorism, international law, and cosmopolitanism. Among his most recent publications are: “God Intoxicated Men and the Making of Heroes and Villains,” under review that the Journal for Social Philosophy; “Reparations as a way of Escaping America’s Oppression Labyrinth?,” under review at the Journal for African-American Studies; “A Review of Henry Ford’s War on Jews and the Battle against Hate Speech,” in Agricultural History, 2015; “International Law” in the Encyclopedia of Global Justice, 2012; “Crimes of War” in the Encyclopedia of Global Justice, 2012; Swaying in the Balance: Civil Liberties, Terrorism, and Justice in Times of Emergency” in the Journal for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, vol. 97, num 1, May 2011; “From Chaos to Contractarianism: Hobbes, Pojman, and the Case for World Government” in Essays in Philosophy, vol. 9, num. 2, June 2008; and “An Analysis of the Philosophy of Universal Human Rights: Hobbes, Locke, and Ignatieff” in the International Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 48, num. 189, March 2008.
Chair of the Legal Panel – JoNel Newman
Treasurer - Mike Pheneger
Secretary – Susan Nilon
Affiliate Affirmative Action Officer – George Griffin
Nominating Committee Chair - Jennifer Morley
ACLU of Florida Board of Directors
- Ray Arsenault
- Jeanne Baker
- Doug Ball
- Michael Barfield
- Tom Baxter
- Jennifer Beltz
- James Benjamin
- Michael Berman
- Javier Betancourt
- Jeff Borg
- Chris Brochyus
- Kathryn Casello
- Dan Cook
- Roger Craver
- Christopher Curtis
- Lorie Fridell
- George Griffin
- Veverly Gary Hamilton
- Ron Hammerle
- Andrea JohnBaptiste
- Michele McCoy
- Teisha McKoy
- Michael Meyers
- Jennifer Morley
- JoNel Newman
- Susan Nilon
- Martin Novoa
- Mike Pheneger
- Ann Regan
- Mark Schneider
- Eric Smaw
- Arthur Stern
- Gina Versace
- Grissim Walker
- Rosemary Wilder
- Mia Chel P. Woullard