Search Committee

Presidential Search Committee Members

The Presidential Search Committee is entrusted with the job of assisting the Board of Trustees of the University of West Florida in selecting a dynamic and competent individual to assume the leadership of this great University.

Zack Smith
Chair, Presidential Search Committee
UWF Board of Trustees; Chair, UWF Student Affairs Committee; Senior Legal Fellow, The Heritage Foundation

Trista Bennett
UWF Board of Trustees; President, UWF Student Government Association

Dr. Ken Ford
Founder and Chief Executive Officer Emeritus, Institute for Human & Machine Cognition

Ashton Hayward
President, Andrews Research & Education Foundation; Co-founder, Andrews Medicine; Principal at Shumaker; Former Pensacola Mayor (2011-2018)

Alan Levine
Vice Chair, Florida Board of Governors; Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ballad Health

Ginger Bowden Madden
State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida

Sabrina McLaughlin
Owner and Executive Creative Director, 3125 Communications

Collier Merrill
President, Merrill Land Company; President and Owner, Great Southern Restaurants; Chair, UWF Historic Trust

Paul Mixon
District 1 County Commissioner

Dr. Rachel Moya
UWF Board of Trustees; Chair, UWF Finance and Facilities Committee; Chief Executive Officer, Scale Strategies Inc.

David Peaden
External Affairs Manager (Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties), Florida Power & Light

Dr. David Ramsey
Chair and Professor, UWF Reubin O’D. Askew Department of Government

Dr. Heather Riddell
2025-2026 Faculty Senate Representative, UWF Board of Trustees; Associate Professor, UWF Department of Communication

Ashley Ross
UWF Board of Trustees; President, Ross Consulting

Retired Captain Terrence “Village” Shashaty
President, American Heritage Financial; Former Commanding Officer, Pensacola Naval Air Station