Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum recently picked Gunster shareholder Lila A. Jaber over other candidates to serve as the city's nominee to its newly created Ethics Board.
The independent board is the result of an ethics amendment sponsored by Citizens for Ethics Reform and approved by voters in November, and it is charged with developing an ethics code and investigating ethics complaints, among other tasks.
An attorney in Gunster's Tallahassee office, leader of its government affairs law practice and member of the firm's Women's Leadership Forum, Jaber is one of four members of the Ethics Board as of its first meeting on Feb. 10, 2015. The others are Cecil Davis, Richard Herring and Funmi Ojeyato; all are attorneys.
According to a Tallahassee Democrat article this week, the original ballot language called for a seven-member board, so Jaber suggested at the board's first meeting that two more members be appointed before deciding issues such as Chief Justice Charles Francis' failure to appoint a member to the board. She indicated, the article states, that it is important to implement what voters approved.
According to WCTV, the current members of the board will begin accepting applications for the two seats.
Jaber provides strategic and regulatory advice to clients on a number of business and economic development issues that include utility-specific matters in energy and water, as well as general business strategy and implementation for some of the largest companies doing business in Florida.
She is a former chair of Leadership Florida, serves as a board member of the United Way of the Big Bend, and is a founding member and vice chair of the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce.
Read related news articles:
- Update: City Ethics Board meets for 1st time (Tallahassee Democrat, 2/10/15)
- Commission to take up ethics appointment, other items (Tallahassee Democrat, 1/13/15)
