Miller elected hospitality network president
Rock Solid Law Founder John Miller was recently elected president of the Beaches Hospitality Network. The 20-year-old nonprofit organization promotes the Jacksonville Beach-area business community. An annual sponsor of a float in the Opening of the Beaches parade, the organization most recently the hospitality network was a sponsor of the annual Deck the Chairs festival.
Perry elected Shriners potentate
The Morocco Shriners elected Comadore A. J. Perry to the position of potentate. The annual elections were held at the Morocco Shrine Center in December 2016 at the beginning of Morocco Shrine’s 129th anniversary in Jacksonville.
A retired Navy Tailhook pilot, Perry completed 26 years in the Navy as a captain with the Department of Defense as aviation program executive for all military and civilian services aircraft systems and administration. Perry has been an active member of many of the Morocco Shrine’s clubs, units, and associations, including Arab Patrol, Funsters (Clowns), Highlander, Flying Fez, Provost Guard, Thunder, Beaches Shrine Club and the Ocala Shrine Club.
Flagler College’s Toedtman to receive Columbia Journalism School alumni award
Jim Toedtman, a veteran journalist and director of Flagler College’s Forum on Government and Public Policy lecture series, will receive a distinguished Columbia Journalism School Alumni Award in April.
According to the Columbia Journalism School, the alumni awards are presented annually for a distinguished journalism career in any medium, an outstanding single journalistic accomplishment, a notable contribution to journalism education or an achievement in related fields.
“This is a terrific award from a great institution,” Toedtman said. “It is really a tribute to the many very talented people I’ve worked with and for in a long career from my early days as a newspaper reporter and editor, then as a magazine editor and most recently in and outside the classroom at Flagler.”
Before serving as editor of AARP Bulletin, Toedtman was editor of The Baltimore News American, executive editor of the Boston Herald and managing editor of Newsday. He has covered local government, Congress and the White House and has reported from three continents. At Newsday, he was a member of the reporting team that won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize, and he helped direct Newsday reporters who won Pulitzers in 1993 and 2002. He was named editor of the AARP Bulletin in 2005, and in this role he was consistently recognized for excellence in covering a range of public policy and consumer issues.
In addition to graduating from Columbia University, he received his bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster and studied at the University of Queensland, Australia, as a Rotary Foundation Fellow. In 2012, he accepted the directorship of Flagler’s Forum on Government and Public Policy. For more than 30 years, the lecture series has invited nationally recognized journalists and commentators to St. Augustine to discuss issues of importance in regional, state and federal government.
“Jim’s distinguished professional career speaks for itself,” said Flagler College President Dr. William T. Abare, Jr. “He is the consummate professional, and he has contributed in numerous ways to the betterment of our college. I am pleased to know that he is to be recognized by his alma mater for his many accomplishments.”
