Board of Directors
Sharon Burde, President, is a mediator with special concentration on deeply rooted and ethnic conflict and issues involving women globally. She has worked and taught in the Midwest, Mid East, New York City and the region of former Yugoslavia, engaging diverse women in strategic planning to increase their influence and participation at the highest levels of decision-making and rebuilding post-war societies with new models of power-sharing. Sharon and Ron Burde relocated to Sarasota permanently in 2006. Her interests are travel, travel, travel, the ecosystem, politics, the arts and, of course, family.
Terry Brackett, Co-VP, Fund Development and Programs, is an attorney specializing in energy law who is licensed to practice in Washington, D.C. and Texas. A former volunteer at the Women's Legal Defense Fund on Welfare Reform and for women's healthcare issues, Terry also served on the Board of the Coalition to End Gun Violence. Currently, she is involved with the Ixtatan Foundation, which opened the first public high school in San Mateo, Guatemala. She also serves as a board member of the U.S. National Committee for UN Women and the Sarasota K-9 Search and Rescue Team.
Constance D. Anderson, VP, Finance, was a career civil servant with the Department of Housing an Urban Development (HUD), primarily in the Washington D.C. headquarters. During her 34-year career, she worked in a wide range of financial management and systems development positions; completing her service in the Office of the Deputy Secretary in field management and community building in the Mississippi State Office. Upon retiring in 2003, she and her husband, Jesse, moved to Sarasota where Connie is active in numerous church and civic organizations. She has a BA in mathematics from Fisk University and a Masters in Public Financial Management from American University. She is the mother of an adult son, and an active grandmother to 13 grandchildren in the blended relationship.
Dr. Connie Ellis, Immediate Past President, served as a community mental health therapist in Nashville, Tennessee before relocating to Venice. She then joined the Women's Resource Center of Sarasota County as South County Offsite Coordinator, opening offices in North Port and Englewood. Now retired, Connie continues her longstanding commitment to women's rights and community-based volunteerism. Before elected President of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the U.S. National Committee for UN Women in May 2009, she was Board Member At Large. She hosts the Thursday radio show "All About Women" on WENG 1530 AM and 107.5 FM. Connie is currently a board member of the Sun Coast Humane Society and Englewood Helping Hand, and Volunteer Coordinator for the Hermitage Artist Retreat. She received her EdD from Vanderbilt University.
