Board

Vice President: David Helgager
David’s life has been one of gradual evolution from a Lutheran in South Dakota to a Unitarian-Universalist in Illinois and Sarasota, and to a secular Humanist. He and his wife Judy have lived in Sarasota for 33 years. His first introduction to Humanism began in West Virginia when he picked up the AHA Humanist magazine. Since moving to Sarasota, he has served on the Humanists of Sarasota Bay (HUSBAY) Board for five years and is now President.

The first half of his career consisted of teaching in the public school system and in various capacities in state departments of education. In Sarasota he found himself entering the financial services industry as a financial advisor. A son, daughter and three grandchildren, two of whom live in Sarasota, help round out a life of Humanism, sun, and fun in Sarasota. His degrees are in English, history, and public administration.

Treasurer: Chris Hoffman

Chris was brought up in a passive Catholic household, which entailed only going to church for holiday masses. After leaving home and experiencing life with various folks while serving his country in the U.S. Navy, many different jobs, and going back to college for his Associate’s Degree in Business Administration, he became apathetic to religious views and started identifying as agnostic. It was not until he met his current wife and best friend, Christina, did he begin to really question his beliefs and then identified as an Atheist and Skeptic. He now believes in a secular and humanist approach to everything especially government and education.

 Chris is currently a Controller for a small, growing aerospace manufacturer on the Space Coast. He has completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and an MBA with a focus in Accounting. He is also the Treasurer for the Space Coast Freethought Association, a board member for the Humanist Community of the Space Coast, and a Global Issues Evaluator for the Florida Future Problem Solvers Program of Brevard County (grades 4 through 12). He is originally from McHenry, Illinois and the cold and snowy weather is the main reason why he lives in Florida now. He enjoys movies, billiards, food, gaming, family, and martial arts with his wife, where they both just earned their Black Belts in Jeet Kune Do in October 2018.

Secretary: David WIlliamson
David Williamson is a state/church activist and community organizer in Central Florida. He is co-founder of the Central Florida Freethought Community and founder of the Suncoast Skeptics in Sarasota. In addition to his service to FHA and local organizations, David is on the Advisory Board for the Center for Freethought Equality.

He is co-founder of the Central Florida Freethought Community and founder of the Suncoast Skeptics in Sarasota. In addition to his service to FHA and local organizations, David is on the Advisory Board for the Center for Freethought Equality. He is a certified Humanist celebrant, having been ordained by the Humanist Society to serve as an ambassador of humanism, ceremony officiant, and scholar of humanism.

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE

BJ Saul
BJ is a Speech-Language Pathologist working for the School District of Palm Beach County and specializes with students who have autism and related disabilities. In addition, she is the Holocaust liaison for her school, assisting teachers with teaching about the Holocaust. BJ received her M.S. degree from the University of Southern Illinois University. She is a devoted Humanist who graduated in May 2012 from the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism as a Madrikha. As a 1994 founding member of Congregation Beth Adam and a past president, she now serves as CBA’s ceremonial leader and Director of Education. BJ is also CBA’s representative to the Society for Humanistic Judaism. There she serves on the Education Committee creating curriculum.

Kristin Price
Kristin was born and raised in South Florida and now lives in the Tampa area raising her daughter. She was raised Methodist and attended church 2-3 times a week, but by high school in the 1990s, she realized she was an Atheist and now identifies as Atheist and Humanist.

She then earned an Associates degree and became a Registered Nurse in 2004 and currently works as a nurse team lead. She has volunteered for the CFFC and the FREEFLO Conference since 2019. She also enjoys memes, nature, traveling, video games, gardening, hiking, science fiction, and politics/news.

Keith Becher
As the President and co-founder of the Humanist Community of the Space Coast Keith and HCSC focus on community service, volunteerism, community outreach and education. The HCSC has partnered with and supports various community organizations and non-profits like Space Coast Pride, Brevard Now, Children's Home Society, Keep Brevard Beautiful, Planned Parenthood, Speak Out Brevard, ACLU, Women's Center of Brevard, One Blood and Space Coast Progressive Alliance and more. Keith is a proud board member of the Central Florida Freethought Community, the Space Coast Freethought Association, and is also a certified Humanist Celebrant. His background includes a BA in History from UW-Milwaukee, and a K-6 teaching certification from Eastern Florida State University.

"Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without the expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead." -Kurt Vonnegut

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Immediate Past President: Chris Allen
Chris is a life-long Humanist and a life member of both the Humanists of Florida Association and the American Humanist Association. He currently serves as the founding executive director of Hands on Orlando. HOO is a national role model for civic engagement through community-based volunteerism. It has served over 180,000 volunteers and more than 300 non-profit organizations, public schools, and parks.

A former television news reporter, Chris covered thousands of news stories during his career. He is the recipient of numerous state and national journalism awards, including the “Service to Children Award” from the National Association of Broadcasters and two “National Journalism Awards” from the Scripps Howard Foundation. President Bill Clinton awarded Chris a “President’s Service Award Citation.” He is a former Orange County, FL “Citizen of the Year.” Chris is also the founder and captain of the Humanist lending team on Kiva, which makes loans available to the poor on a world-wide basis, and he manages the “Super Heroes” computing team on the World Community Grid.

Past President: Richard Hull
Richard Hull is the current Senior Adviser to the Executive Director of the Text and Academic Authors Association, and also this fall is teaching two courses to 400-plus students at Texas State University in San Marcos. He has a doctorate and a long history as an educator and published author with 21 edited books (10 coming out this fall) and over 100 articles and chapters.

Richard served as headmaster for three years at Calasanctius School for Gifted Children in Buffalo and as professor of philosophy for 30 years at SUNY at Buffalo, with brief appointments at Texas State University (San Marcos), Tarleton State University (Stephenville), and the University of Montana (Missoula).  He served as executive director of the Texas Council for the Humanities in Austin for two years. He is a long-time Humanist with many ties to the Humanist community: He worked as a fundraiser for the Center for Inquiry in Amherst and helped found a CFI chapter in Tallahassee.