District Board of Trustees

Gordon “Flash” Sprague, Chair, was born and raised on a family farm in Vermont. He earned his Associate in Arts degree from St. Petersburg College, a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida State University, and a Master’s Degree in Allied Health Science from the University of North Florida. In 2001, he received a Florida State University Outstanding Alumni Award, and in 2013, he received an Honorary Doctoral Degree from Vermont Technical College.

Mr. Sprague’s career centered on Parks and Recreation administration, culminating as Executive Director of the Memphis, Tennessee Parks Commission. Years later, he left public service to work as the Assistant to the President at Fogelman Properties in Memphis and then as the Senior Vice President and Regional Wholesaler for one of the Top Investment Firms in Houston, Texas.

Mr. Sprague has served as President of the Florida Recreation and Parks Association; Board member and Past Chair of the WSRE Public Television Board of Directors; Past Chair of the UWF Foundation Board; President Emeritus of the Gulf Breeze Area Historical Society; member of the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Board; and appointed by Governor Rick Scott to serve on the Northwest Florida Transportation Corridor Authority.

Chief Deputy Andrew Hobbs, Vice Chair, is a distinguished law enforcement officer within the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Presently, Chief Hobbs oversees the Administration Division, which encompasses a variety of critical functions, including Human Resources, Recruiting, Finance, Risk Management, Information Systems, Records, Public Information Office, Crime Stoppers, Training, the Law Enforcement Academy, Accreditation, Civil Operations, School Resource initiatives, Court Security, Traffic Management, Domestic Security, and Fleet Maintenance.

Commencing his career in 2003, Chief Hobbs has held numerous assignments within the agency, demonstrating a commitment to public service. He has represented the agency in areas such as Domestic Security, hurricane preparedness, and coordination of large-scale events throughout his career. Chief Hobbs holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration and is an alumnus of the National Command and Staff College as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Leadership Academy, Class 21. Additionally, he is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, Class 282.

In recognition of his contributions, Chief Hobbs was honored as an In Weekly “Rising Star” in 2075 and participated in the Leadership Pensacola Class of 2078. Furthermore, he was acknowledged as a community favorite law enforcement officer by Face of Pensacola magazine in 2024. He has been selected for the 2024-2025 Leadership Florida Cornerstone Class 42. Chief Hobbs currently serves on the Board of Directors for several organizations, including Manna Food Pantries, Covenant Care Foundation, and the Escambia County Sheriff Foundation. He has also been a past member of the boards for Big Brothers Big Sisters, Mr. Robbins’ Neighborhood, and the International Paper Community Advisory Board.

Troy Tippett, M.D., is a retired neurosurgeon and Medical Director of the Neurosurgical Group of Pensacola.  His undergraduate degree is from the University of Missouri and he completed medical school and neurosurgery residency at the University of Tennessee in Memphis and is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He served in the Army Reserve and the Tennessee Air National Guard.

Troy served as president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Florida Medical Association, the Neurosurgical Society of America, the Florida Neurosurgical Society, the Escambia County Medical Society, and the Neurosurgical Research and Education Foundation. His academic appointments included the University of Florida and Florida State University.

Troy received the Distinguished Service Award, the Cushing Medal from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Exceptional and Distinguished Service Award from the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.  Locally, he received the PACE Award for Professional Leadership from the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce; the Hollinger Award for Physician of the Year, Baptist Healthcare Foundation; and the Fiesta of Five Flags Bobby DePew Award for Volunteer of the Year.

In addition to numerous medical-related volunteer positions for the State of Florida, Dr. Tippet’s volunteer activities have included Fiesta of Five Flags, Loaves and Fishes volunteer with Five Flags Rotary, Paint Your Heart Out Pensacola, First Night Pensacola, Just Look in the Mirror Program to help stop domestic violence, and the WSRE Foundation Board of Directors.

Dr. Tippett was appointed to the Board in January 2021.

Edward “Ed” Fleming is a founding partner of McDonald Fleming. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia in 1986, finishing 4th in a class of 200. He was named Best Oral Advocate in the southeast regional moot court competition in 1984, and was inducted into the Order of Coif in 1987. Ed’s practice is focused on commercial litigation, government law and construction law. He was lead counsel in the case of Bush, et al vs Hillsborough Co., et al, successfully representing President-elect George W. Bush in a federal action challenging the rejection of thousands of votes from overseas and military personnel during the 2000 Presidential Election. He obtained a federal order requiring that all canvassing boards across the state count previously rejected military ballots.

He has served for more than 12 years on Florida’s Judicial Nominating Commission for the First District Court of Appeals, a panel that nominates appellate judges, including two terms as chairman, and two terms as vice chairman. Ed has been an AV® Preeminent™ rated attorney since 2001 by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating possible given by his peers. He was named to Florida’s “Legal Elite” by Florida Trend magazine in 2011, an honor reserved for less than 2 percent of the attorneys in the state. And he has been named as one of Pensacola’s 100 most influential residents by a local newspaper. He has obtained and collected pre-suit settlements and judicial awards totaling more than $30 million in the past five years alone, and has handled several high-profile cases in state and federal courts.

Zachary Smith, is a Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.