Col Mike Newberry,Served as the Club President since 1 July 2024. His hometown isGainesville Florida where he attended college, high school and middleschool. He graduated from the UF Environmental Engineering Sciences,College of Engineering, and served 26 years in the USAF as a BioenvironmentalEngineer. The first half of his military career he was responsible forAir Force OSHA programs. The second half of his career he was responsiblefor environmental programs at all levels of management including 5 years in thePentagon heading environmental policy. Following his military retirementas Colonel, he served as Operations Director for an Engineering andConstruction Company in Orlando Florida.
I graduated, after 6 years, from The University of Florida in 1980 with a BSChE degree (I had a lot of fun!). After eight years in NW Alabama, I moved to the Houston, Texas area and joined the Houston Gator Club in 1989. I became involved with the Board, served in several officer positions, and eventually found myself as President. During my tenure I led the Houston Gator Club to Outstanding Gator Club Programming 1997-1998, Outstanding Gator Club, 1999-2000 and personally awarded the Outstanding Gator Club Member 2000-2001. The Gator football team and the Houston Gator Club was on a roll!
In 2010, I moved to Jacksonville, FL and joined the Jacksonville Gator Club and finally moving to Panama City, FL in 2016 joining the Panhandle Gator Club. I found a friendly group of Gators who wanted me to become President immediately, but I told them not until I retired from The Dow Chemical Company... That happened in January 2018, and I was nominated as President in June 2020. I served as President of The Panhandle Gator Club from 2020-2021 through 2024-2025 as I was finally term limited and had to relinquish the position. I still serve on the Board of Directors.
I live in the Panama City area with my beautiful wife and two dogs in a small unincorporated area of Bay county bordered by Lynn Haven to the East, Panama City to the South and St Andrews Bay to the North and West. An area known as Goose Bayou. I have three children, one in Texas and two in the local area and seven grandkids, two in Texas and five locally.
I have lived through the ups and downs of Gator sports. I attended every home game of the Gator football season of 1979, which the Gators finished 0-10-1. I have been to all four National Championship football games and Final Four basketball games. I was a season ticket holder for 38 years and have been to over 300 football games and have most ticket stubs to show! I am an avid Gator supporter and have my office bookshelves of Gator memorabilia, signed helmets, footballs and basketballs to show my love of the Gators through the years.
Father time is slowing me down from my travels, but I do not miss many sporting events on TV and a football game or two each year in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium/Steve Spurrier Field.
Susan has been a member of the Board of Directors with the Panhandle Gator Club since 2017. She was born and raised in Miami, FL and graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL and received a Bachelor of Arts. She has one son, Jonathan, who served in the US Air Force and iscurrently living in Cocoa Beach, FL.
Susan has been a Licensed Realtor and Broker Associate since 2006 in Florida & Georgia. She was the President of the Central Association of Realtors (CPAR) in 2022. Susan is currently on the Board of Directors for CPAR as well as on the Florida Realtors Board of Directors for 2025. Susan has served on the Habitat for Humanity Bay County Family Services Committee since 2024.
