New Members Join Friends of Canaveral’s Board of Directors

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Friends of Canaveral has added two new members to its board of directors this month. Lisa Sims of New Smyrna Beach and Tracy Dunkel of Mims each were approved to fill immediate board vacancies and will be affirmed at the annual membership meeting in early 2027.

Representing Brevard County, Dunkel was named as Canaveral National Seashore’s Volunteer of the Year in February for logging 341 volunteer hours in 2025. Dunkel volunteers in both the Playalinda and Apollo Districts of the park, assisting with Turtle Watches, beach cleanups, rocket launch public assistance and working as the front-desk volunteer at Seminole Rest.

A native of Hershey, Pa., Dunkel has volunteered in the park since July 2019, retiring after 25 years as a nurse’s aide. She also has volunteered for five years at the Marine Science Center’s sea turtle hospital and is an executive board member with the Scottsmoor (Fla.) Community Association, assisting with fund-raising and community events. Dunkel is interested in assisting Friends of Canaveral’s administrative role in the park’s popular Turtle Watch program.

Representing Volusia County, Sims, of New Smyrna Beach, has volunteered with the New Smyrna Beach Marine Turtle Conservancy since 2022; has helped build and deploy oyster-habitat structures with Marine Discovery Center since 2023; has assisted with wildlife rescue operations with the Marine Science Center’s bird hospital and has helped conduct beach patrols during sea turtle nesting season at Canaveral National Seashore. She earned her Coastal Systems certification in 2025 through the Florida Master Naturalist Program.

A retired educator with undergraduate and graduate degrees from Florida State University, Sims is a strategic and dynamic product marketing professional with more than five years of experience in K-12 edtech product marketing and 25 years of experience in educational technology. She is interested in assisting Friends of Canaveral with its marketing, event planning and strategic planning initiatives.

Completing her tenure as Friends of Canaveral President, Lisa Mickey of New Smyrna Beach, is now serving as the board’s conservation chair, while former vice president, Rod Rich of New Smyrna Beach, will take over the role as Friends of Canaveral President.

An Indiana native, Rich taught and served as an elementary-school principal in Monticello, Ind., before becoming assistant superintendent and later, school superintendent of the Twin Lakes School Corporation in Monticello, Ind. Earning his undergraduate degree in elementary education at Ball State University, his master’s degree at Indiana University and his doctorate in educational administration at Ball State, Rich served as adjunct faculty at both Purdue University and Indiana University from 1998-2008, later serving on the board of trustees at Ivy Tech Community College in Lafayette, Ind.

As a current New Smyrna Beach resident, the retired educator has volunteered at The Hub on Canal, on the residential Bouchelle Island board, at Coronado Community United Methodist Church, at Canaveral National Seashore and with the Friends of Canaveral board of directors. His role as president also will be affirmed at Friends of Canaveral’s annual meeting in early 2027.

Earlier this year, the Friends of Canaveral board invested in a rigorous strategic planning process. The process started in April, with board members working with outside leadership to better define the nonprofit’s mission vision, value statements, strategic goals and action implementation in an effort to achieve the board’s objectives working alongside Canaveral National Seashore. 

And because Canaveral National Seashore spans from both Volusia County to Brevard County, the board has made a concerted effort to better engage with the Brevard County community in the park’s southern district, as well as to seek out volunteers and board members from Brevard County for improved representation. In addition, Friends of Canaveral has reached out to coordinate efforts with Merritt Island Wildlife Association in Brevard County, hoping to create more synergy between the two nonprofits directly associated with Canaveral National Seashore and its adjacent lands.