HR and Business Leader’s Council of Florida. Powered by Stratigem.
President
Sarah Torres, SHRM-CP, is the President and Co-Founder of the HR & Business Leaders Council (HRBLC), where she brings together HR professionals and business leaders through education, strategic networking, and meaningful social-impact initiatives. She co-founded HRBLC to create a collaborative space where leaders can learn from one another, build authentic connections, and lead with purpose—strengthening both workplaces and the communities they serve.
For the past five years, Sarah has served as the Director of Human Resources for Treasure Coast Food Bank, the largest hunger-relief organization on the Treasure Coast. In this role, she leads the organization’s people strategy while supporting a mission that serves neighbors in need. Her professional background spans more than 20 years in leadership and management roles, including directing multi-million-dollar operations, with a strong focus on employee relations, leadership development, and organizational strategy. Her career has been defined by a people-first approach and a deep passion for helping individuals and teams grow.
An educator and mentor at heart, Sarah has taught SHRM certification preparation courses and is committed to developing the next generation of HR and business leaders. She holds a double bachelor’s degree in Human Resources and Business Management and believes that investing in people—through education, collaboration, and service—creates lasting and meaningful impact. Sarah is driven by a commitment to developing leaders, supporting mission-driven organizations, and giving back to the community she serves.
President-Elect
Anita Fischer serves as Director of Workforce for the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County and as Executive Director of the Treasure Coast Center for Economic and Educational Development (TCCEED). In these roles, she leads employer-driven workforce strategies that connect business needs with education, training, and community partners—building clear pathways from classroom to career and strengthening the region’s talent pipeline.
Anita is also a co-founder of the HR & Business Leaders Council, where she helps convene and support HR professionals and business leaders through education, networking, and collaborative initiatives that advance workforce readiness. She is known for bringing people together, translating workforce challenges into actionable programs, and championing solutions that create opportunity for individuals while helping employers grow and thrive.
Secretary
Andriana Jallouk Raynor is a dedicated HR Manager at the Council on Aging of St. Lucie, where she fosters teamwork, strengthens leadership, and supports a positive organizational culture. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management, along with multiple business certifications.
With key specialties in streamlining HR functions and improving organizational efficiency, Andriana is passionate about professional growth and helping others recognize and develop their leadership potential.
This year marks her first term on the Board of the HR Business Leaders Council of Florida, and she is eager to support the board’s mission by fostering connections and promoting professional development across the community.
Director of Social Impact
Sashanna T. Marsden is an accomplished workforce development leader, career strategist, and Founder & CEO of Better Odds Academy (BOAEX), a premier professional development and workforce intelligence firm dedicated to elevating early-career talent and strengthening organizational performance. With a decade of expertise spanning recruitment, employee relations, leadership development, and human performance optimization, she brings a results-driven and people-first approach to the HRBLC.
Sashanna’s career includes high-impact roles in corporate recruitment and talent strategy for Fortune 500 and global organizations, where she led full-cycle hiring, designed workforce solutions, and built strong partnerships with executives, hiring managers, and cross-functional teams. Her leadership at BOAEX has positioned her as a trusted advisor to jobseekers, employers, and educational institutions, offering transformative coaching, behavioral training, and workforce readiness programming.
In her role as HRBLC’s Director of Social Impact, Sashanna champions community-outreach and volunteer initiatives fostering partnerships with nonprofit organizations. She is known for her strategic thinking, cross-cultural acumen, and commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for underserved communities.
Sashanna holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English Composition from Virginia Union University and multiple international business certifications from institutions in Brazil and Italy, with concentrations in strategic leadership, intercultural management, and negotiation. She has earned national recognition for performance excellence in talent acquisition and maintains active involvement in various community and professional organizations.
Treasurer
Marc Iverson is an operations and people-focused business leader with experience spanning military service, manufacturing, and financial oversight. He is a retired U.S. Army veteran with 22 years of service, where he built a strong foundation in leadership, workforce development, compliance, and disciplined execution.
Following his military retirement, Marc transitioned into the private sector, holding roles in operations management, manufacturing leadership, and bookkeeping. His experience includes overseeing production teams, improving processes, managing budgets, supporting payroll-related functions, and providing accurate financial reporting—allowing him to effectively bridge people operations with financial and organizational accountability.
Marc brings a practical, structured perspective to the HR Business Leaders Council, aligning HR initiatives with operational and financial realities. He is passionate about leadership development, workforce effectiveness, and sustainable people strategies that strengthen organizational culture while supporting compliance and business performance.
Legislative Director
Thomas Epsky is a respected human resource professional and an appointed Commissioner for the Florida Reemployment Assistance Appeals Commission, where he serves as an appellate administrative law judge. He previously held this position from 2001 to 2021 and was re-appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis in March 2023.
A longtime volunteer and advocate, Thom’s commitment to the community led to his appointment as President & CEO of United Way St. Lucie and Okeechobee, Florida, in 2023. Under his leadership, United Way was recognized as a Best Place to Work.
Thom is also an adjunct faculty member at Indian River State College and has lectured at the College of the Bahamas. He holds the SPHR and SHRM-SCP human resource certifications and was honored as Professional of the Year by three chapters of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Director of Marketing
Lisa Reyes is a dynamic HR Director with over 20 years of experience making workplaces work better—from recruitment and compliance to labor relations and leadership development. With a Master’s in Human Resource Management from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from FIU, Lisa knows how to blend strategy with heart. She’s led HR teams with a focus on building strong cultures and aligning people with purpose. Her experience reflects her creative thinking, cross-functional leadership, and deep understanding of what makes teams shine. She is currently the HR Director at Sandpiper All-Inclusive Resort in Port Saint Lucie, FL.
Director of Membership
Lana Brown is a dedicated Human Resources professional with over eight years of experience in strategic HR leadership and employee relations. She currently serves as a Division HR Business Partner, where she is known for her collaborative leadership style, talent development focus, and commitment to fostering positive workplace cultures.
Passionate about people and professional growth, Lana is dedicated to building strong connections within the HR community and supporting the development of future leaders. This is going to be her first year serving on the Board of the HR Business Leaders of Florida, and she’s excited to bring her enthusiasm for community building, her strategic HR insight, and her commitment to creating meaningful member experiences to the organization.
Director of Sponsorships
Marty Pearson, PHR, SHRM-CP is the founder of LFT Consulting, where she helps business owners and leaders build better workplaces through executive coaching, leadership training, and organizational development. With more than 20 years of Human Resources experience across construction, service, and the healthcare industries, Marty brings a practical, people-first approach to business strategy and culture development. She is also the host of the Build a Better Business Podcast, where she shares insights on leadership, communication, and organizational growth. Marty’s work centers on one simple belief: if you lead with confidence, and focus on your people, you can transform your business.
Director of Programs
Cindy-Jo Aptheker is originally from New York and serves as the VP of HR & Legal for A-1 Global Holdings. Her work centers on building clear, fair, and reliable processes that support employees and strengthen organization culture. She drives leadership development, workplace planning, and employee ownership engagement while overseeing legal matters, policy design, and regulatory compliance. Cindy holds a law degree and is a certified HR professional.
HR & Business Leaders Council of Florida
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to