Making Waves in the Boating Industry
MarineMax is widely recognized as a leader in innovation, diversity, and community involvement throughout the worldwide boating industry. MarineMax carries these sensibilities into the boardroom. In May 2018, MarineMax announced that Rebecca J. White had become the second woman named to the MarineMax Board of Directors. She joined Evelyn V. Follit, who has been a member of the board since 2015.
“The entire board is proud and pleased that both Rebecca J. White and Evelyn V. Follit have been named as two of WomenInc. Magazine’s Most Influential Corporate Board Members,” MarineMax CEO and President Brett McGill offered. “Their combined intellect and extensive experience have proven invaluable to our board and its members.”
Evelyn V. Follit has been the President of Follit Associates, a corporate technology and executive assessment consulting firm since 2007. From 1997 to 2005, she was an executive of RadioShack Corporation, a consumer electronics retail company, where she held the positions of Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, and Chief Organizational Enabling Services Officer. Evelyn has over 20 years in leadership positions with major corporations, including IBM and Dun & Bradstreet, in the areas of information technology, human resources, and operations management. She has also served on the boards of TECO Energy, Inc., Beall’s Inc., Winn-Dixie, Inc., Linens n Things, Inc., Nautilus, Inc., and Catalina Marketing, Inc.
Evelyn V. Follit had been a member of the International Visitors Board at Texas Christian University, where she helped establish the RadioShack Business Lab. She received her undergraduate degree from City University of New York and an MBA from Pace University. Her command of corporate technology and management evaluation has been a great benefit to the MarineMax Board.
Along with her serving on the MarineMax board, Rebecca J. White is the Walter Chair of Entrepreneurship, Professor of Entrepreneurship, and Director of the John P. Lowth Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Tampa. Rebecca received an MBA and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech University. She is considered a thought leader in entrepreneurship education, where her research is based at the intersection of entrepreneurial ecosystems, opportunity recognition, mindset, and competency-based education.
Under her leadership, the entrepreneurship program at the University of Tampa is ranked in the top 50 in the United States and was named the 2017 NASDAQ Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence. She has an extensive compilation of awards and honors in her field.
Dr. White also serves on the Tampa Bay Advisory Board for SeaCoast Bank (SBCF). From 2011 to 2017, she served as a Director at NorthStar Bank in Tampa, FL. She has served on several small company and non-profit boards over the past 20 years and is an active member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and the Women Corporate Directors Association.
Dr. White brings extensive experience with and research on strategy, innovation, entrepreneurial mindset, and social capital and turns it into valuable tools that help the MarineMax board apply creative approaches to advance the business.
MarineMax appreciates that women are highly influential in the purchasing path to boat ownership. It makes sense; A family that is investing thousands, even millions of dollars in a lifestyle, needs to have a consensus. In the recreational boating industry, there are only a handful of women board members. Evelyn V. Follit and Rebecca J. White not only contribute significantly to the MarineMax Board with their impressive experience and knowledge; they also bring their vantage as women.