District Board of Trustees

Zack Smith, Chair, 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.

Todd Leonard, Vice-Chair, serves as Athletic Director at West Florida High School, where he oversees athletic programs, compliance, budgeting, and student-athlete development. He is a veteran of the United States Army, having served as a Scout Platoon Leader, and brings to the Pensacola State College Board of Trustees a leadership background shaped by military service, professional sales, education, and community involvement. Mr. Leonard’s professional education experience includes serving as Head Football Coach at Pensacola High School and as a History and AP Government teacher, where he worked closely with students to support academic achievement, character formation, and leadership development. He was the 2016 Pensacola High School Teacher of the Year.  He is the founder and long-time leader of The Micah Mandate, a Pensacola-based civic organization dedicated to leadership formation, service to community, and strengthening families and local institutions. Mr. Leonard resides in Pensacola with his family, where one of his sons currently attends PSC.

George B. Atchison, Jr. currently serves as President of Phoenix Coatings, Inc., a Structural Restoration General Contracting Firm in Pensacola, Florida. George and Louise (married for 55 years) are life-long residents of Escambia-Santa Rosa County. He is a graduate of the University of West Florida.

George served in the USMC (1967-1974) as a Force Recon Marine with two combat tours in Vietnam.  His service qualifies his firm as a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) designation by the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Charles Richard “Rick” Byars is a respected business and community leader with more than 35 years of experience in economic development, corporate leadership, public affairs, and community engagement. Following his retirement from Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), where he served as Senior External Affairs Senior Manager, he currently serves as Special Assistant to the County Administrator for Escambia County, continuing his commitment to public service and community advancement.

Prior to retiring from FPL, Byars managed relationships with community stakeholders, business leaders, elected officials, and nonprofit organizations throughout Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Earlier, he served as General Manager of Economic Development and Major Accounts for Gulf Power Company, leading the company’s economic development, community relations, major accounts, and charitable foundation initiatives. Throughout his career, he helped recruit and expand major industrial projects across the Gulf South, generating significant capital investment and job creation.

Before joining Gulf Power, Byars spent nearly 25 years with Entergy Corporation in leadership roles across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. His accomplishments included helping secure the Nissan North America manufacturing project in Mississippi, one of the state’s most significant economic development successes.

A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Byars holds a Master of Business Administration from Millsaps College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Northeast Louisiana University. He also completed executive education programs through the Wharton School of Management and the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute.

An active civic leader, Byars serves on numerous nonprofit, educational, and economic development boards and remains deeply committed to workforce development and community prosperity in Northwest Florida. As a Trustee of Pensacola State College, he brings extensive experience in business leadership, strategic planning, economic growth, and public service to support the College’s mission and students.

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.

Richard Holzknecht is a Commercial and Residential Sales Agent for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. He is a veteran of the United States Navy, serving as a Naval Aviator and was the recipient of the Defense Superior Service Medal. Active in his community, Holzknecht is a member of the LifeWise Academy of Escambia-Pensacola Board of Directors and the Restoring the Heart Ministries Board. He earned his bachelor’s degree in oceanography from the United States Naval Academy, his master’s degree in systems management from the University of Southern California, and his master’s degree in national security affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Oscar J. Locklin is a practicing attorney in Pace, whose legal practice focuses on wills, trusts, probate, and real estate closings. He graduated Cum Laude with the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration from Harding University in 2001 and earned a Juris Doctor from Florida State University College of Law in 2005. Mr. Locklin is a lifelong resident of Santa Rosa County, where his family has resided for over 150 years. He currently resides in Jay, Florida, with his wife and daughters. In addition to his legal work, Mr. Locklin is actively involved in numerous church, charitable, and community organizations, including the Santa Rosa Education Foundation, Jay Pro Rodeo Boosters, Pace Rotary Club, and Jay Church of Christ. Mr. Locklin’s dedication to both his profession and community reflects his deep commitment to serving the people of Northwest Florida. Mr. Locklin was appointed to the Board in January 2026.

Audrey McDonald is a Pensacola-based educator and strategy leader with experience in healthcare performance improvement and culture-building. She is a homeschool educator focusing on classical curriculum. McDonald serves as a Strategic Advisor to the CEO at the Healthcare Experience Foundation and has held roles including Chief Strategy Officer, Client Outcomes Partner at HealthStream, and Performance and Research Coach at the Baptist Leadership Group. She is a published contributor to The Imperative of Culture study. Through her work, she is known for blending analytical, research-driven approaches with practical coaching to strengthen accountability and outcomes. McDonald earned her bachelor’s degree in economics and international affairs from Florida State University. She was appointed to the Pensacola State College District Board of Trustees in 2026.

Brooke Snyder, PhD, is an Adjunct Professor at Liberty University. Previously, she served as an Adjunct Professor at Birmingham-Southern College, a Biology Instructor at Jefferson State Community College, and a Fellow at Emory University. Snyder earned her doctorate in neuroscience from Tulane University.