PirateQ 
Grover Robinson IV
Former mayor, commissioner is associate vice president of government and community relations
Longtime Pensacola State advocate Grover Robinson IV has joined the College as the associate vice president of government and community relations.
Robinson, former Pensacola mayor and Escambia County District 4 commissioner, replaces Sandy Cesaretti Ray, who retired in 2022. In the position, Robinson will serve as the College’s governmental affairs lobbyist and liaison to members of the Florida State Legislature.
“I have been welcomed with open arms. Pensacola State is critical to our two-county area, and I firmly believe in the College and my role in promoting it as well as the larger state college system,” Robinson said. “I look forward to working with the local delegation of senators and representatives as well as the other legislators.”
Robinson, as well as his entire family, has a storied history with the College.
For 20 years, Robinson served on the PSC Foundation Board of Governors, including two years as president. He was the organization’s leader when PSC President Ed Meadows was hired in 2008, and Pensacola Junior College became a state college in 2010.
Meadows said the College is fortunate to have Robinson as part of the administration.
“Grover brings a wealth of local, state, and national lobbying experience to the College. And I know that he not only believes in the College’s mission but has supported us in our endeavors in the past,” Meadows said.
“He and his entire family have been proponents and supporters of Pensacola State for many years. I have the utmost confidence in Grover and know the College will continue to thrive with him as our advocate in Tallahassee.”
Meadows also thanked Robinson and his wife, Jill, for their continued support of the College’s Robinson Honors Program. Robinson’s parents, the late Grover C. Robinson III and Sandra Lowrey Robinson, established the program for academically-gifted students in 2000.
The Robinson Honors Program offers a “college within a college” setting intended to cultivate critical thinking, encourage civic and community engagement, and develop a synthesis of knowledge across disciplines. The Robinson endowment assists in offsetting the cost of small class sizes, seminars, travel scholarships, and other opportunities associated with the program.
Robinson said he enjoys working at the College and is learning his way around the various campuses and centers.
“Not only am I becoming accustomed to the buildings and where they are located, but I am even more amazed about how many lives the College touches – at all educational levels,” he said.
Robinson also attributes his more than 16 years of experience as an elected official with preparing him for the Pensacola State post.
“As a county commissioner and mayor of Pensacola, I have worked with the Legislature and am familiar with lobbying at every level,” said Robinson, who served three terms as Escambia County District 4 Commissioner – from November 2006 through November 2018.
A seventh-generation Pensacola native, Grover earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. He worked as a commercial lender with AmSouth Bank before returning to Pensacola in 1995.
He joined Grover Robinson & Associates in 1997 and became a broker and president following his father’s death in 2000.
He and his wife, Jill, have two children – Grover Robinson V and Anna Lowrey Robinson.