Florida Bar names Sarasota banker as new public member

Joseph “Jody” Hudgins, a banker from Sarasota, will join The Florida Bar Board of Governors as its new “public” member.

He was appointed May 1by the Florida Supreme Court and will be sworn in for a two-year term on June 28 during The Florida Bar’s Annual Convention in Boca Raton, Bar spokeswoman Francine Walker said Friday.

Hudgins, senior executive vice president and chief credit officer for First Florida Integrity Bank in Naples, also has been teaching at the Florida School of Banking at the University of Florida for 24 years.

For the past 12 years, he has been an instructor at the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University and currently serves as the school’s president.

In addition to his professional pursuits, Hudgins has a strong history of public involvement in his community and is the parliamentarian of the Sarasota County Charter Review Board.

Since 1987, two public members have served on the Bar’s governing board, after the Supreme Court approved the organization’s request to have non-lawyer representation.

In his application, Hudgins said he wanted to serve on the Board of Governors to assist with “interpretation from a lay perspective” of how Bar matters might be viewed by a business person.

The 52-member Board of Governors meets every other month and has exclusive authority to formulate and adopt matters of policy concerning the activities of the Bar, subject to limitations imposed by the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar.