Nicholas G. Penniman IV retired in 1999 as publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and as senior VP of newspaper operations for Pulitzer Publishing Company. A 1960 graduate of Princeton University, he did graduate work at both the Wharton Graduate School and Washington University St. Louis. Penniman is currently chair emeritus of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, a trustee emeritus of the Everglades Foundation, past chair of AmericanRivers and chair emeritus of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Penniman has four books-A Toxic Inconvenience: Red Tide and Blue-Green Algae on Florida's Coast, Nature's Steward: A History of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, On The Knife: A History of Sugar in Florida and Enjoyment of the Same: A History of Public Lands in Southwest Florida. Penniman and his wife, Linda reside in Naples, Florida.

Franklin Adams is a native of Miami and graduated from Miami-Dade Jr. College. He was a U.S. Army Engineer in Surveying & Mapping, an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine, and, of course, a Florida Master Naturalist. Recognized as a Guardian of the Everglades, he is also a member of the National Izaak Walton League of America Hall of Fame, Florida Wildlife Federation Hall of Fame, and recipient of the National Wildlife Federation Special Conservation Award for a lifetime of dedication to the preservation and protection of the Big Cypress and the Everglades.