Key Leadership

Marc Pelletz, U•N•I’s founder and Executive Director, is an experienced entrepreneur and business leader. He has spent the past 40+ years building businesses in real estate. In the past decade alone, he has accumulated over 200 rental properties and completed more than 1,000 real estate transactions valued at more than $300M.  

Marc also has a history of helping others,  He has worked with Family Promise, a national non-profit where he and his family provided a house to help transition the homeless to a better life.  Marc has also served in the Big Brother program and he remains active as a counselor for AA.  His overriding goal for U•N•I is to help make our world a better place.

Michael O’Sullivan joined U•N•I shortly after its formation. His career has spanned the corporate and entrepreneurial arenas applying Michael's specialized experience in engineering, insurance, general contracting, and real estate development. 

He was drawn to U•N•I through his involvement in Recovery, and his long term commitment to service and leadership in various volunteer organizations. He has worked with Habitat for Humanity, The Fuller Center for Housing, and many smaller projects helping those in need.  

Michael is inspired by U•N•I’s goals to make the world a better place, and is actively involved in the day to day work needed to help people in need to transition to a better life. 

Chad L. Gates is a founding partner in the Band Gates & Dramis, P.L., law firm located in Sarasota, Florida. Chad received his B.B.A. in finance from Ohio University, Athen, Ohio and his law degree from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. Chad’s practice focuses on real estate, corporate, and business law. 

Chad currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and as Vice President to the Tarr Charitable Family Foundation, Inc., the Tillie, Jennie & Harold Schwartz Foundation, Inc., the Rubin Charitable Foundation, Inc., the Harriet and Raymond Brush Charitable Foundation, Inc., the Betty and Marie Healy Family Foundation, Inc. and The Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota Foundation. 

Phil brings 40 years of corporate leadership, marketing and management experience to the U•N•I team. 35 of these years were spent at FedEx Express where he served in multiple marketing and management positions, most recently serving as Vice President over the Aircraft Acquisitions/Sales and Fleet Planning groups, among other roles.  

Over the years, Phil has also served in leadership positions on multiple non-profit Boards including the Children's Museum of Memphis, La Limye Ministries (a Haiti-based girls home, school and community center), the Boy Scouts of America Chickasaw Council, and Startco (a business-startup incubator in Memphis, TN), among others.    He is excited to join the U•N•I team to help us change and improve the lives of the lost and forgotten in our society.

Matthew Gregory brings many years of diverse financial services and real estate development experience to the U•N•I team.  After studying at UAB, he worked in his family’s financial services business.  He then began a real estate development career where he has bought and sold more than 1200 properties valued at over $200M, including over $50M in 2020-21 alone.  He is currently President of Gregory Dream Homes, LLC.

Matthew has also been active in the non-profit world.  In 2004 he worked with his family to start faith-based Loveladies Ministries (Birmingham, Alabama), which has transitioned thousands of women away from addictions, incarceration and homelessness to a better life. Today, he serves on the Freedom Rains/Loveladies Board and is a key advisor on their real estate transactions.  Matthew and his wife Rebecca also actively support Here-I-Am Ministries (Haiti) in a development role.  On Sundays, you may find Matthew playing drums in the worship bands at several Birmingham area churches.

Matthew Straeb is a career radio/TV and film technologies leader who brings significant non-profit experience to U•N•I. 

 In September 2006, Matthew co-founded Heart Gallery of Broward to improve placement of adoptable children into loving, permanent homes, with an above-average success rate of 40 percent.  In 2008, partnering with Diane Granito, Matthew co-founded and organized the Heart Gallery of America.  Matt leads this group to share resources and broaden the pool of families seeking to adopt. The Heart Gallery of America, now comprised of 80 individual heart galleries, has launched a comprehensive reference tool to educate and support prospective families: www.heartgalleryofamerica.org, 

Nationwide, The Heart Gallery currently affects over 8500 adoptions per year, with 6000+  photographers participating. 
In 2012, Matthew joined the Heart Gallery of Sarasota as its President. More recently, he founded the Florida Association of Heart Galleries to organize and lobby for the 15 Florida Heart Galleries and advocate for adoption in the Florida State Capitol Region.  In addition, Matthew also serves as a mentor for high school students and is an elder at Church of the Palms in Sarasota, Florida.  In 2009, he received the Florida Governor's Points of Light Award. 

Jill Lyons has been in the real estate business for over 20 years and is Owner/Broker of Relax Realty Group in Sarasota, FL . She  has lived in Sarasota since relocating from Buffalo, New York in 1976 .

She has contributed to her community in many ways - both financially and through her time and talents.  Her primary focus has been helping women with children get back on their feet.  She loves the fact that when these women turn their lives around, both the mother and children ultimately benefit.  Many have become part of her extended family over the years.  She has provided most of this support through Mothers and Infants, All Star Children Foundation and is a founding member of Impact 100 of Sarasota.

She looks forward to working with U•N•I to grow support for her community and extend her service to other communities as well.  She feels compelled to share her many blessings, and believes true joy comes from making sure everyone feels loved and supported when they are in need.

Originally from Indiana, David Shuel spent most of his adult life running the Chicago/Illinois location of his family business, HP Products, a full-service industrial supply distribution company with over eight hundred employees. Following the sale of this business in 2014, David moved his family to Sarasota, Florida, and purchased Beneva Flowers and Gifts, Inc.  Under David’s leadership, Beneva has substantially expanded its business into Brandon, Florida and Englewood, Florida, and is currently constructing its new headquarters and distribution facility near Sarasota’s airport.  

Charitable work has always been central to David’s life. As a member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization), he was very involved with several charitable organizations including but not limited to The United Way, Youthlinks, The American Cancer Society and Habitat for Humanity. He is currently serving on the board of Project 180, a local charity that helps those leaving incarceration to successfully transition back into society.  David has a strong passion for helping others, and is excited to be a part of the UNI Foundation board.

Eddy Regnier was born in Haiti and is a Naturalized U.S. citizen. Drawn

to the cause of social justice and racial equality, Dr. Regnier obtained a master's degree in social work from Boston University, and later a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, also from Boston University. His training in psychology was at Harvard University training Sites and he currently has privileges at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. He is a former

professor of Psychology at Cambridge College, Argosy University, Sarasota, and is a

current member of the National Register of Health Services Providers in Psychology

Dr. Regnier has served on the Judicial Nominating Committee for Sarasota and Manatee Counties, and was Chairman of the Florida Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, housed in the Attorney General of Florida's office. He was also on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club of Manatee County.

He is excited to join the Board of UNI Foundation, Inc. and looks forward to helping support the agencies on the front lines of serving those transitioning from addictions, incarceration and other life challenges. 

Jon R. Lee is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lee Capital Management.  For more than 29 years, he has been serving the financial services industry with a focus on corporations and high net worth clients. Jon is a native of Sarasota, Florida and has a long track record serving the Sarasota community.  He is currently Chairman of the Foundation Board of the Sarasota Boys and Girls Club, serves on the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Advisory Board and for many years served as a volunteer quarterbacks coach for Sarasota High School’s football team.