FBPE, FEMC Elect Chairs, Vice Chairs for 2026

The Florida Board of Professional Engineers elected James Gonzalez as its chair for 2026 and Brock Shrader, PE, as its vice chair at its December 2025 meeting in Tallahassee, Fla.

Mr. Gonzalez, who was vice chair in 2025, succeeds Denise Ramsey, PE, as chair.

Mr. Gonzalez, a public member of the Board, is a co-founder of Cobb & Gonzalez, P.A., and has provided guidance to businesses and professionals for over a decade. Mr. Gonzalez graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa and was a member of the Business National Honor Society. He earned his juris doctor from Villanova University School of Law in 2007. That same year, James also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Villanova University School of Business.

Mr. Gonzalez has represented numerous architectural, engineering, and construction firms, as well as their employees, in professional negligence, construction defect, and contractual claims. He has also provided legal counsel and representation to general contractors, subcontractors, building material manufacturers, and suppliers in areas from corporate formation to contract disputes and construction defect claims. Currently, he provides legal counsel and representation to design professionals, general contractors, subcontractors, building material manufacturers, and suppliers in areas ranging from corporate formation to contract disputes and construction defect claims, and everything in between.

In 2015, Mr. Gonzalez was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). As an assistant staff judge advocate, Maj. Gonzalez assists the staff judge advocate in providing legal advice to the wing commander (installation commander) and its subordinate units, including supporting the administration of military justice for thousands of airmen and reviewing and providing guidance on multimillion-dollar construction contracts.

Mr. Gonzalez moved to Jacksonville in 2009. He and his wife have two children. In his free time, Mr. Gonzalez enjoys building Jeeps, inshore fishing, woodworking, cooking, golfing, and spending time with his family.

He was appointed to the Board in 2022.

Mr. Shrader is president of Wilson & Girgenti, where he started as an intern. He is the originator of the Orlando office for WG, which has grown into the firm’s largest office.

He is a practicing electrical and mechanical engineer. He and WG have received awards for Best Companies to Work For from Florida Trend in 2022, 2023, and 2024; and Best Places to Work from the Orlando Business Journal in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Mr. Shrader earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where his collaborative research was published in the nuclear field. He earned his Juris Doctor from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University while working full-time to grow the Orlando office of WG. He is a licensed engineer in 43 states and is pursuing licensure in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.

In his spare time, Mr. Shrader enjoys going to the gym and playing racquetball, and is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He also enjoys going to the beach in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area, where he grew up, and is an avid Tampa Bay Rays fan.

He was appointed to the Board in 2024.

FEMC Chair, Vice Chair for 2026

At its December meeting, the directors of the Florida Engineers Management Corporation elected Dr. Mark Tumeo, PE, as its chair and Michael Lessne as its vice chair. Dr. Tumeo succeeds Safiya Brea, PE, as chair.

Dr. Tumeo holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in environmental engineering from the University of California, Davis, a J.D. from Cleveland State University, and B.S. degrees in civil engineering and biology from the University of Notre Dame. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Florida and several other states, and is a member of the Ohio Bar. Dr. Tumeo is currently the senior engineer at Earth Systems, an environmental consulting firm with offices in four states.

Previously, he served as dean of the College of Computing, Engineering, and Construction at the University of North Florida. Prior to that, he was at Cleveland State University, where he served seven years as the vice provost of research and dean of the graduate studies before returning to the faculty in 2000, where he served as the faculty advisor for the CSU Chapter of Engineers Without Borders and as the undergraduate program and ABET coordinator for the department. Prior to his appointment at CSU, he was a faculty member at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Dr. Tumeo has almost 40 years of experience in environmental consulting and research, and has extensive experience and publications in environmental risk assessment, policy, and regulation. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, reports, and book chapters, and numerous conference proceedings in the area of waste treatment, management, and risk analysis. He has served as an associate editor for the American Association of Civil Engineers Journal of Environmental Engineering and the Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice.

He was appointed a corporate director for FEMC in 2021.

Mr. Lessne, a public member of the board of directors, is a bankruptcy and creditors’ rights attorney and business and commercial litigator. After more than a decade of successful practice at two prominent regional and national firms, Mr. Lessne launched his own firm in February 2022. In February 2025, he continued that progression by partnering to form Lessne Hoffman, PLLC.

Mr. Lessne provides counsel in a broad array of bankruptcy and insolvency matters and complex business litigation cases. He represents clients in many aspects of bankruptcy, including debtors (typically in reorganization cases), fiduciaries (including bankruptcy trustees in liquidation cases, assignees in assignment for the benefit of creditors cases, and receivers in federal and state cases), secured and unsecured creditors, landlords and tenants, and buyers of bankruptcy estate assets.

Mr. Lessne was formerly a partner at Nelson Mullins (formerly Broad and Cassel in Florida) and before that a shareholder at GrayRobinson. He is a licensed CPA and draws on his business and accounting background in his legal practice. He obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the Fisher School of Accounting at the University of Florida in 2006 and his law degree at the University of Miami School of Law in 2009.

He has received numerous professional nods for his legal work. He’s been recognized as “Lawyer of the Year” in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law in Fort Lauderdale (2026) by The Best Lawyers in America, where he has been included since 2018, by Chambers USA (2020-2025), by Florida Super Lawyers as a Rising Star (2016-2019) and as a Super Lawyer (2022-2025), by Florida Trend’s Florida Legal Elite, by Fort Lauderdale Illustrated, by Palm Beach Illustrated, by Boca Raton Observer’s Top Lawyers of 2024 and 2025, and by the Daily Business Review (2019 “On the Rise” award),

Mr. Lessne is involved in professional and community activities. Mr. Lessne was honored by the Broward Education Foundation in December 2025 with the Hall of Fame Alumni Award, Community Achievement Award, which honors distinguished Broward County public school alumni.

Mr. Lessne currently serves on the board of the Bankruptcy Bar Association of the Southern District of Florida as the immediate past president, having served on the board since 2013 and as the president in 2024-2025. He also serves the American Bankruptcy Institute as a special projects leader for the Commercial and Regulatory Law Committee.

Mr. Lessne is a graduate of Leadership Florida’s Connect Class 11, a graduate of Leadership Broward’s Class 35, and a graduate of Leadership Fort Lauderdale’s Class 18 (and the Curriculum Chair for Leadership Fort Lauderdale’s Class 21). He’s held former board positions with the Leadership Broward Foundation, the Broward Performing Arts Foundation, Ghost Light Society, Deliver the Dream, American Lung Association’s Turquoise Takeover Task Force, and he’s held steering committee positions at Historic Stranahan House Museum and Arc Broward.

Mr. Lessne is married to Ashley Boxer, and they have a 3-year-old daughter, Mae.

He was appointed a corporate director for FEMC in 2024.