The following biographical sketch was compiled at the time of induction into the Academy in 2018.

 

Ann D. Florie is a native of Weldon, Arkansas. She received a B.A. in Political Science from Newcomb College of Tulane University. She retired as the Executive Director of Leadership Birmingham, a program that yearly brings together civic and business leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the Birmingham area. Florie was previously the founding Executive Director of Region 2020, an organization that led efforts to promote regional cooperation and citizen involvement in the areas of affordable housing, education, arts & culture, transportation, and land use in a twelve-county area in central Alabama.

She serves as an appointed member of the Jefferson County Personnel Board and is on the executive committee of the Birmingham Business Alliance. She is also on the board of directors for the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA), the Addiction Prevention Coalition, and the Alabama Humanities Foundation.

Florie served on the Mountain Brook Board of Education for 10 years and is a past president of the Freshwater Land Trust, the Downtown Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, and the Junior League of Birmingham. She was a founding board member of the Children First Foundation, First Look, Inc., the Leading Edge Institute, and The Women’s Fund. She previously served on the boards of the Downtown Kiwanis Club, United Way of Central Alabama, the McWane Science Center, the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UAB Leadership Cabinet and Public Health Advisory Board, the Alabama Nature Conservancy, Brookwood Medical Center, and Leadership Alabama. She also served on the Birmingham Water Works Board and was Co-Chair of former Mayor William Bell’s Transition Committee. She is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham, Leadership Alabama, and the Momentum Leadership Program.

Florie has received the Richard Arrington, Jr. Achievement Award, the Cahaba Girl Scouts “Women of Distinction” Award, the Girls, Inc. “She Knows Where She’s Going” Award, the BBJ Top Birmingham Women Award, the Birmingham News “Up and Coming Leaders,” and “Women Who Make a Difference” Awards. She was also a recipient of the 2008 NCCJ Brotherhood/Sisterhood Award.