Meet the Leadership Marco Class of 2025 – Part One

The Leadership Marco program is underway for 2025, offering an 11-member class the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the community through a series of full-day sessions.

Leadership Marco is a Marco Island Area Chamber of Commerce program that teaches participants about the community through a series of mandatory full-day sessions that include the history of the island, its media outlets, law enforcement and the fire-rescue departments, the hospitality industry, economy, education, government (including transportation and infrastructure), agriculture, the environment and the city’s urgent care facilities.

Activities began in late July and will conclude in November.

This is the 22nd year for the program, which began in 2001, but had to skip 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.

Classes usually have ten to 12 participants, and a waiting list of people interested in taking part is the norm. Anyone interested in joining a future class should contact Donna Niemczyk at 239-250-3381 or at donna@marcoislandchamber.org.

Here are seven members of the Class of 2025. The remaining biographies will be published in an upcoming edition of the Coastal Breeze.

Evelyn Rosetti-Ryan has been the Executive Director of the Our Daily Bread Food Pantry since 2023. Before the Pantry, she worked with a range of nonprofit organizations, including serving as the first executive director of the Thyroid, Head and Neck Cancer Foundation, executive director of and consultant for the Westchester Italian Cultural Center, and executive director of the (Manhattan) Children's Museum of the Arts. In 2010, she was bestowed the honor of being knighted by the Italian government for her work facilitating cultural, educational, and commercial exchange and programming between the United States and Italy.

Rosetti-Ryan’s education includes Columbia University, B.A. French and Elementary Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, and an M.A. in Linguistics/Teaching English as a Second Language. While at Teachers College, she was named a Carnegie Fellow of Urban Education. Dr. Rossetti-Ryan earned a certificate from Yale University's School of Management's Women's Leadership Program in 2021. In 2018, Dr. Rossetti-Ryan completed the Institute for Educational Leadership's Educational Policy Fellowship Program.

Rosetti-Ryan resides in Naples and has lived in Collier County for one and a half years. She belonged to the Greater New Haven/Quinnipiac (Connecticut) Chamber of Commerce, 2016 — 2022; Junior Achievement of Southwest New England, New Haven County Board of Directors, 2021 — 2022, and Sunrise Rotary of Marco Island since 2024.

Bonita Schwan is a Marco Island councilwoman and was on the staff of former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, overseeing five departments. She is a former private-practice attorney and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa.

Schwan has a BS in accounting from the University of Texas and a Juris Doctorate from Drake University Law School. She counts biking, hiking, and Airstream camping as her hobbies and has been a Marco Island resident since 2021.

Schwan has been involved with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Iowa, Make A Wish of South Dakota, a volunteer at Marco Island Chamber of Commerce and at the Marco Island Historical Museum, a former Marco Island Newcomers Club board member, a Marco Island Woman’s Club member, and board director at the (Cape Marco) Cozumel Condo Association.

Brandon Swope has been a chemistry and physics teacher at Marco Island Academy since 2020. Prior to that, he was a science teacher at Jesse C. Carson High School and William A. Hough High School in North Carolina. He has a BS in adolescent and young adult chemistry and physics education from Bowling Green State University.

Swope is a worship leader at United Church of Marco, and loves music and spending time at Resident’s Beach, especially for sunsets. He values being active within the community and supporting students in all they do. He’s been a Marco Island resident since 2021.

Besides being a teacher at Marco Island Academy and a worship leader at United Church of Marco Island, Swope is also part of the American Modeling Teachers Association, a member of Residents Beach, and the Seabreeze West Condominiums board of directors.

Ed Brandt is the senior pastor for United Church of Marco Island after several years as the temporary pastor for Lely Presbyterian Church and nearly 32 years of service in the National Guard. His last duty assignment was chief chaplain, National Guard Bureau and United States Army, Deputy Chief of Chaplains, Army National Guard. In those roles, he provided resources, policy, training, and support for more than 450,000 soldiers, airmen, and their families. In addition, he provided leadership to more than 2,500 Army and Air National Guard chaplains and chaplain assistants. Involved with the State Partnership Program, he worked with the Ohio National Guard to help Serbia re-establish their military chaplaincy and had the honor of meeting with the Chief of Chaplains from the Czech Republic, Philippines, and other countries.

Brand has a master’s in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, a Doctor of Ministry from Lancaster Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Findlay (Ohio). He has completed various MBA courses and participated in the Homeland Defense Seminar at Harvard University in 2016.

Brandt’s non-profit board service has included the American Bible Society advisory board; ThanksUSA, which provides scholarships to spouses and children of military service members; One More Day, an organization dedicated to reducing suicides for the military and first responders; a trustee for Lancaster Theological Seminary and the University of Findlay alumni board of governors.

Today, he serves on the boards of the National Guard Youth Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in Philadelphia. He is a lifelong Rotarian and a Paul Harris Fellow and is an active member of the Pelican Bay Rotary Club. He also chairs the Salute to Veterans event in Naples.

Kevin Hennessy is the moderator of United Church of Marco Island and the Bargain Basket Thrift Shop. The moderator is an elected position and is the CEO of the church and the Bargain Basket. That involves chairing the Executive Committee (church officers and senior staff), presiding with the board of trustees and the board of Church Life and Growth. The moderator calls and moderates all congregational meetings and represents the church in facing with affiliated organizations. He was previously vice-moderator and chair of the music committee at UCMI.

Hennessey was a private practice attorney for 40 years, primarily representing nationwide Fortune 500 companies in management-side labor and employment relations. He practiced before the United States Supreme Court, the 11 Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Illinois and Tennessee Supreme Courts, and dozens of federal and state courts. He engaged in and supported management-side collective bargaining with major labor unions across several key industries. He was voted by his peers as among the Top 100 Labor Attorneys in the United States. He retired in March 2019.

Hennessey graduated magna cum laude and as a James Scholar from the University of Illinois (Champaign) and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

For the last 35 years, Hennessey has held volunteer leadership positions in four different mainline Christian churches, including multiple times as ruling elder, capital campaign chair, and stewardship chair. He currently sings in the church choir, plays handbells, and performs solos and duets. He also sings in the ecumenical Marco Island Community Chorus, made up of several area church choirs.

Hennessey and his wife, Michelle, are permanent residents of Marco Island. He is vice-chairman of the board of the Marco Island Yacht Club and the chair of its human resources committee. In that role, he presided over the financing and construction of the multi-million-dollar renovation of the clubhouse.

Kyle Cholka is a co-owner and operator of the Marco Fitness Club, and he operates as a massage therapist from the same location. Marco Fitness has been a continuous part of the Marco community since 1981, and the family has owned it since 2009. His massage practice focuses on athletic massage, rehab, reflexology, and stress reduction, and has been a part of Marco Fitness Club since 2009. As co-owner, he spans all areas of responsibility for operating the gym, personal training, fitness classes, and massage operations. Prior to being part of Marco Fitness, he worked with chiropractors, physical therapists, and sports trainers as an independent massage therapist. Cholka is a graduate of Heritage Institute in Fort Myers.

In 2011, Cholka married Nicole and has a four-year-old daughter, Emma. Nicole is a special needs high school teacher with Collier County Schools. Together, they love having Marco as their home and raising their daughter in this community. The Cholka’s are involved with Venture Church Naples, where he is one of the youth leaders, as well as the lead photographer.

Cholka also has a part-time photography business and says it is rewarding to be able to use his skills and hobby to capture special moments for people on Marco, especially on the beach. He has been living on Marco for 18 years and besides his involvement in Venture Church Naples, he is also involved with Boy Scouts of America — Eagle Scout and the Professional Massage Trade Association — Florida.