FCI’s Board

Caroline Nickerson, PhD

Executive Director, Co-Founder

Caroline Nickerson is the Executive Director and co-founder of Florida Community Innovation (FCI). At FCI, she spearheads partnerships with groups like the United Way of Northwest Florida and the Central Florida Foundation, supervises the internship program, runs public-facing communications, oversees all projects, and consults on evaluation and impact reporting on campaigns to help beneficiaries.

Caroline holds a PhD from the University of Florida. At UF, Caroline worked on multiple projects, including a climate change communication project and a certification for pollinator-friendly plants. She has worked with SciStarter in various capacities, including as Senior Program Director at SciStarter where she managed the Citizen Science Month Program, SciStarter’s Corporate Volunteer Programs and other programmatic and outreach efforts, including working with SciStarter’s Syndicated Blog Network, which encompasses the Discover Magazine and SciStarter platforms, as well as large-scale programs with multiple federal agencies (including NASA, NOAA, and the National Library of Medicine) and global groups (including the United Nations Environment Programme).

Caroline is a Master of Public Policy graduate from American University, where she was a Reilly Environmental Policy Scholar, an honor conferred by the former director of the EPA, Bill Reilly. Caroline was an undergrad at the University of Florida and was one of the inaugural recipients of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Student Excellence Award, an honor conferred to only three graduating seniors. In her spare time, she volunteers with the UF-VA Bioethics Unit and the Christensen Project (where she serves homeless and underserved groups). Caroline has facilitated over 1,000 public events, including debates for local elections in Central Florida. Caroline was the 2019 Cherry Blossom Princess representing the state of Florida and the grand prize scholarship winner at Miss Earth USA 2021 as Miss Louisiana Earth.

Photo Credit: Eva Flis Photography

Zack Zweig

President

Zack is currently a product manager for a Silicon Valley based start-up and he has an expertise in building solutions at the cross-section of digital, cloud and AI. His current work revolves around building digital humans with diverse teams and clients spanning the globe. Zack is passionate about democratizing technology, especially AI, opening the black-box and providing the power that technology can give to the masses.

Nicole Dan

Vice-President

Nicole is a Master of Public Policy graduate from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, where she was editor in chief of the Georgetown Public Policy Review and president of the Georgetown Technology Policy Initiative. Nicole received her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in Political Science and Journalism. She currently works at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration as a Broadband Programs Specialist. 

Velgui Perez Tomas

Secretary

Velgui Perez Tomas is a 2022 graduate from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s in Political Science and International Studies. She aspires to attend law school in the near future to work in immigration or employment law.

Her passion stems from giving back to the communities that are congruent with those who helped mold and impact her childhood. With experience in non-profits around the State of Florida that revolve around her Guatemalan identity, Velgui aspires to continue to help her community through representation in the legal field.

A former Global Leader Fellow for the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute, Velgui worked to advance the Hispanic Community’s Economic Progress with a focus on Social Responsibility and Global Competitiveness. As a fellow, Velgui worked in Congress at the office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) and at the Wilson Center, a leading non-partisan policy forum dedicated to addressing global issues through independent research and open dialogue to generate actionable insights for the policy community. There, Velgui worked as Staff Intern assisting Wilson Scholars and the Latin American Program in developing key events like Central American protection of civil organizations and the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence exhibition.

Currently, Velgui is an Unaccompanied Child Advocate with Americans for Immigrant Justice, an award-winning non-profit law firm that fights for justice for immigrants through a combination of direct representation, impact litigation, advocacy and outreach in the State of Florida.

Aniqa Ahmed

Treasurer

Aniqa Ahmed graduated from the University Florida with a Bachelor’s in Political Science in May 2023. She was actually a part of the first intern cohort that FCI created and has continued to stay involved!

She plans to work for 2-3 years in public service positions, particularly in local, state, and federal government, before going back to school to get a Master’s in Public Policy. Her passion for policy and community engagement stems from her upbringing as a first-generation student to an immigrant couple. She was born and raised in Florida, which played a significant role in shaping her perspectives and commitment to public service.

Currently, Aniqa is deeply involved with the work FCI is doing, contributing to the external affairs team, managing the ABLE project, and updating the website on a regular basis.

She is also working with the city of South Bend, Indiana as a Project Manager.

Zachary (Zach) Stanford

Member at Large

Zach Stanford graduated from the University Florida with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science in May 2022. He began volunteering with FCI shortly after graduating, sharing his expertise with the Florida Resource Map and Gobituary teams.

He is a valuable mentor to all the computer science students who work on FCI projects.

Outside of FCI, he is a Regional Associate Solutions Engineer with T-Mobile.

Anna Lanzino

Graduate Student Fellow

Anna Lanzino is a Masters student in Information Management and Systems at UC Berkeley where she focuses on information law and policy, civic technology, cybersecurity, and privacy. She graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in Computer Science in 2021. She worked as a software engineer between graduating from UF and going to UC Berkeley.

While an intern with FCI, Anna created the project Gobituary and has continued to lead it as Product Manager, cultivating relationships with the City of Miami Cemetery and building the app.

Chris Battista

Founder, Former President

Chris is a research scientist, public sector management consultant, and technology entrepreneur who grew up in Florida and was previously based in Washington, DC. He has served clients ranging from U.S. federal government research and development agencies to eminent national educational nonprofits to cutting-edge multimillion-dollar Silicon Valley startups. In addition to his professional work, Chris started a successful educational community organization that partners with the Alachua County public school system to expand access to hands-on science for underserved students. He is currently a Principal at Plainspoken Digital.

Gloria Li

Volunteer, Co-Founder

Formerly based in Tallahassee, FL, Gloria is a lifelong Floridan who is passionate about connecting diverse audiences, including young voters, to the democratic process. Her background in media and policy enables her to effectively leverage digital tools to drive citizens from awareness to action. She received a Master’s in Data Science degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where she conducts data-driven research on energy policy. Her skills are perfectly suited to FCI’s data-driven media projects.

Davis Jackson

Volunteer, Co-Founder

Davis is a seasoned digital communications strategist with an expertise in social media and political campaigns. He has executed digital campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, Political Action Committees (PACs), national nonprofits, and local municipalities, and routinely manages budgets of more than $100,000 per campaign. He co-founded FCI to leverage his digital media skills for the public good.