The Palm Beach Civic Association will launch its 2025-26 season this fall with an outstanding calendar of speakers and forums that you won’t want to miss.
We kick everything off with our Welcome Back Community Forum in early November, when returning residents will gather in anticipation of the new season and hear from local officials about the latest developments and issues facing the town.
As always, our Signature Speaker Series, beginning in January, will spotlight prominent figures from the national stage who will shed light on topics relevant to life in our community.
Prominent NBC journalist Lester Holt will headline this season’s Annual Award Breakfast at The Breakers in February, when we will honor the 2026 recipient of the William J. “Bill” Brooks Community Service Award.
We’ll wrap it all up at our Annual Meeting at the Flagler Museum in April, when Mayor Danielle Moore will present her annual state-of-the-town presentation.
Civic Association Chairman Michael Pucillo said this season’s varied roster of speakers will bring expertise on subjects of great interest to our members.
“We have an excellent lineup of speakers focusing both on developments in our area as well as national issues,” Pucillo said.
November 6 – Welcome Back Community Forum
Our 2025-26 Welcome Back Community Forum will be on Thursday, November 6, from 10 a.m. until 12 noon at the Mandel Recreation Center.
Town Council President Bobbie Lindsay and a panel of town administrative leaders will offer news and insights into the latest developments impacting the town. The panelists will be Town Manager Kirk Blouin; Bob Miracle, deputy town manager – administration and finance; Town Attorney Joanne O’Connor; Town Engineer Patricia Strayer; and Coastal Coordinator Sara Gutekunst.
“Council President Bobbie Lindsay and senior town staff members will discuss the major issues that the town will be dealing with this season,” Pucillo said. “I expect that to be very informative and it’s open to all town residents. I encourage everyone to come.”
The forum is being sponsored by Third Federal Savings & Loan.
November 19 – Directors’ Reception and Luncheon
All Civic Association directors are invited to the 2025-26 Directors’ Reception and Luncheon on Wednesday, November 19, from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Club Colette.
The speakers will be Allison Stockel, executive director of Glazer Hall, the non-profit performing and cultural arts center scheduled to open this season at the Royal Poinciana Playhouse, and Avie Glazer, who co-founded Glazer Hall. The topic will be “A window into this season’s opening of Palm Beach’s premier waterfront cultural arts venue.”
Glazer Hall is the program sponsor.
December 10 – Holiday Reception
Members are invited to celebrate the season and share the holiday merriment and classics performed by a live band when the Civic Association hosts its annual holiday party on Wednesday, December 10, from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at The Beach Club.
The Frisbie Group is sponsoring the party.
January 28 – Signature Series Luncheon
Featuring Ken Langone and Jonathan Harris
Ken Langone and Jonathan Harris will headline our first Signatures Speaker Series Luncheon of 2026 on Wednesday, January 28, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at The Beach Club.
Langone and Harris will focus their remarks on a topic sure to be of interest to many of our members: “Generational Investing: Does it Change? Or do the core principles stay the same.”
Langone is a billionaire businessman best known for having organized financing for the founders of The Home Depot.
He and his wife, Elaine Langone, were early signatories to The Giving Pledge, through which the world’s wealthiest individuals commit to donating most of their wealth to philanthropic causes. He has donated $300 million to the NYU School of Medicine and NYU Medical Center, which were later named NYU Langone Health in his honor.
Langone is founder and chairman of Invemed Associates LLC, a New York Stock Exchange firm.
Harris is chief executive officer of New York-based AIM13 and chair of the firm’s investment committee and board of managers. AIM13 refers to Alternative Investment Management.
Before joining the firm, Harris managed private investments for J.I. Harris & Associates and worked for Goldman Sachs in its Investment Management Services Group and its Investment Banking Division in London.
Harris is the son of the late J. Ira Harris, who was a longtime Civic Association director, and of Nicki Harris, a Civic Association director from 1994 to 2007 and from 2022 until the present.
The Signature Series is open to members at the Leadership/Next Gen & Silver giving levels. There’s a luncheon fee of $50 per person.
The Langone and Harris Signature Series program is sponsored by Northern Trust.
February 2 – Community Service Award Breakfast Featuring Lester Holt
Lester Holt, the award-winning and nationally recognized NBC journalist, will headline the Civic Association’s Annual Award Breakfast on Monday, February 2, at 9 a.m. at The Breakers.
Holt was anchor of NBC Nightly News from 2015 until May 2025, when he stepped down to become the full-time host of the news magazine Dateline NBC.
A California native, Holt began his career in 1981 as a reporter for WCBS-TV in New York City. In 1982, he became a reporter and weekend anchor on KNXT in Los Angeles. In 1986, he moved to WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he anchored the evening news for 14 years. Holt joined MSNBC in 2000 and NBC News in 2003.
Holt has reported on global events including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the earthquake and nuclear crisis in Japan, and the 2018 summit between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. In 2016, he moderated the first presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
At the breakfast, the Civic Association will honor the 2026 recipient of its William J. “Bill” Brooks award for service that has significantly improved the quality of life in Palm Beach. The award was established in 2010 in honor of the late Palm Beach Town Council member and president and longtime general manager of WPTV Channel 5.
The breakfast has been sponsored by the Fanjul Family and Florida Crystals each year since 2018.
The breakfast is the Civic Association’s only public fundraiser of the year. Tickets are $240 for members and $400 for non-members.
February 18 – Signature Series Luncheon
Featuring Tomislav Mihaljevic and Conor Delaney
Dr. Tomislav Mihaljevic, chief executive officer, president, and Morton L. Mandel CEO chair of the Cleveland Clinic, and Dr. Conor Delaney, MD, PhD, and president of the Cleveland Clinic Florida Market, will headline our second Signature Series Luncheon on Wednesday, February 18, from noon until 1:30 p.m. at Club Colette.
Mihaljevic joined Cleveland Clinic in 2004 as a surgeon in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He has led the organization and its 81,000 caregivers since 2018.
Delaney has been president of Cleveland Clinic Florida Market since 2020. He is a former chairman of the Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute and past president of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio and founded in 1921. The globally integrated healthcare system has 23 hospitals and 276 outpatient locations, with facilities in Ohio, Las Vegas, Toronto, Abu Dhabi, London, and southeast Florida, including Palm Beach County.
For more than 15 years, Cleveland Clinic has provided care at an outpatient center at City Place in West Palm Beach. Earlier this year, it announced plans to expand its outpatient services and build a hospital in West Palm Beach.
Cleveland Clinic is a corporate sponsor of the Civic Association.
The Signature Series is open to members at the Leadership/Next Gen & Silver giving levels. There’s a luncheon fee of $50 per person.
The February 18 Signature Series Luncheon is being sponsored by Related Ross.
February 23 – Tentative: Candidates’ Forum
If any races emerge for a Palm Beach Town Council seat in next year’s municipal election, the Civic Association will host a candidates’ forum for the public on Monday, February 23, at 10 a.m. at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda by the Sea.
The two-year terms of council members Lew Crampton (Group 1), Bobbie Lindsay (Group 2), and Bridget Moran (Group 3) all expire in April.
To be eligible to seek election, all candidates must be nominated to run for a specific council seat at the Town Caucus on Tuesday, December 2, at Town Hall.
The election is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, 2026. Winners would be sworn to new terms at the Tuesday, April 14, council meeting.
March 11 – Signature Series Luncheon
Featuring General Paul M. Nakasone
The third and final Signature speaker of the season will be Paul Nakasone, a retired four-star general in the United States Army who served as commander of the United States Cyber Command, a director of the National Security Agency, and chief of the Central Security Service under presidents Trump and Biden.
Nakasone will talk about cybersecurity, a topic that has captured headlines in recent years as cybercriminals have sought to damage computer systems or steal sensitive data.
Nakasone serves on the board of directors of WitnessAI and OpenAI.
In May 2024, he was named founding director of Vanderbilt University’s new Institute of National Security. He is on the board of trustees at Saint John’s University, his alma mater, and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Dartmouth College.
Nakasone’s appearance is open to Civic Association members at the Leadership/Next Gen & Silver giving levels. There’s a luncheon fee of $50 per person.
The program is sponsored by Citizens Private Bank.
April 13 – Annual Meeting
Featuring Mayor’s State of the Town
The Civic Association will mark the end of its 82nd season on April 13, when Mayor Danielle Moore will present her state of the town address at our Annual Meeting.
The meeting is from 10 a.m. until noon at the Flagler Museum and is open to the public.
At the meeting, Civic Association Chairman Michael Pucillo is expected to announce the organization’s slate of new directors for 2026.
Following a longstanding tradition, the Civic Association will recognize the 2026 recipient(s) of its Raymond J. Kunkel Award for heroic or meritorious service to the Palm Beach community. The award was established in 1976 in honor of the late Civic Association chairman whose name it bears.
The Annual Meeting is sponsored by Palm Beach Island Hospice Foundation. The mailing underwriter is realtor Linda Olsson, a member of the Civic Association’s Executive Committee and a director since 2014.
Mary Robosson, CEO of the Civic Association, thanked its members and directors, whose loyal support she said has enabled the organization to build a strong foundation of high-caliber speakers and quality educational programs and forums.
Robosson expressed high regard for Mayor Moore, Town Council President Lindsay, and the other council members for their stewardship of the town.
She also conveyed appreciation to the Civic Association’s employees and to its 15 standing committees, whose members focus their talents and experience on issues that directly impact life on the island, including health care, public safety, transportation, the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Worth Lagoon, and more.
“Our PBCA team is ready and here to deliver a dynamic 82nd season to our members and residents,” Robosson said.
Founded in 1944, the Civic Association is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the quality of life in Palm Beach by taking proactive stands on civic affairs, educating residents on key issues and encouraging civic involvement with local government.
To RSVP for any of the programs, contact the Civic Association by calling 561-655-0820, emailing us at events@palmbeachcivic.org, or by logging onto our website, palmbeachcivic.org.
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