Helen Stairs, President

Helen L. Stairs is a property manager, real estate broker and community association manager.  She has been an active community volunteer for years in Seminole County where she was instrumental in securing the funding necessary to save the historic Milane (and later Ritz) Theatre demolition, restore the building to its thriving original opulence, and transform it into a live performing arts center.  Currently, she serves as: President and grant writer of the Ritz Community Theatre Restoration Project, Inc. (dba Helen Stairs Theatre); Vice Chairman of the Seminole County Port Authority; Member of the Seminole Florida Regional Hospital Woman’s Advisory Council; and Board member of the Good Samaritan Home.

• Additionally, Ms. Stairs is an active member of the First Baptist Church and served at the Women Leaders Summit, and RENEW’S National Council of Women Advisors to Congress in 1996.  She has served as President of the Sanford/Seminole Chamber of Commerce (1999), on the City of Sanford’s Charter Review Committee (1994-95), and the Sanford Historic Preservation Board.

The vision and leadership that Ms. Stairs has exhibited throughout the years has resulted in the receipt of the following awards:

• The City of Sanford awarded Ms. Stairs the Tenth Annual Warren E. “Pete” Knowles Service Award in 1994 for her service to her community as Vice-President and President of the Sanford Historic Downtown Waterfront Association.
• Ms. Stairs was the first woman to receive the Rotary Club’s George Touhy Award.
• In 1998, Ms. Stairs was named one of 100 “Women Who Mean Business” by the Orlando Business Journal.
• Ms. Stairs received the Sam Walton Business Leader Award.

Ms. Stairs has served as a member of the board member of the Sanford Historic Association (now known as the Sanford Main Street, Inc.); member of the board of directors and chairperson of the Economic Restructuring Committee of Sanford Historic Trust, Inc.; Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, member of the Lake Monroe Waterfront Master Plan Steering Committee; and sponsor of Sanford Middle School’s Student Shadow Program.

Ms. Stairs and her husband Karl have four children and five grandchildren.