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Whitfield M. Palmer, Jr.
Chairman of the Board of Directors

Whitfield M. Palmer, Jr., who co-founded HydroMentia with Dr. Donald Panoz, currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. As the company’s first president, he was instrumental in advancing HydroMentia’s groundbreaking water treatment technology during its crucial early years.

Mr. Palmer is a third-generation Floridian who received his education at the Sewanee Military Academy and University of Florida. He began his career in the mining industry with Dixie Lime and Stone Company, eventually becoming president and CEO. He was Chairman of Florida Crushed Stone Company from 1970 to 1980, and later entered the absorbent clay business with the purchase of MFM Industries. As president of the Palmer Companies (formerly Paddock Park Development), he was active in real estate development in central Florida. He served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Jacksonville Branch, and Sun Trust Bank of Ocala. He is a member and former Chairman of the Florida Council of 100. His commitment to Florida’s economic growth includes serving on the boards of Florida TaxWatch, Florida Chamber of Commerce, National Crushed Stone Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, Shands Hospital in Gainesville and the Munroe Regional Healthcare System in Ocala.

His love for the University of Florida is reflected in his lifelong commitment to that institution; he is the only alumnus who simultaneously served as president of the UF Alumni Association and president of the UF Foundation, and he is a past recipient of UF’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and the President’s Medallion. When actor Paul Newman decided to build a Hole in the Wall Gang camp in Florida for children with serious and life-threatening diseases, he recruited Mr. Palmer to lead the successful effort to build and establish what is now Camp Boggy Creek.

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