SARASOTA, FL — The Sarasota City Commission has appointed Shumaker Partner Daniel J. DeLeo to the Planning Board for the City of Sarasota, where he will serve a three-year term.

The Sarasota Planning Board was established for the purpose of approving and influencing the type, quantity, and effect of current and future development within the City of Sarasota. The Board consists of five members, plus an alternate, who possess the technical, professional, financial, business, or administrative skills necessary to accomplish the work of the Board and who must be residents of the City.

“Serving on the Sarasota Planning Board is an opportunity to influence the future development of the city I have called home and raised my family for nearly 20 years,” said Dan. “I believe I am uniquely qualified to serve the interests of the whole city, including the interests of the neighborhoods and the business community.”

Dan has a long-standing commitment to Sarasota and has served as Board Chair of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County; an Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County Board Member; President of the Cherokee Park Neighborhood Association for the past 10 years; Chair of Citizens for Better Schools, which renewed the $1 million school referendum; Past Chair and Advisory Board Member of the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast; School Board of Sarasota County Financial Advisory Committee Member; Forty Carrots Family Center Advisory Board Member; and Sarasota Crew Board Member, just to name a few.

Dan is Board Certified in Business Litigation, and his legal practice focuses on commercial disputes, with particular emphasis on representing businesses in contract disputes, business torts, and complex business litigation. Dan is an experienced trial lawyer with considerable knowledge and experience in the areas of construction defect litigation, class actions, and products liability claims.