Staff
The FLCGA provides support and assistance for citizens and investigative journalists working to ensure government accountability and transparency
Meet the team
Attorney Barbara Petersen has 25-plus years open government law and nonprofit administration experience and serves as FLCGA’s Executive Director.
Bob Norman is a veteran Florida journalist whose work exposing corruption has led to indictments of several public officials and the removal of misbehaving judges from the bench. He began reporting in Florida in 1993, with tenures at the Fort Myers News-Press, the New Times, and investigative reporter for WPLG-Channel 10 in Miami. Now a contributing writer for Columbia Journalism Review and the Washingtonian, Norman has received dozens of journalism honors, including the Livingston Award.
Michael Barfield focuses on the enforcement of open government laws and is a frequent lecturer on Florida’s Public Records Act and Sunshine Law. Michael is the Immediate Past President of the ACLU of Florida. He is a life member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and received the President’s Extra Mile award in 2008 for work related to indigent criminal defense.
Writer, editor and educator Catherine Parnell provides project support and website management as well as implementing FLCGA’s social media strategy. Co-founder of Birch Bark Editing and MicroLit Almanac, her publications include the memoir The Kingdom of His Will, as well as stories, interviews and essays in numerous national and international literary magazines and journals.