Mel Ponder doesn’t just talk conservative values – he lives them in every walk of life – faith, family, honor, opportunity, generations and heritage. For Rep. Ponder, faith and family come first: he has raised three children with Mona, his wife of 27 years, and helped establish the Destin Week of Blessings. He and Mona have dedicated themselves to the Destin community.
As an advocate, Rep. Ponder has brought his principles to the business world, too, having started his own small business to train and support local marketplace leaders, business owners and individuals, as well as pastors, ministers and others of faith to make a difference in their communities. He believes the city and the region were meant to fit together. As each part does its own work, it will help the other parts grow so that the city and region are also growing. He also worked hard to become a leader in various industries including regionalization, small business ownership, food/hospitality, retail, sales, marketing, nonprofit and the real estate finance industries. This experience helped him accumulate a wealth of leadership experience that he brought to the City of Destin as Mayor.
Prior to launching Business Empowered, Rep. Ponder also served as the Dir. of Regional Marketing Programs for the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Assoc. and as the Exec. Dir. of Coastal Vision 3000/THE Beach. With Coastal Vision 3000, Rep. Ponder helped in the creation and establishment of a branded destination for the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast region and served on the team that helped bring Southwest Airlines to Northwest Florida.
From 2002–06, he served the City of Destin as a Councilman. It was during this time that Rep. Ponder was instrumental in initiating the Week of Blessings, an annual event that unites pastors to pray blessings and protection over the Destin fishing fleet, children, youth, families and businesses. With sights to serve further, Rep. Ponder was then elected Mayor of Destin.
Rep. Ponder is currently serving Okaloosa County and the state of Florida in his first term as District 4’s State House Representative. He says he knows that our state could use strong conservative principles to guide it, especially when it comes to balancing the budget and shrinking the size of government. A Florida native, Rep. Ponder continues to serve the people of District 4 with all of the honor, dignity and grace he devotes to his life’s ministries and works to protect conservative values, ensuring they have a voice in Tallahassee. He faces Valparaiso Democrat Rebecca Koelzer in the Nov. 6 general election.
The Florida Retail Federation is backing Rep. Ponder’s re-election bid in Okaloosa County’s House District 4 saying, “Representative Ponder is a successful small business owner and fought on behalf of the thousands of other small business owners throughout Florida during his first term in the House,” said FRF President/CEO R. Scott Shalley. “His efforts to protect Floridians and fellow small business owners by supporting pro-business legislation are issues we look forward to him continuing to work on in his return to the Florida House.”
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