Orange Bowl Committee (OBC) Member Robert L. Epling, the President and CEO of Community Bank of Florida since 1977, has been named to the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) Board of Directors. A Committee member since 1982, Mr. Epling served as the organization’s 60th President during the 1993-94 Festival. He also served as chair of the OBC’s Football Committee and Strategic Relations Group during 2007-08 and 2008-09 when the OBC hosted both the FedEx Orange Bowl and FedEx BCS National Championship and extended its standing as a member of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) through the 2014 bowl season. The OBC will host the BCS National Championship again in January 2013.
Those joining Mr. Epling as recent appointees to the NFF’s prestigious 47-member board are Troy Aikman (Television Game Analyst, Fox Sports), William “Bill” Battle (Founder, the Collegiate Licensing Company), Timothy Cook (Chief Operating Officer, Apple Computer), Jim Nantz (Television Broadcaster, CBS Sports) and T. Boone Pickens (Founder & Chairman, BP Capital).
Mr. Epling has a long history of serving the South Florida community. He presided as chairman of the 1996 South Florida Olympic Soccer Organizing Committee and is on the executive board of the South Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America as well as a member of the Homestead Rotary Club. He is Chairman of the Board of the International Hurricane Center, and spent countless hours helping to rebuild the devastated community of Homestead following Hurricane Andrew. He is on the Board of Directors of AvMed, Inc., The Founding Chairman of Vision Council, he also served as Chairman of Beacon Council, Dade County’s official economic development agency. He currently serves on various Boards and Foundations.
Mr. Epling has served as president of banks in Lexington, Kentucky, and Dania and Marathon, Florida. He spent three years as an assistant bank examiner for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in Washington, D.C. In addition, his farming experience includes more than 30 years as an agricultural lender and grower of tropical fruits, and he is on the Board of the Dade County Farm Bureau.
Mr. Epling was president of the Community Bankers/Florida Bankers Association from 1988-90, Community Bankers of Florida “Banker of the Year” in 1993. In 1999 Mr. Epling was honored with the University Distinguished Service Award from Florida International University. In 2003, Florida Bankers Association presented Mr. Epling with the “Legends Award”.
Mr. Epling received his B.A. degree from Furman University and graduate banking degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Oklahoma.
Founded in 1947 with leadership and support from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik and renowned journalist Grantland Rice, the NFF serves as a leading voice in the promotion of amateur football and its ability to develop the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academic achievement in America’s young people.
For more information on the 2010-11 Orange Bowl Festival and its events, including promotional and volunteer opportunities through the Ambassador Program, log on to www.orangebowl.org.