Pat “Taz” Fearns - Chair
Pat is a “Sand in Her Shoes” Native, who was born in St. Petersburg and grew up in Crystal River.
Pat relocated back to St. Petersburg in 1979 and has resided in the Greater Tampa Bay area ever
since. Utilizing her BA Degree in Mass Communications, TV, Radio Programming and
Production. Pat has worked for WTOG-44 TV, F Productions and Home Shopping Network.
Currently Pat works for the National Medical Electronic Health Records software company,
Greenway Health and has served as a Chair of their LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group and
PRIDE+GRN.
Pat is a Bone Marrow and 58+ Gallon Blood Donor. Since “Coming Out” in 1992, Pat has been a
staunch Community/Social Activist and Volunteer. Pat was a Performing Member of Crescendo,
The Tampa Bay Women’s Chorus while serving as Board Secretary and was a Board Member
of Tampa PRIDE. Pat’s Activism and volunteer efforts have benefited Equality Florida
(previously the Tampa Bay Human Rights Task Force), Tampa AIDS Network and Service
Association of Pinellas (now umbrellaed under EMPATH HEALTH and d/b/a EPIC), METRO
Inclusive Health, Unitarian Universalist Churches in Greater Tampa Bay, American Cancer
Society and various KOMEN charities, United Way Suncoast, Feeding America, Tampa Bay and
The Kind Mouse (to name a few). Pat has been active with Come Out St. Pete since 2021 and is
proud that her commitment to this organization aligns with her life path to “Be the Change You
Wish to See in the World.”
Bill Kody / Co-Chair
Bill was born and raised in West Michigan. He has one daughter that lives in Ohio and was married in 2022. From a very early age, Bill knew he had a love for music. In 1986 he decided that he wanted to play music for other people and became a DJ. In 2012 he decided that he wanted leave cooperate America and move to Saint Petersburg to DJ year round. He loves the Grand Central District and decided to join the Come Out St Pete board in 2018. Bill got married to the love of his life, Jeremy Kody in 2019. In 2021 Bill & Jeremy started to manage Casa Del Merman @ Gay St Pete House. He loves his community and 100% believes in equality for everyone.
Joshua Wallace / Treasurer
Chris Jones
Chris Jones has been a resident of St. Petersburg since 2002. He has been active in many events over the years as a market vendor as well as fundraising event coordinator with King of Peace MCC while serving on their board of directors from 2005-2008. He attended Sunstate Academy in Clearwater for massage therapy and became a licensed massage therapist in 2011. He has owned his own private massage practice now since 2011 and currently has a studio on 7th Avenue.
He became involved in Come Out St. Pete in 2017, participating as a vendor with his wood carvings and was elected onto the board of directors in 2018, in which he was the coordinator for the vendor market. He is currently chair for Come Out St. Pete and is looking forward to the opportunity to attempt to make a difference and become more involved within our LGBTQ community! He draws inspiration by his late husband, Fred Burns in that we may never know what a difference we may have made in someone's life, but we should at least do our best to help them in any way we can!
Noelle Soncrant
Noelle Soncrant is a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual. She is based in Tampa but services
clients all over the United States. She spent more than 20 years in higher ed fundraising before making the switch to Northwestern Mutual, citing her desire to have a more direct impact on the people she serves. Her goal is to create flexible financial plans for her clients and to take away some of the stress and anxiety so many people experience when it comes to their finances.
Noelle is very active in the community. She cooks a monthly dinner for the residents of the Ronald
McDonald House in St. Petersburg and host an annual fundraiser to raise funds for Alex’s Lemonade
Stand for Pediatric Cancer and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.
She is also very active in the LGBTQ community, serving on the Board of Directors for Come Out St. Pete and PFlag Riverview. She also volunteers time with the Found Family Collective, overseeing fundraising efforts to provide free self defense classes to the LGBTQ.
