Previous Board Members

Scott Melton

Mr. Ramrod 2007
International Mr. Leather 2nd Runner Up 2008

Scott Melton began his foray in to leather in Munich Germany in 1985. Upon returning to the US, Scott frequented the Buffalo in Las Vegas, the Ramrod in Boston and the DC Eagle in Washington. In November of 1999 he entered his first leather contest and placed 2nd Runner up in the Mr. DC Eagle contest. In 2006 Scott won the title of Mr. GNI (Gay Naturist International) Leather. Scott is both professionally and personally involved in advocacy for the elderly and GLBT issues in Florida and nationally.

Scott has served as associate state director for AARP Florida serving southwest Florida. He served as national co-lead for the PrismNetwork, the internal ERG (employee resource group) for AARP that addresses GLBT aging and equity issues, advising the AARP Office of Diversity and Inclusion on same. He began his career with the AARP Northeast Regional Office working with volunteers in state legislation and communications on Social Security and health care/managed care reform issues. He moved to Washington, DC in 1998 to work with the AARP Office of Legislative Counsel’s health and long-term care team to research public policy issues and to design and implement a witness database (to provide media outlets with real stories on AARP legislative priority issues). In April of 2001, Scott joined the Independent Living / Long-Term Care / End-of-Life initiative covering fourteen states in the development of integrated programmatic approaches to state advocacy and education.

Scott continues to provide content expertise in areas including family caregiving, long-term care, universal design, social security, disability, and LGBT aging issues as a consultant. He has published articles in Sarasota Manatee Business Magazine and Florida Trend Magazine on caregiving and aging workforce issues.

Since 1988 Scott has served on the Editorial Review Board for the Popular Culture Review, a refereed academic journal published by the Department of English of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Prior to coming to AARP, Scott worked in Boston as a project coordinator for Suffolk University Law School in Boston, MA. He was also a marketing coordinator for Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

We are grateful for his role in creating Lambda Men’s Brotherhood Inc.

Bill Hoeppner

International Leather boy 2008
Mama’s Sugar boy
Pantheon of Leather Man of the Year 2009

Bill was introduced to the Leather Community in 1993 in New York City. At that time the community was still galvanized by the AIDS Epidemic. The philanthropic nature of the leather community was what immediately drew him in and is one of the many things that still inspires him today.

Bill became an associate member of The Philadelphians MC and at that time began his work as a volunteer for non-profit organizations, supporting the community through fund raising. During his volunteer career, bill was the Co-Founder of Positively Sober, a Ft. Lauderdale support group for sober people living with HIV/AIDS and in 2007 helped to create Clean Sober Leather (CSL), an online support group for sober leather men and woman struggling with staying sober today in the leather community.

Bill was involved with the very first Leather Masked Ball in 2006 and continued to play key roles for six consecutive years. We are extremely grateful for his contributions.

As an active member of the South Florida Leather Community, Bill created the EDC (Enforced Dress Code) night, a monthly event at the Ramrod, Ft. Lauderdale, worked with Beyond Leather in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida as Contest Director for the SouthEast Leather Sir/boy Community Bootblack Contest and served as Producer/Director of the Mr. Ramrod Leather Contest for several years. Bill has served as a member of the Executive Board for F.L.U.I.D. (Florida Leaders United in Diversity) as well as International Leather SIR/boy Community Bootblack/Leather Heritage LLC and serves as the Co-Director of the International ILS/b ICBB Contest.

In recent years he has served as a judge on numerous panels for Leather Contests across the country including: Mr. Gulf Coast Florida Leather; Eastern Canada Leather SIR/boy; NorthEast Leather SIR/boy; SouthWest Leather SIR/boy; California Leather SIR/boy; Western Canada Leather SIR/boy; Great Lakes Leather Alliance; Central Plains Leather SIR/boy and Mid-Atlantic Leather SIR/boy. He also has had the privilege of working with and coaching a number of contestants in their preparation for Local, Regional and International Competitions and in 2011 served as a judge at IML.

He was honored with The Pantheon of Leather Man of the Year 2009 Award at IML 31, has been recognized twice at the local SAL Awards as Leather Person of the Year and was recently welcomed into Mama’s Family where he was personally pinned by Mama Sandy Reinhardt as Mama’s Sugar boy.

Bill has held the Titles of:
Mr. Ramrod 2006, Ramrod Bar, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
International Mr. Leather 2007, 2nd Runner Up
Florida Leather boy 2008
International Leatherboy 2008

Ron Todd

Ron Todd first volunteered for Leather Masked Ball in 2008 and we appreciate his willingness to pitch in and do whatever he was asked during a pivotal time in the history of The Leather Masked Ball. Ron served as Volunteer Coordinator and was on the founding board of Lambda Men’s Brotherhood Inc late in 2008.

Though no longer involved in the day to day work of LMB, Ron remains committed to our goals and promotes our organization as he moves around the globe in his work in the travel industry.

Ron won the title of Mr Gay Days Leather 2009 and competed at IML in May of 2009. He won the title of Mr Gay Naturist International Leather in August 2009 but declined to compete at IML that year.

Thom Leffler

A Michigan native, Thom moved to South Florida to live full-time in 2002.

A self-employed entrepreneur for 30 yeas in the design/retail business, he has been a significant volunteer in the charity/non profit arena his entire life; particularly in the area of development and fundraising.

While living in Michigan, he was part of the original steering committee to found the Michigan Human Rights Campaign Dinner; serving as table captain, silent auction chair, corporate sponsorship solicitor, and Federal Club co-coordinator. He also served on the boards of the Birmingham Community House, the Franklin Community Church, Affirmations; southeast Michigan's GLBT community center, the International Furnishings & Design Association, the Downtown Birmingham Development District, the Jaycees, and the Williamsburg Condominium Association.

Here in Fort Lauderdale he’s continued his philanthropic efforts; in addition to his role with LMB, Thom has lent his talents to Equality Florida's Broward Steering Committee, served as president of IFDA, been a volunteer and member of the Founders Circle at the Pride Center, and a financial supporter of Stonewall Library, Tuesday's Angles, Lambda Legal, the Sunshine Cathedral and Foundation and Sunserve.

While with Leather Men’s Brotherhood Thom worked tirelessly on raffles and ran some of the most successful silent auctions in our history. Thom left the LMB board in 2011 but remains an active volunteer. Most recently he joined the board of the South Florida Symphony Orchestra.

Thom's induction into the leather community began in Key West where he remains a member of "The Wreckers" leather club.

Thom was a 2009-10 Equality Florida "VOICE for EQUALITY" award recipient and says "Giving back to your community is the best gift you can give yourself."