Lakewood Ranch executive candidate search narrows

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Leaders of the Lakewood Ranch Inter-District Authority board and Town Hall have begun vetting applicants for a new executive director for Town Hall.

Board members received a stack of 34 applications this week and will meet Sept. 30 to finalize candidates they wish to interview.

“The submissions, as far as the experience and the backgrounds of the candidates, has been varied, everything from no government experience to quite a bit,” said Town Hall Executive Director Eva Rey, who leaves her post next month for a position in Viera. “I feel that the board will have a candidate that meets the profile they developed.”

Of 34 applicants, 13 live locally, but only a handful have specific government management experience, including East County resident Anne Ross, who currently serves as the assistant town manager for the town of Longboat Key, and Bruce St. Denis, Longboat Key’s former town manager, who now oversees more than 20 community development districts across the state.

Other local applicants include Rosedale homeowner Thomas Thanas, who currently works and lives in Joliet, Ill., as city manager, but hopes to relocate permanently to East County; and Javier Vargas, deputy director of public works for the city of Palmetto; Jeremy Chupp, a recent engineering graduate; Mike Hein, a former city manager who now leads emergency management and homeland security in Pima County, Ariz.; David Thompson, building division manager for Manatee County; Roberta Caldwell, a consultant; Donald Haggerty, a corporate director of property management; Susan Rodriguez, a local Realtor; Jeff Snyder, finance director for the city of Venice; and Jeff Burton, director of the Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency. 

Neil Gaines, who lives in Riverview, but serves as the landscape operations manager and public works/engineering/capital improvement projects coordinator for the city of Sarasota, also has applied. Walter Pierce, of Tampa, also owns a home in Lakewood Ranch and has family in the area.

IDA supervisors received resumes of all candidates this week and will meet at 9 a.m. Sept. 30, at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall, to review resumes together. Rey and human resources consultant Ron Hamilton, who is helping with the recruitment and interview process, will make comments and recommendations about candidates to the board at that time. 

Board members expect to select up to five candidates for interviews, with a meet-and-greet for finalists scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 7 and interviews slated for 8 a.m. Oct. 8. 

IDA supervisors will conduct one-on-one interviews with each finalist before holding a group interview with each and hearing from the public before selecting the next executive director.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].