Blake Guillory Named New Exec. Dir. at SWFWMD



Blake Guillory



Blake Guillory has been named the new executive director of SWFWMD following the recent resignation of Dave Moore.  The water management district’s governing board named him to lead the once-powerful agency late Monday afternoon.

According to the website Linkedin, Guillory is presently Vice President, Florida Manager, at Brown and Caldwell where he has worked since 2007.

Before that he was Vice President, Water Resources Division Manager at PBS&J (recently sold to Adkins) from November 1998 – November 2007.

Prior to that, he was a Project Director at CDM, a privately held civil engineering firm from November 1990 until November 1998.

His education includes an M.B.A. (1998) and an M.E. in Civil Engineering (1991) from the University of South Florida.  He also earned a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1985.

Here’s what they have to say about his current responsibilities at Brown and Caldwell.

More than 21 years of civil and environmental engineering experience encompassing project management, master planning for stormwater and utilities, surface water hydrology and hydraulic modeling, watershed studies, floodplain mapping, NPDES, TMDLs, water quality, environmental permitting, and construction services. Experience includes federal, state, municipal, military, industrial, commercial and residential projects.

Groups and associations he belongs to include:  Florida Stormwater Association - President 2009, Florida Floodplain Managers Association - Chairman 2008, American Water Resources Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, Florida Engineering Society, American Water Works Association, Florida Water Environment Association, Shriners of North America, Tequesta Country Club.

The Lakeland Ledger quotes Chairman Paul Senft,

 "This was a unanimous choice by the board. Blake is the right person at the right time for this District and the water resources," … "His extensive experience in the private sector and the contacts he has throughout the state and the nation will serve the District well as we move forward meeting the critical water needs of west Central Florida."

Guillory will be paid $165.006 a year, considerably less than the $194,875 Moore his predecessor was paid (and, incidentally, a little more than I was paid when I retired in 2003).  His official start date had not been established, according to Swiftmud spokeswoman Robyn Felix.

CEO-gov. Rick Scott recently placed a cap on water management district executive salaries.

Welcome to the fast lane, Blake. 

You’ll need to be able to think fast in the face of fire from 360 degrees of angry constituents, elected officials and regulated entities while withstanding a barrage of sometimes incredibly uninformed questions and accusations from your 13 board members, all of whom have no doubt that they know more than you. 

Moreover, you’ll be expected to be perfect in all respects from managing your anger to smiling yes when you should be frowning no, managing a staff of some 800 high-level professional employees including Ph.D.’s, lawyers, scientists, clerks and heavy equipment operators, and keeping his honor J. D. Alexander, CEO-governor Scott and Brother-secretary Vinyard happy by firing a lot of them. 

You’ll need to figure out how to protect the state’s water quality from individuals, industries and municipalities who continue to think they have a right to use Florida’s waterways for their very own waste disposal needs, despite an all out attack on the district’s ability to do what it has been charged by law to do.

You’ll need to prevent all residents and businesses from being flooded which, if you fail, you’ll be summarily fired for incompetence but if you succeed no one will ever know or hear about it.

You’ll need to figure out how to assure there will be adequate water supplies for millions of people, industry and farmers for the next 30 years despite the fact that 1) groundwater aquifers have been over-pumped for years, 2) no one wants to drink reuse water, and 3) seawater desalination is too expensive.

AND … you’ll have to do this while tea-partiers and their pandering friends will want to throw you out on your ear simply because you’re now employed by g-o-v-e-r-n-m-e-n-t and thus by definition have become a sub-standard human specie known as a bureaucrat.

Good luck, Blake.  Let’s go fishing when you get a little free time.