Executive Director

111 South Orange Avenue, Suite 200W

Sarasota, FL 34236

The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) is seeking qualified applicants for the Executive Director position. The successful applicant will have demonstrated experience in effectively managing multi-entity environmental, scientific and/or engineering programs; fostering and maintaining collaborative approaches to complex environmental issues; the ability to facilitate consensus among diverse and sometimes conflicting stakeholders; success in raising funds from public and private sectors, including federal, state and local grants;

and the ability to manage an effective and talented staff.

The Executive Director is a full‑time position responsible for ensuring the efficient and fiscally responsible operation of the SBEP. This includes providing supervision and appropriate oversight of the managers of SBEP’s technical projects, its public education and outreach initiatives, and its program administration function. The Executive Director will also be responsible for maintaining existing and developing new sustainable funding sources from public and private sectors, and meeting requirements stated in the various grants (including EPA Cooperative Agreements) awarded to SBEP.

Primary among the Executive Director’s responsibilities is to maintain and strengthen SBEP’s local, state and national reputation as a science‑based ‘honest broker,’ encouraging all stakeholders to work together to form effective solutions to meet agreed‑upon goals for the restoration and protection of Sarasota Bay.

• Knowledge of the principles of estuarine ecology and the factors affecting water quality in estuaries.
• The ability to readily grasp the technical basis for the program’s goals and actions and to communicate those concepts to policymakers, the public, and the media in easily understood terms.
• The ability to facilitate consensus among diverse and sometimes competing stakeholders on complex environmental issues.
• The ability to build partnerships among the program’s local government, agency, and private‑sector partners on projects that support implementation of the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP).
• Success in marketing environmental or natural resource management programs and in raising funds from private and public sources.
• Experience in program management including project management, finance, budgeting and personnel management.
• Demonstrated leadership in professional and personal accomplishments.

SBEP values leadership qualities in its Executive Director, and has identified the following qualities as desirable:

• Ethics and values – adheres to an effective set of core values, whether working within the SBEP organization, with partners, or with members of the community at large.
• Integrity and trust – is widely trusted by the scientific community, government agencies and the public at large.
• Communications – is able to speak and write clearly and succinctly regarding SBEP’s mission and projects to a variety of audiences including public officials, the technical and scientific community, and the public.
• Building and maintaining successful teams – creates strong morale and spirit within the SBEP staff and with all partners; shares credit and successes.
• Working toward common goals with multiple and diverse partners – is adept at identifying common goals and solutions for complex and long‑term issues affecting Sarasota Bay’s resources.

The position requires a graduate degree from an accredited university or college in one of the natural sciences, engineering, public administration, business administration, urban and regional planning, policy analysis, or a related field and at least six years of progressively responsible experience in one or a combination of those fields. Preference will be given to candidates who have successfully directed environmental and natural resource management programs with high visibility and who have successfully developed diverse and stable funding sources for those programs.

• Salary:
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