The South Florida Water Management District Governing Board named Ernie Marks as the District's new executive director, taking over for Pete Antonacci.
The District’s board unanimously chose Marks to lead the SFWMD on Monday. Marks will replace Antonacci, who left the District to head up Enterprise Florida earlier this month.
Marks was the only person nominated for the position. He will be the agency’s fifth executive director since 2011.
A longtime environmental regulator, Marks joined SFWMD last year as its director of Everglades policy and coordination. Prior to joining SFWMD, Marks worked as the south region director for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He previously spent more than a decade with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Marks graduated with a degree in environmental protection economics and natural resource management from the University of Rhode Island.
The Governing Board pointed to his experience at state agencies as the primary reason for voting him as their new top official.
“Ernie Marks has amassed over 20 years of public service in natural resource management, with 13 of those years solely concentrated on the restoration of America's Everglades," said SFWMD Governing Board Chairman Dan O'Keefe. "His dedication to the environment and the science that ensures its future is well known throughout Florida and a primary reason I am confident in his abilities to strengthen our partnerships and head the multi-billion-dollar Everglades restoration effort."
The announcement comes during a key time for the District, which has shifted its focus to restore the Florida Everglades through Gov. Rick Scott’s $880 million Restoration Strategies Plan and the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
SFWMD is the largest, busiest and most intricately employed of Florida's five water management districts and will need Marks’ help to move forward with the plan.
The District is currently engaged in what it calls a “crucial planning study” to identify opportunities to store water around Lake Okeechobee to reduce damaging discharges to the coastal estuaries.
Besides coordinating Everglades Restoration, it is also working toward its broader mission of building projects to provide flood protection, restore water quality, reconnect natural systems and ensure water supply from Orlando to the Florida Keys.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
