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Kent Nelson
TVWD Chief Executive Officer Recruitment
Page 2

EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE

Deputy Executive Director, Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority
August 2017 to present
Key West, FL
• Currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Engineer for the Florida
Keys Aqueduct Authority, an independent special district created by the State of
Florida, which provides approximately 79,000 permanent residents in the Florida Keys,
in addition to over one million visitors annually, with potable water and wastewater
service.
• Ultimately responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of one (1)
conventional water treatment plant; one (1) low pressure, brackish water reverse
osmosis water treatment plant; two (2) high pressure, seawater reverse osmosis water
treatment plants; five (5) wastewater treatment plants; 15 aquifer wells; 26 pump/lift
stations; 48 million gallons of potable water storage; and over 1,000 miles of pipe.
• Lead a diverse staff of over 200 including managerial, engineering, administrative,
supervisory, technical, journey and apprentice-level trade personnel.
• Meet regularly with the Authority’s Governor-appointed Board of Directors to
recommend and seek approval for policy-level decisions, recommend and seek
approval for OPEX and CAPEX budgetary expenditures, and provide overall capital
program as well as operational updates.
• Develop (annually) and actively manage a current annual budget of over $70 million.
• Developed and actively manage a new five-year capital improvement program (CIP)
of over $125 million (with over $250 million projected over 15 years) that includes
master planning information and input from operations staff to identify projects. An
innovative scoring system, using ten different and weighted level of service criteria,
was used to then rank each project with respect to overall priority. Using this prioritized
ranking and planning-level project cost estimates, the CIP was then programmed and
became the basis for a rate study to evaluate financial impact of the CIP against
revenue projections to determine what proposed changes to rates would be needed
to fund the CIP and the corresponding debt service from proposed bonding.
Coordinated with the Authority’s CFO to propose rate changes to the Board of
Directors, hold public rate hearings to evaluate rate increase impacts, and ultimately
get the rate changes approved.
• Conducted an organizational and salary study to analyze all existing classifications
and compensation system to improve the Authority’s competitive position in the
market. This study included adjusting the overall compensation (salary only) for all
classifications, correcting internal and external equity issues between classifications,
and developing both a new, standardized naming convention for classifications and a
new overall organizational structure that focuses on defined succession planning and
optimizing overall business effectiveness.

• Spearheading an IT strategic plan that evaluates the use of current technologies and
system architecture with industry standards, evaluates the actual versus desired
performance of existing IT activities with a focus on what should be insourced and
what should be outsourced, and developed a five-year capital plan for IT upgrades
and expenditures.
• Spearheading a new Asset Management Program that includes defining levels of
service, implementing a new GIS-based Computer Maintenance Management System
(CMMS), prescribing a regularly occurring risk-based condition assessment on all
facilities and assets, creating standardized maintenance planning and implementation