After 22 years, Keep Manatee Beautiful hires new executive director

Ingrid McClellan became the executive director of Keep Manatee Beautiful in 1996, just four years after the nonprofit was started, and was already the agency’s fourth director with the previous three leaving with a little more than a year under their belts.

Twenty-one years later, Keep Manatee Beautiful has its fifth executive director with Jennifer Hoffman having taken the helm on Wednesday.

Hoffman hails from Tarpon Springs, but she has spent her 15-year nonprofit management career in the Dallas area, most recently as vice president of Earth Day Texas. McLellan said the KMB board of directors scoured more than a 100 applications and Hoffman was a natural fit.

“I feel very excited and very at ease over our new executive director,” McClellan said. “If I wasn’t, I’d still be here. I have 22 years of investment and time in improving and changing the face of the county’s community properties. I want that to continue and build.”

McClellan will stay on for another two months and has been granted the title of Executive Director Emeritus, which is typically bestowed on someone retiring with many achievements.

“She’s leaving big shoes to fill, but she’ll be with me for another two months and I’m going to learn everything she knows,” Hoffman said. “This is kind of a coming home for me so I’m really excited.”

Hoffman said she was looking for a place that would allow her to use her creativity that was already good, but she could try to make even better. She spent her first day making sand angels on Anna Maria Island as sand deliveries begin for the annual Sand Blast competition scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

“Not a bad way to start a first day,” Hoffman said.

She has set some short-term goals, including increasing the size of the office and starting an “aggressive” internship program to bring in more students and retirees.

“I would like to see an office representative at every cleanup event we do,” Hoffman said. “I want to let them know how much we care about what they are doing. When you first get into a new position, you don’t want to paint every room. Just do what you know how to do and start piece by piece to get a feel and make sure any changes you make are the right ones for where you are at.”

Hoffman said the short-term goals will develop more long-term goals and she looks forward to meeting everyone connected to KMB to determine what those goals will look like for 2018.

Under McClellan, KMB rose to new heights, including being called a “rock star” this year for being in the top three Keep America Beautiful Florida affiliates. KMB was second in the state for the number of events it holds, third in the number of volunteers, second for number of roadway miles cleaned and first for number of shoreline miles cleaned.

The city of Bradenton was the only municipality when McClellan started to be a Tree City USA member and now every city in Manatee County is a member.

McClellan said she’s going to take some time to explore her options when she leaves, “But my husband and I came here 27 years ago to retire, so we’ll be here for the rest of our lives. I’m vested in the way the community works.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 1:17 PM with the headline "After 22 years, Keep Manatee Beautiful hires new executive director."