Meet FTA Executive Director

[JaxHiker]

Sorry for the short notice but if you're in the Jacksonville area tonight you can meet the Trail Association's new Executive Director Dennis Miranda. I had the opportunity to meet him last month and I think he's going to do great things for us in Florida. He'll be talking to the North Florida Trailblazers tonight from 6:30-8:30. The location is different from our monthly meetings and will be held at the Pablo Creek Branch Library (13295 Beach Boulevard). Hope to see you there!

[erichkopp]

Curious to know how the meeting was. Mr. Miranda seems to have many credentials that will be really useful to the Florida Trail. Any mention of new projects or areas of focus in the near future?

[Ladytrekker]

I would like to sit and down and talk with him a little. I hike on the Ft quite a bit and would like to see his point of view and exchange ideas.

[JaxHiker]

Sorry, didn't realize I never followed up. Here's the entry from my blog.

Last night we had an impromptu meeting with the North Florida Trailblazers to meet the Florida Trail Association’s recently hired Executive Director, Dennis Miranda. We had a good turnout with close to 20 people. Some folks traveled from as far as Palatka and Gainesville to make the meeting.

For close to two hours Dennis shared his visions for the FTA and how he plans on accomplishing some of the goals. We spent a good portion of the time giving him a pulse of the chapter to see where we are and where we need to be. Overall we’re not doing bad as a chapter but can certainly do better at reaching new members/volunteers.

I think we’ll see some great things happening throughout the state and hopefully sooner rather than later. It was nice to have representation from one of our local land trust managers and to hear about some projects they’re working on. It was refreshing to see some new faces at the meeting and some relatively new members also interested enough to be there.

I’m looking forward to some more training opportunities and hope to be able to help provide some myself. Things are looking up, Florida! If you haven’t done so already, join us and help promote and support our Florida National Scenic Trail!

Expect to see the FTA reaching out to corporations and other groups to build relationships, the member body, and sponsorship. Dennis has a lot of experience leading this sort of organization and I think good things are in store.