North Florida Land Trust’s executive team has a new chief operating officer. Roney Gutierrez has joined the nonprofit land conservation organization in the leadership role. Gutierrez will oversee all day-to-day operations and administrative functions for the nonprofit including human resources and information technology. He will lead NFLT’s strategic financial planning and will monitor operations to maximize effectiveness and organizational stability. Gutierrez will report directly to the president and work closely with the directors of conservation acquisitions, stewardship and philanthropic services.
“We are happy to welcome Roney to our team and look forward to having his guidance as we continue to preserve land throughout north Florida and within the critical O2O wildlife corridor,” said Allison DeFoor, interim president of NFLT. “Roney has an impressive background and years of experience in land conservation programs that will undoubtedly be a major asset to us.”
Gutierrez comes to NFLT after working with the USDA National Resources Conservation Service where he managed multiple land conservation programs with a more than $1 billion combined budget in multiple states including North Carolina, California, Hawaii and Florida. Gutierrez also spent seven years working in Latin America as chief of party of the AGUA Consortium which consists of five international and national non-governmental organizations that successfully advanced integrated watershed management and land conservation.
Gutierrez is a graduate of Cornell University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in agronomy. He also earned his master’s degree in soil science from North Carolina State University.
About North Florida Land Trust
North Florida Land Trust is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the quality of life by protecting North Florida’s irreplaceable natural environment. Founded in 1999, NFLT has preserved tens of thousands of acres of land through the donation or purchase of land as well as conservation easements. NFLT is funded largely by private and corporate contributions and works closely with willing landowners and public agencies at all levels of government, not-for-profit partners, and foundations.