RICK DANTZLER
COO, CITRUS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, LAKE ALFRED
The Citrus Research and Development Foundation is a non-profit corporation, initiated by Florida’s citrus industry, that functions as a direct support organization of the University of Florida. The foundation’s mission is to advance research into citrus diseases and product development activity. Dantzler says the relationship with the university was “rocky” when he became COO, but “with the help of a great president in Larry Black and a supportive board, we calmed the waters, and everyone is now pulling the wagon in the same direction.”
| EDUCATION | University of Florida (BA, JD) |
| PROFESSIONAL EVOLUTION | Dantzler was elected to the Florida House of Representatives at 26 and later served as president of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. |
| SOMETHING SURPRISING | I’m an avid fly-fishing angler and a pretty good athlete. I have written three books. Two are historical fiction, and the third is hunting and fishing stories from Florida and Georgia. |
| FLORIDA ISSUE | Population growth is gobbling up rural land like PacMan. To the extent we can’t stop it, we must start growing up, not out. |