Meet Our Panelist

George Kruse

Manatee County Commissioner

George Kruse is the District 7 at-large Commissioner for Manatee County. George’s primary focuses on the Board are housing, growth and job creation. He brings a unique skill set to tackle these issues as he has spent the last 20+ years focusing on commercial real estate, primarily on the finance and private equity sides of the industry, having personally closed over $1 Billion in transactions over that period. His passion for affordable housing initiatives started as an analyst with a low-income housing tax credit fund and has continued as a Sadowski Fund Affiliate, a current member of the Manatee Count Affordable Housing Advisory Board and former member of the City of Bradenton’s Affordable Housing Board. He is also working closely on Manatee County’s economic development and job creation as a Board member of CareerSource Suncoast.

George grew up in Sarasota and, after a decade of relocation around the country, moved back to the area and settled into Manatee County with his family in 2008. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in finance and later received his MBA with honors from Columbia Business School with a dual focus on finance and real estate. He’s a graduate of Leadership Manatee (Class of 2018…best class ever) and now sits on the Leadership Alumni Association Board. He is active in Bradenton Kiwanis, Tiger Bay, Peace River Water Authority, numerous youth sports groups & nonprofits and is a former Advisory Board Member for the University of Florida’s Master’s in Real Estate program.

 

Meredith Barcomb

POWER in Myakka

A Florida native, Meredith was raised in a small town in Maryland. In 2003, she returned to Manatee County and lives on a small farm with her husband Justin, five children and a wide variety of animals. She has been riding horses since the age of three.

Public Relations has always been a passion, and she enjoys connecting people. She handled PR for her previous business, BounceU of Sarasota as well as a few local 501c3 organizations. She’s also done consulting for local businesses trying to find more profitable restructuring strategies. She hopes to use her past experiences in the community to help P.O.W.E.R gain exposure, and aid in achieving our goal of smart development.

I look forward to working with not only our board members, but our community in its totality

 

 

Carol Clarke

Medallion Homes

Carol Clarke is a graduate of Allegheny College and the University of Pennsylvania.  She came to Bradenton in 1978 to work for Manatee County as an Assistant Planner.  She worked for Manatee County for a total of 25 years (two stints) before leaving in 2009 as Director of the Planning Department. (Actually – she was fired).  During her career she has also worked for Hillsborough County, Pasco County and several consulting firms.  She retired from Pasco County in 2015 with 33 years of Florida local government experience.  However – she was not all that good at retirement.  She began taking consulting jobs from developers, attorneys and neighborhood groups.  In 2020 she began employment with Medallion Home.  At Medallion she works on Comprehensive Plan amendments, rezonings, and site plans.  She also actively reviews policy proposals presented to and by Manatee County.  It is probably fair to say that she does not hesitate to express her opinion!

Glen Gibellina

Uncontained 360

Glen has been Involved in the Construction Industry for the last 50 years and worked on the first Native American housing with Habit of Humanity South Dakota.

Glen has been an Affordable Housing Advocate for over 30 years and is 

currently on the Manatee County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee.