Before landing the World Rowing Championships, before any international competitions were held in its water, before sports officials for crew, pentathlon and any other number of sports, Nathan Benderson Park was a mining ditch. But Paul Blackketter could see something world-class in that ditch. With an Olympic event just completed and another qualifier days away, Blackketter, the first president and CEO for Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates, has announced he has reached his own personal finish line and will leave his position by the end of the fiscal year. “This has been an incredible adventure,” he said. “Honestly, I have been working on this project for a really long time. Now I want to take the lessons we’ve learned here off to different locations.”

Blackketter plans to start his own consulting firm in coming months, a business built on a 20-year career spanning a period in the US Army, project management at Benderson Development and ultimately to the opening of Nathan Benderson Park as a competition venue.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Blackketter faced trials of his own in 2014 when SANCA failed to get all the required information to the state of Florida and was temporarily unable to raise private funds, and then last year, the CEO’s management style came under heavy fire when an expletive-laden video of him yelling at a project manager at the park was posted on YouTube. But today Blackketter feels confident the organization is on sound financial footing, noting a drive to create a boathouse at the park will provide a sustainable income there. And he says the video scandal ultimately forced him to address some personal issues dating back to his military service. “The board here basically forced me to go and address my PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and I did,” he said. “This really helped me to be in this place I am now, and it opened up so many different perspectives to me.”

The successes at Nathan Benderson still stand tall over any low points. In rapid order, the park beat out sports venues around the globe when it was selected to host the World Rowing Championships in 2017. The venue will also host the World Masters Rowing Championships in 2018, and the Florida Sports Foundation in 2015 named the park as the Sports Venue of the Year.

Just last weekend, the park hosted the US Olympic and Paralympic Trials, and officials with the sport lauded the event as one of the best they had ever attended. It was then Blackketter knew the hard work of the past seven years paid off. “It was such a lift,” he said. “We’ve arrived.” He decided then it would be a good time to exit, and this week he announced his resignation from SANCA. Next weekend, Nathan Benderson will host the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final, an event international federation officials for Modern Pentathlon have already labeled the “best World Cup event in 40 years.” 

SANCA chairman Bill Robertson praised Blackketter, saying the outgoing CEO “established a worldwide network of relationships and connections, and the idea of becoming a consultant is a natural fit for him.” Blackketter said he will stay as long as Sept. 30 to ease a transition. Any new president, Blackketter says, should make sure improvements to the park continue, but must also remember that Nathan Benderson Park belongs to the community, as does the Fort Hamer Rowing Facility maintained by SANCA in Manatee County. He spoke of how local rowing clubs today practice in water alongside collegiate teams from Harvard and other schools. “These kids now have a gateway into these colleges,” Blackketter said. “This unveils opportunities they may have never thought of or dreamed they could have.”