David E. Sessions, President/CEO of Willis Smith Construction, has received the Sarasota County Economic Development Corporation 2019 Clyde Nixon Business Leadership Award. The award acknowledges a business leader in Sarasota County who embodies the personal and business values demonstrated by the late Clyde Nixon, former Chairman of Sun Hydraulics.  Like Nixon and the prior winners, Sessions is well known for his exemplary business acumen and his unwavering commitment to economic development.

Joining Willis Smith in 1988, Sessions became a partner at the age of 29, and was named president in 2000. He has served on numerous community boards, including Florida’s West Coast Region of the American Red Cross and the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corporation. He was also a founding member and is still actively involved with the Gulf Coast CEO Forum, and has most recently joined the Gulf Coast Community Foundation Board. In addition, he was past Chairman of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County for two consecutive years, and past chairman of the Sarasota County Education Foundation.

Willis Smith Construction