Wes McCurry was appointed as the president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County in January 2026.

Previously Wes was the organization’s senior vice president, leading the EDC’s business attraction and retention activities. Prior to joining the EDC in 2022, he oversaw the rapid development of the City of Port St. Lucie’s jobs corridor as director of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

Wes joined the city in 2018 after serving as a senior associate with the Port St. Lucie office of Fishkind & Associates, an economic and financial consulting firm involved in key financial advisory roles to special districts, local governments, redevelopment agencies and real estate developers. At Fishkind & Associates, he was tasked with management of the 8,200-acre Tradition master-planned community.

With more than 25 years of experience in community and land development, Wes also previously served as vice president of Core Communities, LLC and president of Core’s subsidiary, Tradition Development Company, LLC.

McCurry has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and has been a member of the Urban Land Institute, where he served on the Community Development Green Council, and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Jill Marasa is the Director of Development – Treasure Coast for Ashley Capital, one of the largest

privately-held industrial real estate investment companies in the U.S. She oversees the development

activity for the Florida land portfolio, comprised of over 2,000 acres in Martin County and St. Lucie

Counties including Sunrise Grove Commerce Center, Martin Commerce Park and PCC2023.

Jill started her career in the financial services industry in New York and New Jersey and held various

economic development roles at the Business Development Board of Martin County. Prior to joining

Ashley Capital, she served as the Vice President, Business Retention and Expansion at the Economic

Development Council of St. Lucie County responsible for promoting economic development and leading

business retention, expansion and attraction efforts, as well as recruitment for new industrial

development activity.

Eric possesses over 20 years of extensive commercial real estate experience across a broad spectrum of asset classes as PEBB’s Chief Investment Officer. His responsibilities include overseeing the company’s acquisitions and investment allocations, driving PEBB’s vision and investment strategy, portfolio and asset management, development, and repositioning projects, and identifying value-add and opportunistic investments.

Eric previously served as PEBB’s Chief Development Officer from 2018 to 2020 and joined PEBB as Director of Development in 2016. Since then, PEBB has expanded into a prolific and diversified commercial real estate leader with a nationwide portfolio and successfully embarked on transformative developments and significantly expanding upon high quality assets under management.

Throughout his career, Eric has been involved in the acquisition and redevelopment of several billion in property and asset management of over 10 million square feet of retail, office, industrial and multifamily properties nationwide. Prior to joining PEBB, he served as Principal of a vertically integrated real estate platform and worked at Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE: KIM).

Eric graduated from Lafayette College with a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Law and earned a Master of Science in Real Estate from New York University. Additionally, Eric is a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), a Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker, and a Florida Licensed Certified Building Contractor. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), The Urban Land Institute, the National Association of Realtors, and the CCIM Institute.

Stephen M. Black began his career at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1982. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology with Honors in 1986 and obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from the same institution in 1990. Stephen M. Black then gained postdoctoral training for one year at the University of Edinburgh studying Molecular Pharmacology before spending two years studying Molecular Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Stephen M. Black has received many academic appointments over the course of his career, beginning with an appointment as a Research Chemist with the University of California, San Francisco in 1993. The University of California, San Francisco promoted him to Assistant Professor in 1994 and he held this position until 1999. From 1999 through 2006 he held Associate Professor positions with Northwestern University, the University of Montana, and the University of Washington. The University of Montana made him a full-time Professor in 2005 and the Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University) did the same in 2006. In 2010 he was then appointed as a Regents’ Professor. A Regents’ Professorship represents the highest academic status bestowed by the University System of Georgia. It is meant to recognize a substantial, significant and ongoing record of scholarly achievement that has earned high national esteem over a sustained period. The title is awarded by the Board of Regents, which governs the University System of Georgia, only upon the unanimous recommendation of the president, the chief academic officer, the appropriate academic dean and three other faculty members named by the president, and upon the approval of the Chancellor and the committee on academic affairs.

Stephen M. Black has extensive administrative experience being Research Director of Neonatology at Northwestern University and Vascular Biology of St. Patrick Hospital at the University of Montana, the Basic Science Director of the Cardiovascular Discovery Institute, chief of the division of Translational & Regenerative Medicine and chair for basic research in the Department of Medicine at the University of Arizona as well as serving as the director of the Center for lung Vascular Pathobiology.

With respect to his research expertise, Stephen Black is a vascular biologist whose laboratory takes a translational/integrative approach to the roles played by oxidative and nitrosative stress in the development of pulmonary hypertension, lung injury, and stroke. His lab has been supported by extramural funding for over 20 years. Over this time period he has been awarded over $50MM in funding from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, March of Dimes foundation, and the Fondation le Duq. Currently, he has funding via several NIH awards including two P01 awards focused on ventilator mediated lung injury and pulmonary vascular disease. He has also trained both MD and PhD investigators and a significant number have gone on to independent academic careers.

Verdell Hawkins presently serves as Economic Development Manager for Florida Power and Light where he facilitates business attraction and expansion efforts. Verdell has over 20 years of experience in community and economic development. This experience ranges from serving urban communities in metropolitan Atlanta to rural communities of Mississippi and Northwest Florida.

His work in economic development includes business development activities across the United States, Canada, and Europe. It also entails project management, business retention efforts, and the provision of utility/infrastructure support.

Verdell is a seasoned community developer having spent years overseeing government relations, nonprofit management, workforce development, and community engagement efforts across the Southeast United States.

Verdell is very engaged in the local community. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Florida’s Great Northwest. He also serves as the Northwest Region Director for the Florida Economic Development Council, board member for the UWF HAAS Center Board of Economic Advisors, and as an advisory board member for the Florida Small Business Development Center. Verdell is also the current President of the Northwest Florida chapter of the African American Professionals Employee Group within FPL and an active member of the Pensacola Downtown Rotary.

Hawkins is also an active member of his local church where he teaches Sunday school and serves as a children’s church facilitator.

Verdell is a proud graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Business Management and served as Student Body President. He also holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Georgia State University with specialization in planning and economic development. In addition, he is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute and is currently pursuing a PhD in International Development.

Verdell and his wife Christina reside in the Pensacola area with their two children

Ken Krasnow serves as Vice Chairman of

Institutional Investor Services for the Florida

region. In this role, he is responsible for

broadening the company’s platform by

developing key client relationships, leading

major projects and transactions, maintaining

senior real estate industry and political

relationships and recruiting new talent. Ken

brings more than 30 years of acclaimed

expertise in the commercial real estate

industry, offering an exceptional level of

on-the-ground market knowledge.

Ken began his career as a commercial

leasing broker and was responsible for more

than three million square feet of Class A

building agencies in New York City. His

knowledge of brokerage and hands-on

approach to management makes him an

invaluable member of the Colliers leadership

team. In today’s Florida market, he will

continue to leverage his level of expertise to

accelerate our success in the region.

BUSINESS AND EDUCATIONAL

BACKGROUND

Since joining Colliers as Market Leader in

2015, Ken has overseen the tremendous

growth of the business from less than two

dozen professionals to more than 150 as of

year end 2018, during which time the firm

acquired high profile companies such as

CREC, Pointe Group and MF&Co. During that

same period, revenues more than quadrupled

while maintaining solid profitiability margins.

Prior to joining Colliers, Ken served as

Managing Director overseeing all operations

for CBRE in South Florida. While at CBRE, he

recruited almost 40 sales professionals and

during his tenure, revenues and profits for

his region more than doubled. Prior to joining

CBRE in Florida, Ken held executive positions

for Cushman & Wakefield in the New York

City area and Trammell Crow Corporation.

Ken served at Cushman & Wakefield for 18

years during which time he oversaw the New

York area profit center where he brought his

region back to record revenues after the

tragic events of September 11, 2001.

Ken attended Emory University where he

earned his Bachelor of Administration in

Finance. He also attended New York

University for Graduate Real Estate studies.

PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Named one of the “Florida 500” influential

business leaders by Florida Trend

• Named “Power Leader” by South Florida

Business Journal

• Named on of Real Estate New York’s “Top

40 Under 40”

• Recognized as one of the “Next Great

Leaders” by Real Estate Forum

• Recipient of the Percy Douglass Award by

Friends of Island Academy

• Winner of the Royal Poinciana Community

Leadership award by Debbie’s Dream

Foundation

• Listed as one of “Top 50 Leaders in

Commercial Real Estate” by Real Estate

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