LESTER ABBERGER
Tallahassee, FL

AFFILIATION:  Managing Partner, Florida Lobby Associates; formerly senior executive vice president, Florida Water Services Corp. and ALLETE Water Resources Corp.

AREA OF EXPERTISE:  Growth management, conservation finance, public policy, water utilities, real estate development

BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE:  Lester is an investment banker and a lobbyist. He serves on the board and is chairman of the Financial Committee of the Conservation Campaign. He is chairman of the Florida Conservation Campaign and chairman of the Trust for Public Land Florida Advisory Council. Lester is a trustee of the National Trust for the Humanities, a trustee of the LeRoy Collins Institute for Public Policy at Florida State University, and a director at M & S Banks. He is chairman of the Seaside Institute and serves on the board of 1000 Friends of Florida, the University of South Florida College of Public Health, the LeRoy Collins-Leon County Public Library system, and the George Smathers Libraries of the University of Florida.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:  Lester is interested in the development and use of greenprints to guide future regional growth and to promote New Urbanist solutions to address these challenges.  He is also interested in exploring the public policy implications of the New Urbanism and in finding ways to use the public humanities to inform decision makers about the implications of the New Urbanism for responding to growth management challenges.