Ed Chiles named as Co-Chair of World Rowing Championships!

Ed Chiles and Rod Hershberger selected as event co-chairs for 2017 World Rowing Championships

Staff members with the 2017 World Rowing Championships are pleased to announce that Ed Chiles of Manatee County and Rod Hershberger of Sarasota County, have been selected as the two chairmen for the world class event in September 2017.
Chiles was selected to the position by Manatee County Administrator, Ed Hunzeker, while Hershberger was selected by Sarasota County Administrator, Tom Harmer.
Both will be tasked with rallying the community together prior to and during the Championships. Chiles and Hershberger will also lead quarterly meetings, attended by members of the event’s Local Organizing Committee.
“Being able to have the guidance and expertise of these two gentlemen is setting the foundation for our future success,” said Meredith Scerba, the executive director of the 2017 World Rowing Championships.
Chiles is the owner and CEO of the Chiles Group, operating the Sandbar, Beach House and Mar Vista restaurants on Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key. Chiles is the managing partner for the Pine Avenue Restoration project in the City of Anna Maria. He serves on numerous boards in Manatee County. His father, Lawton Chiles, served as Florida’s 41st governor.
“It’s an honor to be asked to serve as co-chair along with Rod Hershberger,” said Chiles. “This event will showcase our world class location and the incredible rowing facility at Benderson Park to thousands of premier athletes, sponsors and attendees. The economic development that this will provide to our area will be substantial, as will the long term impact in reinforcing our area as a premier, international sports destination.”
Hershberger is a co-founder of PGT Industries, Inc., in Venice, Florida. He has served the company since its founding in 1980. Appointed in 2005 as Chief Executive Officer, Hershberger led the company’s IPO in 2006. Previously, he served as executive vice president and chief operating officer overseeing PGT’s Florida and North Carolina operations. Hershberger has previously led all aspects of PGT, including engineering, marketing, sales, manufacturing, transportation, logistics and customer service. Hershberger also serves as president for the Argus Foundation
“My family and PGT have been involved in the sports industry for a long time. It’s an honor to be a part of this particular sporting event. To have Ed Chiles on board is great, and I’m looking forward to getting to work,” said Hershberger.

2017 World Rowing Championships Background:
From September 23 – October 3, 2017, the World Rowing Championships, an international Rowing Regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation), will be held at Nathan Benderson Park, in Sarasota Florida. This weeklong event is held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years – it is the highlight of the international rowing calendar. Rowing takes place in 21 different boat classes for both Men and Women, apart from during Olympic years when only non-Olympic boat classes’ race.
In the forty-eights years of the events existence, the United States has hosted only one world championship in 1994 at Indianapolis, IN. Twenty-three years later, Sarasota-Bradenton will represent the United States as the host of the 2017 World Rowing Championship. The goal is to attract athletes, family, friends, fans from around the world, and locally in the US, to attend this world-class event, and grow the following of rowing in the US.

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