Warren G. Simonds

By FRED W. WRIGHT JR.

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 16, 2000

New position: Vice president of marketing, Ed Taylor Construction South Inc., Tampa

Previous position: Director of corporate marketing, Dooley & Mack Construction Co., Sarasota

Warren G. Simonds, who joins Ed Taylor Construction South as vice president of marketing, is in his third profession. His career in construction for the past six years follows 10 years in architecture and engineering, which was preceded by 14 years as a banking executive. He said he prefers the construction industry because of the changing trends in consumer demands and needs, and because the contractor, engineer and architect can work as a team.

"Nobody wants the Taj Mahal but they want a really solid building that's low in maintenance," he said. "The initial cost of any building is a fraction of the total expenditure over the useful life of that building. Over 40 years, what you pay for a building (in construction costs) is 5 to 10 percent of what you'll spend over the life of the building."

Simonds said he also likes the tangibility of the end product in construction: a building.

"We physically create things. One of the things that makes this business so attractive to people in it, once you're done with a project, it's tangible," he said. "You can drive by it years later and show your kids and grandkids. Unfortunately for a lot of people, the work they do is not (permanent). It disappears as electrons in a computer or into file drawers."

Among the projects Simonds has worked on in the past 16 years are the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota, the Punta Gorda Courthouse, the academic building at the Fort Myers campus of Florida Gulf Coast University, the Booker Performing Arts Center in Sarasota, the St. Johns River Community College Performing Arts Hall "and thousands more."

Simonds, 56, is married and has two children. A resident of the Tampa Bay area for more than 25 years, he lives on the north end of Longboat Key and commutes to Tampa.

Simonds received a bachelor of science degree at Georgia Tech in 1966 and then served six years in the Army, including nearly a year in Vietnam, where he was wounded. He received an MBA at the University of Georgia in 1971 and his Ph.D. at the Prohnow School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin in 1979.

In his banking years, Simonds was president of Southeast Bank in Bradenton and National Trust Bank in St. Petersburg. He said his expertise in investments and banking proves useful in helping clients obtain financing for major construction.

Ed Taylor Construction has projects in 10 states, with an emphasis on technology companies and data transmission companies. It also works extensively in community college construction. The company has 127 employees in its Tampa offices and expects to have revenues this year of $52-million to $55-million, Simonds said.

The Tampa Bay area "is a great place to be in construction," Simonds said. "It's unique in terms of its diversity."

Simonds said he supports the Tampa Bay area's efforts to bring future Olympic games to the area. Pointing to the construction impact of the 1996 Olympics on Atlanta, Simonds said such an event "starts a tidal wave of work." Besides, new construction makes people feel good, he said.

"Nothing makes you feel better than going to the ribbon cuttings," Simonds said. "Everybody is smiling and happy."

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