tom recommendation
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College of Health and Public Affairs II Orlando, FL 32816-‐‑1395 ●407-‐‑823-‐‑2604 ●FAX: 407-‐‑823-‐‑5651 Orlando, FL 32816-‐‑1395 ●407-‐‑823-‐‑2604 ●FAX: 407-‐‑823-‐‑5651
March 10, 2016 To Whom It May Concern: I write with my strongest recommendation for Tim Pehlke. Tim is a driven, detail oriented, independent manager, and committed collaborator—all qualities that are not always found within a single person. Tim joined the staff of the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management to lead a new multi-year project with the Florida Department of Transportation. The Walking School Bus was designed to assist communities and schools identify safe walking routes for elementary school children and their families between their homes and the school. The work required recruiting and training volunteers, negotiating with school and school district officials to launch the project in their communities, measuring performance of the project in inputs, outputs, and outcomes, supervising student workers, and communicating updates to me, other university officials, and DOT officials. When I was hiring for this position, I wanted someone who I could trust to work independently and bring a great deal of creativity to the role. Tim met all expectations and exceeded them at every level and in every activity area. Indeed, I was most appreciative and proud at his ability to raise additional revenue through grants and donations to support the project, and to work collaboratively with professors to design service learning projects that helped meet the needs of the project. Tim showed tremendous patience and endurance when a bureaucratic contract issue emerged that required work on the project to slow down and, in some cases, to cease. He showed good humor while waiting for a resolution to the situation. Tim also showed a great ability to move from one project to another with agility and equal passion and commitment. Another of the Center staff was forced to take medical leave for nearly a year to undergo cancer treatments. Tim stepped in and supervised our AmeriCorps VISTA project. Importantly, he did so I a way that provided much needed organization and, I believe, morale boost, to our VISTA members. Tim always had the respect of our VISTA members, and they always seemed genuinely happy to see him return to meetings and workshops even after he was relieved of this particular duty. The final major project Tim took on as his own was the development of a leadership development training program for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Tim had the unenviable role to coordinate multiple students, diverse professors, and an agency with
Center for Public and Nonprofit Management in the School of Public Administration
College of Health and Public Affairs II Orlando, FL 32816-‐‑1395 ●407-‐‑823-‐‑2604 ●FAX: 407-‐‑823-‐‑5651 Orlando, FL 32816-‐‑1395 ●407-‐‑823-‐‑2604 ●FAX: 407-‐‑823-‐‑5651
sometimes inconsistent expectations. Tim led the early stages of this work flawlessly, and I am certain if he continued and the project was implemented fully as designed, it would have been a great success. Unfortunately, due to competing agendas within the agency and resource constraints, we had to terminate Tim’s employment. In my tenure as director of the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management, this is my biggest regret. While with the Center, Tim gave 150% of his effort to the work, to the team, and to helping to develop the future of the Center. He is a strong manager, detailed focused project coordinator, talented communicator, independent worker, and team player who takes instruction well and often improves on it. Please call me anytime to speak further about Tim. My work phone is 407-823-0410; my cell phone is 407-473-7966. My email is [email protected]. Sincerely,
Thomas Bryer, PhD Director, Center for Public and Nonprofit Management