St. Petersburg College: SPC Foundation Board Member Honored With James L. Wattenbarger Award

Press release from the St. Petersburg College:

2021-12-16

Congratulations to SPC Foundation board member Bill McCloud, who has been awarded the James L. Wattenbarger Award by the Florida College System Council of Presidents. This award is bestowed upon individuals, students, trustees, administrators, faculty, legislators or community partners who have demonstrated exceptional commitments to the Florida College System.

“My family and I are greatly honored to be selected for the prestigious Dr. James Wattenbarger Award,” McCloud said. “This award underscores the team effort of the outstanding leadership and work of the SPC Foundation Board.”

McCloud is the 22nd recipient of the award, named for its first recipient, late Dr. James Wattenbarger. Wattenbarger is credited as “the Father of the Community College System of Florida”; his doctoral dissertation at the University of Florida outlined a master plan that the state used in 1955 to create the modern community college system.

Jesse Turtle, SPC Foundation Executive Director and VP Institutional Advancement, praised McCloud as a dedicated servant leader to SPC and the community.  

“Bill gives of his time, talent and treasure,” Turtle said. “He has served on the Foundation Board of Directors for well over 10 years, serves on the Gibbs Jr. College Alumni Association and supports a scholarship for students in STEM. He is a prime example of how successful you can become after graduating from SPC and has been a wonderful advocate and ambassador of College.  Bill is an SPC Titan through and through!”

In the business world, he is co-owner, vice president and chief operating officer of McCloud Transportation, a national multimodal transportation consulting firm. In the military, he served 20 years and retired as Chief Warrant Officer in the Army Corps of Engineers. And in education, he serves on numerous boards – including his status as a member and former Chairman of the St. Petersburg College Foundation Board of Directors. In 2012, he was selected by the National Council for Resource Development as Community College Benefactor for St. Petersburg College. Other honors include being selected by the City of Tampa and the Police Athletic League as Citizen of the Year.

In addition to a Master’s degree in Management and Business Administration from Webster University in St. Louis, McCloud has a Mechanical Engineering Technology degree from SPC.

This press release was produced by the St. Petersburg College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.