# Barbara D. Will

Manatee County Health Dept.

Bradenton, FL 34208

## Biography

Barbara D. Will began her career in public health as an Environmental
Health Specialist with the Pinellas County Health Department
Environmental Health Services Division (EHS) in 1989. She has her
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences, received from
the University of South Florida (USF) in 1985. Prior to coming to work
for the health department, she worked her way up the ranks from a
Customer Service Representative to the New Accounts Manager, at a local
bank. After working at the bank for four years, Ms. Will was hired by
the Pinellas County Environmental Health Director, who at that time felt
that her communication abilities and customer service skills would be a
vital asset in the area of public health education and promotion. She is
still grateful to that "out-of-the-box" thinker!!

While Ms. Will was trained in all EHS programs (mobile home parks, group
care, sanitary nuisances, mosquito and rodent control, etc.), the
primary environmental health program at that time was food hygiene and
the majority of the work performed were food service inspections. While
at the Pinellas County Health Department, she developed and presented
many food sanitation and safety educational courses for both the
industry and the public; and became the EHS team leader, assisting the
supervisors with the training of newly recruited specialists. In 1991,
she accepted a promotion to the Department of Business and Professional
Regulation Division of Hotels and Restaurants, as the plan reviewer for
all new and remodeled restaurants in a seven (7) county district. There
she honed her food service plan review skills and participated in
developing the agency's state-wide plan review policies and protocols,
which are still in use today. She transferred back to the Pinellas
County Health Department in 1996, where she accepted a position as a
supervisor with the EHS division There she was provided with the formal
leadership and supervisory training needed to manage several
departments. She was also able to perfect database management and
software proficiency skills; and she served as the Food Hygiene
Coordinator and HACCP Instructor for the division. Her responsibilities
included coordinating the Foodborne Illness Surveillance and
Investigation program.

In 2001, Ms. Will accepted a position in database management for the
Hillsborough County Health Department EHS, and then in 2003, she began
working for the Manatee County Health Department as the Environmental
Supervisor. There she supervised all the EHS programs except drinking
water and onsite sewage. In May of 2007, she was offered (and accepted)
a management position as the Quality Improvement Director at the Manatee
County Health Department, and began her journey into public health
administration. Ms. Will has been accepted into the USF College of
Public Health Graduate Certificate program and hopes to achieve her goal
of a Master's Degree in Public Health by 2011.

## Leadership Development Opportunities

I wish to express my gratitude to the institute for accepting my
application and allowing me to participate in this "once-in-a-career"
opportunity! It was truly a learning experience on every level --
personal, professional and ............mystical! Personal learning came
from discussing and comparing environmental issues, as well as family
concerns, with my classmates (some people call that "networking", I call
it making friends); professional learning came from the mentors and the
many educators from the public and private sectors that were selected to
present to our class; and mystical, because anything heard after 5 PM in
a hotel banquet room doesn't really sink in right away but mysteriously
comes back to you later in your dreams -- and right when you need it,
too!

I found that the majority of the seminars on leadership, teamwork, and
communication were thought provoking and directly applicable to the many
management situations that arise in the workplace. For the most part,
this portion of the curriculum served to reinforce professional
development sessions provided at the Florida Department of Health, which
is vital for "studying and practicing" and served to assure consistency
in our learning. Particularly useful to me were the seminars on
"Leadership and Organizational Thinking" from Sherry Immediato and
"Leadership, Collaboration and Teamwork" from Cynthia Lamberth. The
weeklong Disaster Preparedness and Response training in June was
relevant to everyone in the class as no state is without its
environmental emergencies! The hands-on accounts of issues experienced
first hand by CDC and EPA response teams after Katrina were eye-opening
and informative. I would also recommend that every class be exposed to
the "Verbal Judo" agenda. While also being wildly entertaining, it
provided relevant communication and persuasion skills that I was able to
utilize immediately.

I appreciated the personal development portion of the program the most.
The 360° Skillscope Assessment, MTBI and Change Style Indicator
exercises were all new experiences for me and each series provided
meaningful, direct interpretive reports on my management and leadership
style. I believe I will be able to use those tools to guide my
individual development plans for the rest of my career!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the people. The institute leaders
and staff, the mentors, and the coaches, all worked so well together to
make this year flow smoothly and seem to fly by -- the logistics of this
task must seem insurmountable each year, but they make it look
effortless. I have great respect for their mission to develop leaders in
the field of environmental health. By assuring the public of competent
leaders in this field throughout our nation, we will surely be effective
in our efforts to prevent disease and keep our environments healthy.

And, finally, it was awesome to have forty (40) diverse individuals from
environmental health and epidemiology programs around the country gather
together to develop their leadership skills and share information about
their respective states. I was once again amazed that no matter how
different we think we are (and we are), we are all so very much alike in
our programs and goals, and doing our best for our respective local
public health systems! Great job Class III!! And, keep plugging away -
I'll never forget you guys!