Broward’s Alliance plans CEO search as Bob Swindell prepares to retire in 2027

Bob Swindell plans to retire in 2027 as president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, beginning a leadership transition at Broward County's public-private economic-development partnership. The Alliance announcement carries an October 13 dateline and was posted October 14.

Alliance Chair Brian Huseman said the organization would conduct a nationwide search for its next president and CEO. Swindell will work with the search committee. The announcement identifies next year as the retirement timetable, without naming a successor or providing a specific departure date.

The search concerns an organization that links employers with government, education and workforce institutions across Broward's 31 municipalities. For a company considering a relocation or expansion, that network can bring site selection, incentive information, market research and workforce questions into the same conversation. Choosing its next leader will shape how the Alliance coordinates those relationships.

Swindell joined the organization in 2003 as senior vice president of business development and became CEO in 2009. The Alliance says companies it assisted during his leadership created and retained more than 62,000 jobs and generated more than $3.5 billion in capital investment. The employment figure combines new and retained positions across assisted companies; it is an organization-reported measure of its work over his tenure.

The retirement release names Amazon, American Express, AutoNation, Chewy, JetBlue, Kaplan and Royal Caribbean among companies supported by the Alliance and its partners. Those relationships illustrate the mix of headquarters, service and other employers involved in the county's economic-development effort. They also make continuity relevant to companies already working with the organization while its board prepares the transition.

His Alliance biography describes another part of that work: collaboration with the Marine Industries Association of South Florida to establish the Marine Research Hub. The organization connects researchers, universities, innovators and private businesses around the ocean economy. Swindell received the marine association's Golden Anchor lifetime achievement award in 2023.

The same biography identifies leadership ties to United Way of Broward County and Nova Southeastern University's business school and innovation center. He has also chaired the Florida Economic Development Council, connecting his local work to a statewide development network. Those connections extend the role beyond recruiting a single company. Economic development also involves institutions that prepare workers, support entrepreneurs and help established employers remain competitive as their needs change.

Before the Alliance, Swindell spent 18 years as president of Champion Manufacturing, an industrial supplier based in Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale. An NSU profile also traces his longstanding Broward roots and earlier business and community leadership. His background combines experience running a private company with more than two decades inside the county's development partnership.

For business owners, the next useful updates will be the search process, the eventual selection and the transition timetable. The announcement gives the board time to recruit while the current executive remains involved. Existing employers and prospective arrivals can continue using the Alliance's published staff and business-assistance channels as that process unfolds. The decision ahead is who will lead the same regional network into its next phase of investment, retention and workforce coordination.