To some, multitasking might mean checking e-mail while on a conference call. To Tom Dabney, it means simultaneously juggling his interests in real estate, water management, agriculture, banking and business.

Truth is, it's becoming hard to find a local issue with which Dabney isn't involved. As the founder and president of real estate development firm Gulf Coast Property Services, he's behind a number of existing and upcoming shopping centers, office buildings and residential properties. As a partner in Sarasota County's Hi Hat Ranch, he's got a stake in the citrus, cattle and timber industries. As chair-elect of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, he's working to strengthen the business climate and to find solutions to the workforce housing problem. As a founding director of LandMark Bank, he's invested in the financial arena. And as a member of the governing board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD), he has a critical hand in managing the region's water supply.

A Sarasota resident since 1980, Dabney is playing a major role in the area's future development. "His passion for insuring that we are able to balance water needs among the various users comes from a unique perspective, because of his background in economic development and agriculture," says Betsy Benac, vice president of the planning, design and engineering firm WilsonMiller who serves on the Manasota Basin Board with Dabney. "He has a very good understanding of the issues. From what I've seen, he really wants to balance all of the competing needs, and, to me, that's what it's going to be about as we go forward trying to manage our growth."

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

Born in Coral Gables in 1950, Dabney, like many men of his generation, served in Vietnam as a member of the U.S. Army. He then attended Florida State University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

In 1975 he married Carolyn Turner, whose family owns Hi Hat Ranch, a 10,000-acre cattle, citrus and timber operation still in business today. The couple was living in Oklahoma when Carolyn died suddenly in 1980. With a newborn daughter to care for, Dabney decided to move back to Florida to be closer to family.

He went to work for Bob Morris at RAMAR Group Companies, a large residential development company headquartered in Sarasota. He and Morris then created the commercial development firm Equity Properties Group. In 1985, Dabney started his own company, Gulf Coast Property Services, because "I wanted to stay closer to home and spend more nights in my own bed." He formed a strategic partnership with the Sembler Company in St. Petersburg, developing commercial properties like the Landings Shopping Center in Sarasota. That partnership continues today, but Dabney has also developed, leased and managed other commercial properties alone.

At the same time, Dabney was serving as a partner in Hi Hat Ranch. His agricultural and real estate interests have recently merged with the Forest at Hi Hat Ranch, a development of 54 five-acre home sites being built on a portion of the ranch. The tremendous interest he's seen in the development leads him to believe that the single-family housing market remains strong. "We have a waiting list with 60 people on it, and we've never put a sign on the property," he says. "It's overwhelming how many people we've had track us down."

Dabney envisions a bright outlook for the commercial real estate sector as well. "I think the suburban commercial real estate market for the foreseeable future will continue to be strong, with high demand and tight supply," he says. "As this market grows in population, new retailers look at our market who wouldn't look at us before because we were smaller."

Because of his development experience and expertise, Dabney has served stints on both the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization (1989-1992) and the Sarasota County planning commission (1991-1995). It was during his time on the latter that he first met Lisa Carlton, who now serves as a Florida state senator for District 23.

"I really consider him one of my very early mentors as far as public service [is concerned]," says Carlton. "I was very young and very new to the planning commission, and our assigned seats were right next to each other. Tom Dabney was the most prepared member of any advisory board that I think I've ever served on. He would read the information prior and was dedicated to making sure that he fully understood all of the issues that were before the board."

GOING WITH THE FLOW

Several years after serving on the county planning commission together, Dabney's and Carlton's paths crossed again, this time in SWFWMD. When a seat on the water management district's governing board opened up six years ago, Carlton and fellow state Sen. John McKay asked Dabney if he would consider applying for it. He did, and was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush in April 2000. Dabney is now in the middle of his second four-year term.