Captain Bruce H. Blomgren
Captain Bruce H. Blomgren, CEO and President of Brandy Marine International, L.L.C. of Sarasota, FL, founded the first “Brandy” company in 1977, which eventually became Brandy Marine International, L.L.C. The company provides marina and waterfront property owners its management, design, marketing and development expertise. Today, Brandy Marine is tailoring its role to client goals, by acting as a joint venture partner, a development team member, asset manager, and/or operations and consulting resource. Brandy Marine’s services include marina feasibility studies, marina market analyses, marina programming, marina management, marina basin slip design, marina planning and development, retrofitting and expansion, permits and entitlements, marina construction management, marina management and marina marketing and slip sales.
Brandy Marine has 33 years of marina and marina-related experience in the United States, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts, Jamaica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Costa Rica,
Canada and Cuba. Since the 1970's, Brandy Marine’s management services have provided effective hands-on management solutions for more than 70 marinas in eight states, gaining a reputation for excellent customer service, expanded earnings through concentrated profit centers, fast-paced slip absorption, creative marketing, and personnel trained in the Brandy Marine “Bristol” style of customer-oriented operations.
With Capt. Blomgren at the helm, Brandy Marine was the first U.S. Company to "collect" marinas into a chain linked by common management and precise operation procedures. It developed the first computer software for marina management and continues to set standards of customer service that remain industry models. As a consultant, Brandy Marine has provided services to more than 550 clients in 13 countries and is the recipient of The Presidents Award of Mexico for the public/private Isla Navidad Resort's marina village in Manzanilla, Mexico. Brandy Marine also designed facilities and wrote the marina operations program for Bonita Bay Resort, Florida, and the recipient of the Residential Development Project of the Year, awarded by the Urban Land Institute. In 2005, Brandy Marine International received a commendation award from CIMAT, the marina regulatory agency for Costa Rica, for outstanding contributions to marina development in that country.
Blomgren has spent more than 35 years in real estate and marina development in the Americas on numerous projects.Capt. Blomgren worked for the late U.S. president Gerald Ford as an Advance Executive in the hotly contested 1976 US presidential campaign. Prior to this assignment, he served Missouri Governor Christopher Bond as Press Secretary and Illinois Governor Richard Ogilvie as Assistant Press Secretary as well as anchoring the weekend ABC radio news at the network level. He also headed the corporate marketing division for the Walt Disney Company's land development subsidiary Arvida Corporation, in Boca Raton, Florida.
Capt. Blomgren is a member of the Urban Land Institute and he co-authored a book, Developing with Amenities: Golf, Tennis, Skiing, Marinas, a 1987 publication of the ULI.
Capt. Blomgren earned his bachelor’s degree in speech and business at Monmouth College in Illinois in 1969. He has also served for 18 years as an adjunct professor of business at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. He is a member of the National Speakers Association and is regularly listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World. He is a member of the National Association of Homebuilders and was a founding member of the Marina Council to the American Land Development Association. In 2004, Capt. Blomgren was honored by his inclusion in Boating Industry’s 75th Anniversary list of the 75 Most Influential People, or “Movers and Shakers,” in the Marina Business over the past 100 years.
