Keep Alachua County Beautiful (KACB) announced Monday it has a new leader in charge of improving the organization’s many programs and services.

In a KACB release, the nonprofit organization selected Carlos Gonzalez as its new executive director.

“[Having served on the executive director search committee,] I’m very excited to see where Carlos is going to take KACB. I’m confident he’ll do a yeoman’s job in building off past successes and helping us better serve all of Alachua County.” Matt Buszko said, who serves on KACB’s Board of Directors, in the release.  

Gonzalez previously directed the operations of Conservation Burial Inc., which runs Gainesville’s Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery. He also served on The Conservation Burial Alliance Board, a national group, while directing Prairie Creek through the start of the COVID pandemic. Gonzalez maintained the environmental standards for the after-death services Prairie Creek provided while helping the organization with its fundraising efforts.

“I am grateful for the opportunity that I have been given by this well recognized institution,” Gonzalez said in the release. “I am looking forward to helping my community through the many programs KACB currently has and am excited about growing them to meet Alachua County’s current and future needs.”

Gonzalez, a native of Portland, Oregon, was a working artist from 2010 to 2012. He moved to South Florida in 2013 and became a public school teacher before he and his wife moved to Gainesville in 2019.

According to KACB’s website, the organization’s mission since it was established in 1991, “is to beautify, conserve resources, recycle, educate and preserve our community’s environmental legacy.”