Telly Buckles joined in August as CareerSource NEFL Senior Vice President of Operations, bringing more than 25 years of experience in operational leadership, workforce development, technology, data management and public service.
Before joining the organization, Buckles served as Florida Department of Financial Services Chief of Data Warehouse, Mainframe and Batch Operations. He was responsible for system operations that maintained all transactions from the $110 billion-plus state budget, in addition to the state’s multi-billion dollar investment system. He also assisted the deputy chief information officer with operational planning, budgeting, purchasing, project management and strategic initiatives. He supervised managers responsible for programming and business-analysis teams supporting Florida’s statewide accounting system and provided oversight for mainframe operations, production control, batch scheduling, enterprise data warehousing and building services. He also helped guide the department’s multiyear transition from its legacy Florida Accounting Information Resource (FLAIR) system to its current Florida Planning, Accounting, and Ledger Management (PALM) accounting system.
Buckles previously spent 12 years with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, now FloridaCommerce, where he advanced from data mining and reporting analyst to manager of data collection and analytics. He led multidisciplinary teams supporting Florida’s workforce system and was responsible for program operations, federal performance reporting, data governance, policy development, procurement and technical assistance. He also designed the reporting systems for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Wagner-Peyser, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs.
He also served as project manager for employflorida.com and chief architect for One-Stop Service Tracking (OSST) during that time period. Those two systems are the workforce labor-exchange and case-management systems for all of the workforce programs.
He advised state workforce leaders and executive directors of Florida’s then-24 local workforce development boards through performance analysis, operational guidance, training, and data-informed decision-making.
In the eight years before joining CareerSource NEFL, Buckles provided direct consulting and operational support to regional workforce organizations through ElementOne Data. His work included performance management, federal and state workforce measures, data governance, reporting, analytics, technical training, application development and organizational problem-solving. Among the regions he supported were CareerSource Broward, CareerSource Citrus Levy Marion, CareerSource South Florida, CareerSource Central Florida, CareerSource Flagler Volusia, CareerSource Okaloosa Walton and CareerSource NEFL. This experience gave him a close understanding of the operational needs, performance expectations and community responsibilities of Florida’s local workforce development boards.
Earlier in his consulting career with his company, Buckles completed web-development and technology projects for Harvard University and Alabama State University, along with work for Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. These projects helped establish the combination of technical execution, client service, and project leadership that has remained central to his career.
Buckles began his public-service career with Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration as a web developer and data analyst. He later supervised web-development staff and spearheaded the first database-driven website in the Southeast that collected and presented statewide healthcare information from hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and emergency rooms.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.
Outside of work, his interests reflect the same curiosity and hands-on problem-solving Buckles brings to organizational leadership. He enjoys designing and working with solar photovoltaic and battery-storage systems, exploring construction and energy technologies, studying history, biotechnology, and health information technology and participating in recreational sports. He has also devoted time to coaching youth sports.