Mattamy Homes has announced that Rick Severance has joined the organization as president of its West Villages Division. Severance will be responsible for all aspects of development and the phased sale of property at West Villages, a 9,650-acre property in south Sarasota County, that Mattamy Homes and its minority partners purchased in 2014. The community will eventually include some 20,000 homes (including Mattamy’s Renaissance at West Villages), as well as parks, recreation areas and 3 million square feet of non-residential space.

Severance was most recently the president of Babcock Ranch; prior to that, he was the senior vice president of planning, development and operations for St. Joe Company, where he led the company’s residential and commercial portfolio. His experience also includes work as the CEO of New Vector Limited, a consulting firm for numerous New Urban and master-planned resort communities and commercial town centers.  His consulting career was preceded by his position as CEO of the Seaside Community Development Company, where he was responsible for the direction and development of Seaside, Florida, the award-winning town named TIME magazine’s "development of the decade" in 1990. Severance has a business degree with a concentration in hospitality, marketing and real estate from Florida State University.