Welcoming Joshua Doyle.

Joshua Doyle walked into the job interview as an FBI special agent full of intriguing secrets about pending investigations he couldn't talk about.

He walked out as the No. 1 choice for The Florida Bar's new executive director, excited to continue his public service in a whole new way, at the helm of the 105,000-member Bar.

Three weeks after the search committee's choice was approved by the Board of Governors, 37-year-old Doyle was shepherded around at the Bar's Annual Convention in Boca Raton by outgoing Bar President Bill Schifino, who introduced him as "our executive director in training."

On July 17, Doyle officially began his new position, succeeding John F. Harkness, Jr., who is retiring after 37 years as executive director.

"I am humbled by the opportunity to work at the Bar. The Board of Governors, sections, committees, Bar staff, and membership have made The Florida Bar the best in the country, and I look forward to helping maintain that status," said Doyle, who grew up in Tallahassee and married his high-school sweetheart, Kate. They have two young children, Jillian and Davidson.

Doyle received both his undergraduate degree in public relations and his law degree from Florida State University.

"The opportunity to work and learn from Jack Harkness is the chance of a lifetime," Doyle said, "and I'm excited to learn as much from him as I can as quickly as possible."

Unlike in 1980, when Harkness became executive director at age 35 and knew little about the inner workings of the Bar, and there was no one to show him the ropes (except then-President Leonard Gilbert, who called it "on-the-job training...