TALLAHASSEE — Governor Ron DeSantis appointed or reappointed 12 trustees to four Florida state college district boards in a single day, stacking the oversight panels with attorneys, business executives and a pair of military veterans in a broad reshuffle of the institutions that serve students from the Panhandle to Key West.
The appointments span St. Johns River State College, Daytona State College, the College of the Florida Keys and Chipola College. Five of the 12 are new appointments; seven are reappointments. All are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
The largest batch — five trustees — went to St. Johns River State College, which serves Clay, Putnam and St. Johns counties in Northeast Florida. DeSantis named Alexandria Hill, a partner at the law firm Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Dibenow who holds a juris doctor from the University of Florida, and Kevin Payne, a senior manager of contracting for Imagine 360 who serves as president of the Jacksonville Association of Health Underwriters. Hill also sits on the Clay County Development Authority.
Three incumbents were reappointed to the St. Johns River board: Richard Komando, a partner and attorney at Bradley, Garrison & Komando, P.A. who previously served as an assistant state attorney for the Fourth Circuit Office of the State Attorney and as circuit director and statewide general counsel for the Fourth Circuit Florida Guardian ad Litem Office; Jud Sapp Jr., owner of W.J. Sapp & Son, Inc. and a United States Navy veteran who previously served on the St. Johns County Day School Board of Trustees; and Chereese Stewart, assistant county manager for the Clay County Board of County Commissioners. Stewart, a former elected Clay County commissioner, also serves on the Clay County Development Authority, the Clay County Cattlemen Association, the Clay County Farm Bureau and the Florida Planning and Zoning Association. She holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from the University of North Florida.
Komando earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and his master’s degree in business administration from Florida State University and his juris doctor from Loyola University. Sapp earned his bachelor’s degree in business from Florida State University. Payne holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in business administration from Oklahoma City University.
At Daytona State College, which serves Volusia and Flagler counties, DeSantis appointed Robert Coleman, vice president of Coleman Goodemote Construction Company, who has served as president of the Rotary Club of Ormond Beach and sits on the Daytona Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Halifax Area Civic League. Coleman earned his bachelor’s degree in construction management from Auburn University.
Three Daytona State incumbents were reappointed: Randy Howard, chief financial officer and executive vice president of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a United States Air Force veteran who holds a doctorate in finance from the University of Georgia; Kelly Kwiatek, senior vice president and chief legal officer at Halifax Staffing, Inc. who has chaired the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce and served as a commissioner on the Seventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission; and Garry Lubi, a retired senior vice president of commercial banking at Southstate and CenterState Bank who is president and founder of the Palm Coast Music Festival and previously led the Flagler County Education Foundation Board of Directors.
Howard earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and chemistry from Birmingham Southern College and his master’s degree in operations research from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Kwiatek holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a juris doctor from Florida State University. Lubi earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from Canisius College.
In the Florida Keys, DeSantis tapped Andrew Dulcey, a private practice attorney in Key West, for the College of the Florida Keys District Board of Trustees. Dulcey, who earned his juris doctor from the University of Miami, has served on the Key West Maritime Historical Society and the Key West International Airport Ad-Hoc Committee on Noise.
The Chipola College board, serving the rural Panhandle, received two appointees: Jeffrey Snell, an insurance sales agent with Florida Farm Bureau Insurance Company who previously served as an officer in the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and is treasurer of the Jackson County Cattlemen’s Association; and Dell Corbin, vice president of Corbin Auto Sales and a member of the National and Florida Independent Automobile Dealers Association and the Washington County Chamber of Commerce. Both are Chipola College alumni. Corbin also holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology from the University of West Florida.
The appointments reflect a heavy tilt toward legal and business credentials. At least five of the 12 trustees hold law degrees, and several others bring executive-level corporate experience. Two — Sapp and Howard — are military veterans.
The Florida Senate is expected to take up the confirmations during its next session. State college boards set tuition policy, approve budgets and hire presidents, giving the governor significant influence over higher education governance through his appointment power.