Think tank leader Manny Kadre and GOP ace strategist Ryan Smith will lead the transition.
The post Byron Donalds assembles transition team, stocks it with policy, business leaders appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
—
Florida Gov.-elect Byron Donalds and running mate Bryan Avila have chosen transition leaders to help transfer power from Gov. Ron DeSantis to the new Donalds administration in January.
Manny Kadre will chair the transition, with Ryan Smith, Donalds’ campaign Chief Strategist, as Executive Director. Tarren Bragdon will lead policy and Teresa Ressel will serve as senior adviser.
“We are proud to announce this incredible team of leaders from across our great state, who are already working diligently to ensure that our administration arrives in Tallahassee fully primed to execute on our mission for the people of Florida,” Donalds said.
Kadre is a prominent South Florida businessman and Chair of the Board of waste management giant Republic Services. He is also CEO of The Kollective, a luxury automotive group. Kadre also serves on the Board of Directors for The Home Depot and chairs the University of Miami Board of Trustees.
As transition Chair, he will organize Donalds administration staff, make cabinet recommendations and establish legislative priorities ahead of Donalds’ inauguration.
Smith, who oversaw a political operation that banked more than $174 million and set a state record for funds raised by a non-incumbent candidate for Governor, has over the years become one of Florida’s top GOP operatives, hailing in his early days as a top alumnus from former House Speaker Will Weatherford’s 2010 campaign. He rose through campaigns, working as a House liaison for the Republican Party of Florida and later as deputy director of RPOF’s House campaigns. More recently, Smith developed and managed voter contact programs as an adviser to President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc.
Bragdon is CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability, a Naples-based public policy think tank focused on reducing the welfare state, restricting teenage workers, and opposing Medicaid expansion. Originally from Maine, Bragdon won a seat in the Maine House of Representatives in 1996, becoming the youngest state Legislator in Maine’s history at the time. After declining to seek re-election in 2000, Bragdon worked for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, another conservative think tank, before moving to Florida to found the public policy outfit in the Sunshine State.
In 2023, DeSantis appointed him to the Government Efficiency Task Force.
Ressel, who previously served as Assistant Secretary and CFO of the United States Treasury under President Donald Trump, was part of a group of more than 100 women from the state’s business community tapped to support Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign. Ressel is also the retired CEO of UBS Securities, an investment banking group.
Donalds will be sworn into office Tuesday, Jan. 5.
The post Byron Donalds assembles transition team, stocks it with policy, business leaders appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
