Peter Schorsch
The British crown was once relinquished for “the woman I love.”
Now that same tender reason is behind the resignation of one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agency heads. Department of Management Services Secretary Todd Inman has submitted his resignation so he can live in the same city as his top-tier executive wife.
It is not one of those departures that commonly occur in the months before a gubernatorial election but rather the result of Inman’s wife Ann (formerly Duncan) landing a top C-suite position with a global company.
When the couple was planning their wedding late last year, Inman vowed that he would never let his job come between them, a commitment that posed a more significant challenge when Ann’s promotion made working from Tallahassee very difficult.
In the coming months, both are planning to relocate to Washington, D.C., while maintaining a Florida residence.
Inman leaves DMS for a position as a Senior Director with APCO Worldwide after a year of heading an agency often described as “the business arm of state government.”
As Secretary, Inman has overseen about 1,000 employees and a budget that will top $1 billion for the first time when the new fiscal year begins July 1. Managing over $25 billion in contracts, disbursements and procurements annually, DMS focuses on three primary areas of service: business, workforce and technology, each serving as a critical resource for other state agencies.
Although DMS often works out of the spotlight, Inman led the agency through a number of accomplishments.
On his watch, the agency streamlined the process for private property owners to bid on state proposals for leased space, while also beginning the first-ever sale of an underutilized state-owned building.
His team enhanced DMS’ technology capabilities, migrating vast amounts of data from on-premises storage to a cloud-based system, and after many years of delays and legal entanglements, DMS finally signed a $650-million contract for a Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System.
The agency even gave the Department of Education’s Turlington Building a long-overdue exterior cleaning after 32 years.
“DMS isn’t one of the high-profile agencies of state government, but the people who work here are incredibly dedicated to the mission of serving the people of Florida,” said Inman. “It’s truly been a privilege working with them. But in the end, I must honor the promise I made to my wife — nothing else can matter as much.”
Inman, 51, previously served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where he led over 55,000 employees and 20,000 contractors.
During his tenure there, USDOT worked extensively on autonomous vehicle regulation, commercial space rule-making and regulatory reform. He co-authored the agency’s “Return to Normal Operations” plan during COVID-19 and ensured that America’s transportation system continued operating during the pandemic.
Inman earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi. He has vast experience in entrepreneurial activities in the home service industry and in property and casualty multiline insurance.
He was an appointee to the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Small Business Administration and served in a variety of roles in political and organizational campaigns, including as a Chief Whip and Caucus Team Leader during the 2016 Republican convention, an Iowa caucus organizer, National Republican Senatorial Consultant in Pennsylvania, and Director of Logistics for a presidential campaign in Ohio.
