Gov. DeSantis rolls out a swath of new appointments

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Some new names join familiar faces on important state panels.

Florida’s Governor closed the week with 18 appointments to three state panels.

The Ron DeSantis selections included a trio headed to the Tallahassee State College District Board of Trustees, a quartet to the Graduate Medical Education Committee, and 11 picks to the Florida Faith-Based and Community-Based Advisory Council.

Monesia Brown, the Vice President of Government Relations at North Highland and a former member of the State Board of Education, is new to the board of trustees.

“Active in her community, she serves on the Board of Directors for the Jacksonville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Boys Town North Florida, Leadership Florida, and the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce. Brown earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Illinois State University and her juris doctor from the University of Wisconsin,” the Governor’s Office notes in the announcement.

She joins repeat appointees Jonathan Kilpatrick of Trulight and Frank “Monte” Stevens of the Southern Group on that panel.

Meanwhile, all the picks to the Graduate Medical Education Committee are new: Wayne Chutkan, Dr. Chris Ghaemmaghami, Matthew Love, and Dr. Michelle Mendez.

Chutkan serves as the Senior Vice President of Finance at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Dr. Ghaemmaghami is the Executive Vice President, Chief Physician Executive, and Chief Clinical Officer of Jackson Health System, balancing that with other key roles: the Chief Medical Officer of Miami-Dade County and a Voluntary Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami.

Love is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Mendez owns her own practice, and is also an Assistant Professor for the University of North Florida as well as Jacksonville University’s Nurse Practitioner Training.

The picks for the Faith-Based and Community Based Advisory Council include a mix of old and new, meanwhile.

New to the board: Kevin Baird, Tess Dewhirst, Joseph Knittig, Robert Pacienza, Marilyn Rivera, Megan Rose, and Michael Watkins.

They represent a diversity of experience. Dewhirst is a homeschool parent educator, while Rose is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

James “Scott” George, Jerry Haag, Calvin Martin, and Pam Olsen were all reappointed.

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9 comments

C’mon!
July 27, 2024 at 12:28 pm

“Diversity” is an absolutely outrageous misnomer worthy of Orwell; all that diversity is from deep to dark to virulently red! In other words, not very diverse!
Susan
July 27, 2024 at 7:32 pm

Diversity of experience and backgrounds. Looks pretty good to me. You would have him consult Nikki Fried to make sure all are card carrying democrats? Would Fried consult DeSantis? Grow up. These people seem qualified.
- cassandra was right
  July 28, 2024 at 2:02 pm
  
  “Diversity….Looks pretty good to me.”
  
  So you’re ok with DEI now?Convicted felon Trump keeps changing his story. Vance keeps changing his fake names. Now Susan is flip-flopping on DEI! Chaos! What a party!
- cassandra was right
  July 28, 2024 at 3:11 pm
  
  So you like DEI now?
Bill Pollard
July 28, 2024 at 12:24 pm

I’ve always thought it a bit ridiculous that a governor should be choosing members for boards of colleges that are local or regional in character.
- Susan
  July 29, 2024 at 5:10 pm
  
  Bill wins the comment section. I would hope if we are stuck with government appointments they would be well qualified and from diversity of backgrounds. That’s not the same as saying someone should be hired primarily because they check a box for biological characteristics. Maybe those are things that are positive considerations in the balance of makeup of a team but not solely defining for individual qualifications to join or lead that team. Seems like common sense to me and I think that’s where most people and organizations already are. We know from studies and hard results that diversity (of all manner including age, beliefs, and background ) brings strength when each individual is well qualified and allowed and encouraged to contribute, and when a team has weak links just to check a box or favoritism resentments build up, communication breaks down, and teams fail. I don’t think I’ve ever flip flopped on this. Cassandra sounds very upset.
  The DEI arguments on both sides are not being honest. Most organizations have struggled with these things in a practical way for a long time. We need to get back to common sense. As for political appointments they will always be political. But I lament that so many things which didn’t used to be political are now politicized and we have lost something from that.
  - cassandra was right
    August 2, 2024 at 11:12 am
    
    The Republican Party uses the term “Diversity” as an insult. DeSantis says the “D” in DEI stands for Discrimination, and has publicly bullied Schools and businesses over their DEI initiatives.The governor is fine though with forcing certain “diversity hires” on Florida: conservative voices on campuses, pastors from ‘approved’ religions in his school chaplain program, and now more “conservatives” on state panels.
    
    It seems inappropriate — wrong — to praise DeSantis for “Diversity” while he and his party are trying to erase diversity in Florida. And to applaud him for selecting yet another group of far right conservatives is a real insult to the people of Florida.
    
    Nothing personal. You defended the governor’s selections against C’mon!’s (in my opinion) valid criticisms. Your comment got lumped together with Republicans’ because of similarity of viewpoint. I know what that’s like. When someone says to me (NPA), “You Democrats….”, I get their meaning. Sometimes I correct them. Sometimes I realize that’s just not their point.
    
    I agree, the politicization of seemingly EVERYTHING is a great loss for us all.
- just sayin
  July 30, 2024 at 10:42 am
  
  Universities have been proven incapable of governing themselves. Who else would you have appoint their boards?
PeterH
July 29, 2024 at 7:11 pm

Breaking News. Arizona and Texas are now both in play ….. meaning they’re battleground states!