Gov. DeSantis appoints 3 new members onto Disney World’s governing board

Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed three new members onto Disney World’s governing board.

Alexis Yarbrough, the current Chair of the Broward College District Board of Trustees, will be the new Chair, DeSantis announced.

Joining Yarbrough on the Board will be John Gilbert, Executive Managing Director at Stream Realty Partners, and Scott Workman, who owns Workman Transportation and Workman Travel.

All three appointments are subject to Senate confirmation. 

The entity is known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District after DeSantis and the state infamously took it over in 2023 amid a contentious fight with The Walt Disney Co. DeSantis took the power to appoint CFTOD Board members away from Disney under a 2023 law after Disney and DeSantis became engulfed in a culture war that captured national headlines.

The political fireworks have stopped exploding on the CFTOD Board since leaders have pledged to work together with Disney. Disney is starting a multibillion-dollar expansion across its Orlando theme parks.

At the Walt Disney World Resort, CFTOD handles the infrastructure, including roads, and provides emergency services with its fire department. CFTOD provides services similar to a county government per a 1967 deal enacted by the Legislature to give Disney a leg up with a special district when the company was looking to build Disney World.

According to a release from the Governor’s Office, Yarbrough previously served as Chair and Commissioner on the Fourth District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and her Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University.

Gilbert, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in real estate from Florida State University, was “recognized as the 2007 and the 2012 Orlando Office Broker of the Year by the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks, Commercial Real Estate Development Association,” DeSantis said in his press release.

DeSantis said Workman attended the University of Iowa and “has been active in the transportation industry in Orlando for over 25 years.”