Byron Donalds Fills Transition Staff With Scott-Era Veterans and Longtime Aides, Says He Is Scouting 'Talent' for State Agencies

Florida Gov.-elect Byron Donalds added eight people to his transition staff on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. He paired veterans of former Gov. Rick Scott's administration with aides who have worked for him for years. Speaking the same morning in Hollywood, Donalds said he has been studying state agencies and weighing possible personnel. He said "there's really good talent out there" to lead the departments he will take over from Gov. Ron DeSantis on Jan. 5.

Donalds is the Naples Republican who defeated Democrat David Jolly on Nov. 3. With the new hires, a transition announced as a four-person leadership team earlier in the week now has a working staff that covers ethics, legal work, operations and appointments. In two days of public appearances in South Florida, he also gave his first detailed answers on two of the biggest decisions a Florida governor makes: the pace of death warrants and the direction of the state university system.

Who joined the transition

The Donalds campaign announced these additions to the transition staff on Friday, according to the Florida Phoenix and Florida Politics:

The mix tells you something about how Donalds plans to govern. Woodburn and Cerio both served in senior jobs under Scott, now a U.S. senator, so they know the governor's office from the inside. Before working for Scott, Woodburn was a deputy secretary at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Cerio has run Citizens, the state-created property insurer, since 2023. Purdon and McGavick come from Donalds' own operation. Purdon was his district director in Congress for four years before becoming a senior adviser in 2025.

Hoffman's job may matter most in the coming weeks. A Florida governor fills hundreds of posts, from agency secretaries to university trustees and local boards, and the appointments office screens candidates for all of them.

The leadership team already in place

Friday's group works under the leadership slate Donalds named on Monday, Nov. 9. Manny Kadre, a Miami business executive, chairs the transition. He is CEO of Kollective Auto Group and chairs the University of Miami Board of Trustees. Ryan Smith, the campaign's chief strategist, is executive director. Tarren Bragdon, CEO of the Naples-based Foundation for Government Accountability, leads policy. Teresa Ressel, a former assistant secretary and chief financial officer of the U.S. Treasury under President Donald Trump, is senior adviser.

In a statement when the first four were named, Donalds and Lt. Gov.-elect Bryan Avila said they campaigned on making Florida more affordable and investing in young people. They pledged "common-sense governance and economic opportunity."

Eyeing "talent" for state agencies

On Friday Donalds spoke with reporters before an education technology summit in Hollywood. He said he has been looking at the state's agencies and the people who could run them, the Florida Phoenix reported. He named no candidates and did not say which current DeSantis agency heads, if any, he would keep.

The governor appoints the secretaries of most major state agencies, but those choices need Florida Senate confirmation. That gives the Legislature a voice in how quickly a new administration's team takes shape. In its first stories on the transition, the Phoenix noted that Donalds had not said how many more people would help guide the handoff from DeSantis.

Death warrants "case by case"

At the same news conference, a Florida Phoenix reporter asked Donalds whether he would keep up DeSantis' pace of signing death warrants. He did not commit to a pace. He said he would "evaluate each case as it comes" and that he is "not trying to set a quota."

The question carries unusual weight in Florida. DeSantis signed 19 death warrants in 2025 and has signed 22 so far in 2026, according to the Phoenix. Florida accounts for 19 of the 37 executions carried out in the United States this year, Death Penalty Information Center figures show, and three more are scheduled within the next month. Florida and Pennsylvania are the only states where the governor alone signs death warrants. That leaves the timing of executions in Florida largely up to one person.

Donalds has heard calls to slow down. On Thursday, three men exonerated from Florida's death row asked him at a Tallahassee news conference to halt executions and review the state's death penalty laws. Earlier in the week, a spiritual adviser to two condemned inmates urged a six-month moratorium. A Donalds spokesperson has said the governor-elect is a staunch supporter of the death penalty and will govern that way. Friday's answer did not change that position, but it was the first time Donalds declined to say whether he would match DeSantis' record pace.

Higher education: rankings, engineers and "upward mobility"

On Thursday, Nov. 12, Donalds gave the keynote at the State University System Board of Governors' 2026 Trustee Summit at Florida International University in Miami. Trustees and officials from all 13 public universities attended. It was his first public appearance since the election.

Donalds told the trustees that Florida's No. 1 ranking for higher education from U.S. News & World Report should be treated as a responsibility, not a resting place, the Tampa Bay Times reported. He praised the system's performance-based funding model, which steers more money to higher-performing universities. He urged schools to set a "bold goal" of graduating more engineers. He said a Florida degree must remain a mark of rigor as artificial intelligence reshapes classrooms, and that the state should guard against grade inflation, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

He called higher education an engine for upward mobility rather than a lifelong debt sentence. He said campuses should foster rigorous, respectful debate and that the system's leaders should not serve a single ideology or faction. He backed Florida A&M University's goal of reaching the top Carnegie research classification by 2030, a line that drew applause. Donalds attended FAMU before finishing his degree at Florida State. Asked how his views compare with DeSantis', he called them "quite similar."

His sharpest words were about college sports. Answering a trustee's question, Donalds said of the federal Protect College Sports Act, "I hate that bill." He said it would put Florida at a disadvantage and that athletes deserve to be paid for their work. The bill would set a national framework for athlete name, image and likeness deals. It has passed the U.S. Senate but not the House. Donalds said he had shared his position with Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, who split on the measure, according to the Florida Phoenix. Asked what Republicans should learn from the election, he pointed to cost-of-living pressures and said degrees should lead to economically viable careers.

Classroom technology and school choice

The Hollywood summit where Donalds spoke Friday was organized by LaunchEd, a group led by founder Jon Hage, WSVN reported. Entrepreneurs there showed artificial intelligence and other tools for students and teachers. Donalds said technology should be explored but cannot replace teachers. "There's no replacing the teacher," he said. A longtime school choice supporter, he also acknowledged that "Parents still overwhelmingly choose traditional public schools."

He made the remark as large districts face declining enrollment. Miami-Dade and Broward school leaders have said closures are possible, and more detail is expected by spring. Those decisions will play out during Donalds' first months in office.

What's next

Donalds told the university trustees he would meet with other governors the following week. He also said plainly that he is not running for president. Over the next seven weeks the transition will start naming agency heads and senior staff, and the Senate will vote on the agency picks once lawmakers return. Donalds and Avila will be sworn in on Jan. 5, 2027. The first death warrant decisions, university board appointments and agency secretary choices will show how closely the new administration follows the course DeSantis set.