Manuel Kadre, chairman of the University of Miami Board of Trustees and CEO of the luxury auto dealer Kollective Auto Group, has been named chairman of Governor-elect Byron Donalds' transition team.
Donalds, a U.S. House member from Naples, said the team is “already working diligently to ensure that our administration arrives in Tallahassee fully primed to execute on our mission.”
Lieutenant Governor-elect Bryan Avila “and I campaigned and won on a clear agenda: make Florida more affordable, invest in Florida’s young people, and ensure that Florida continues to lead the nation with common sense governance and economic opportunity,” Donalds said in a released statement.
In addition to Kadre, Ryan Smith was named executive director of the team. Smith was chairman of the political committee Friends of Byron Donalds PAC, which spent nearly $150 million of the $155 million raised for the recent election.
Tarren Bragdon, a former state House member in Miami who oversees the Naples-based conservative think tank Foundation for Government Accountability, was named the transition team's policy chairman.
Teresa Ressel, who was a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury under President George W. Bush, is the team’s senior advisor.
Donalds is to be sworn in and take office on Jan. 5, 2027.