After being put on two-weeks probation last month and warned to clean up its act by Gov. Rick Scott, Workforce Central Florida (WCF) on Wednesday appointed twenty new board members. The new appointees join two others board members who were appointed last week.
All past board members resigned in the wake of Scott’s communication to several of the state’s local workforce boards, including WCF, questioning their spending and awarding of contracts to board members.
The twenty-two new board members to WCF were appointed by the Workforce Investment Consortium, a five-member body composed of elected officials of the five counties – Seminole, Orange, Lake, Osceola and Sumpter – served by the troubled jobs agency. Of the 22 named so far, seven are from the public sector, with the remainder drawn from the business community.
The Consortium plans to meet over the next few weeks to continue appointing additional board members, the WCF said.
Over the past several years, WCF has been plagued with charges of misuse of taxpayer dollars, poor fiscal management and accountability, and lack of transparency.
Last month Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs joined Scott in expressing her outrage over the agency’s activities and called on the Consortium to convene a special meeting to determine how best to move forward.
See list of new board members appointed to date, below:
Lake County
John A. Moore, CEO, South Lake Hospital
Catherine Hanson, Owner, Catherine Hanson Real Estate, Inc.
Greg Beliveau, Owner, LPG Urban & Regional Planners, Inc.
Orange County
Rick Walsh, President, Knob Hill Group
Thomas Katheder, Vice President, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Tom Yochum, Director, Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed
Kevin Shaughnessy, Attorney, Baker Hostetler
Eric Jackson, Vice President, Jones Lang Lassalle
Deborah Clements, Community Relations Manager, Progress Energy
Tirso Moreno, Coordinator, Farmworkers Association of Florida
Eric Ushkowitz, Administrator, Orange County Government
Sandy Shugart, President, Valencia College
Bob Brown, President/CEO, United Way
Osceola County
Atlee Mercer, Business Owner, Visions by Atlee
Sheila Cappel, CEO, Pepsico-Gatorade
Seminole County
Wendy Brandon, CEO, Central Florida Regional Hospital
Melanie Cornell, Principal, HKS Architects
Mark Wiley, President/CEO, Central Florida Chapter Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
Richard Sweat, CEO and Founder of .decimal
Larry Dell, President, Sanford International Airport
William F. Merck II, Vice President Administration and Finance Division, and Chief Financial Officer at University of Central Florida
Joe Sarnovsky, Vice President, Administrative Service Seminole State College
Sumter County
Appointments to Come
