Scott's Inner Circle
Bryan Koon
• Replaces: David Halstead
• Previous Job: Director of Emergency Management at Walmart, Fayetteville, Ark., overseeing the emergency management operations of more than 8,500 facilities worldwide.?
• Other experience: Koon worked at the White House Military Office for nearly seven years. As an active-duty Navy officer, he served as a watch officer in the president's Emergency Operations Center and as a training officer for Presidential Contingency Programs. He also worked for U.S. homeland security firm SRA International.
• Education: Has a bachelor's in natural resources from Cornell University and an
MBA and a graduate certificate in emergency and crisis management from George Washington University.?
• What others are saying: Eric Holdeman, an emergency management expert, recently noted that Koon had "hands down" the smallest business card he'd ever seen — about a third the size of a normal business card: "I remember asking him about it and the answer was that it is part of Walmart's effort to reduce the consumption of paper."
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David Wilkins
• Replaces: George Sheldon
• Previous Job: Retired global managing director of sales for Accenture Health & Public Service group, a management consulting and technology services company
• Other experience: Finance chairman of Florida Baptist Children's Home, a non-profit that provides residential care, emergency shelters, adoption shelter and foster care to children in the state's custody; served on Scott's "good government" transition team
• Education: 1982 graduate of Lambuth University, Jackson, Tenn.
• What others are saying: Wilkins' ties to Florida Baptist Children's Home — a group with strong Christian fundamentalist roots that allows only "professing Christians" to adopt children in its care —?have triggered concern among some gay rights advocates who worry that the fight over whether gay couples should be allowed to adopt in Florida will be revived. Florida stopped enforcing its ban on gay adoption after a 2010 appeals court ruling deemed the state law unconstitutional. While Scott has said he personally opposes adoption by homosexuals, Scott spokesman Brian Burgess says the governor has no plans at this time to revive the ban.
Herschel Vinyard
• Replaces: Mimi Drew, who had been serving as interim secretary since August 2010, when Mike Sole resigned
• Previous Job: Director of business operations, BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards, one of the world's largest defense contractors
• Other experience: From 1990 to 1999, he was an environmental attorney with Smith, Hulsey & Busey, counseling clients on such matters as state and federal environmental compliance and permitting; he has served on the Jacksonville Port Authority, the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturers Association of Florida and on Scott's Economic Development Transition Team.
• Education: Undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University
• What others are saying: While Vinyard has drawn positive comments from the Florida Chamber of Commerce and The Everglades Foundation, other environmental groups like the Sierra Club say they didn't know enough about Vinyard yet to comment on his selection.
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William "Billy" Buzzett
• Replaces: Tom Pelham
• Previous Job: As a vice president of St. Joe Co., from 2001-09, Buzzett led the master planning of more than 100,000 acres and 30,000 homes and helped St. Joe win approval to build a $330-million airport northwest of Panama City on land donated by the company.
• Other experience: Assistant general counsel under former Gov. Bob Martinez, 1988-91; staff attorney, Florida House Judiciary Committee, 1991-95; judge, Florida Division of Administrative Hearings, 1996-97; executive director, Constitution Revision Commission, 1997-98
• Education: Bachelor's in civil engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, 1981; law degree from Florida State University, 1986
• What others are saying: While the business community has greeted Buzzett's selection with delight, Buzzett gets mixed reviews from environmental groups. Linda Young, director of Clean Water Network of Florida, which has sparred with St. Joe over its developments, told reporters that Buzzett has "been at the heart and soul of some of the most destructive developments that the Florida Panhandle has seen" and called his selection a "cruel joke on Florida's planning process." Florida Audubon's Eric Draper, however, says that along the "gradients of developers" Buzzett lies on the "green end of that spectrum."
Enu Mainigi
Mike Prendergast
William "Bill" Rubin
Hayden Dempsey
Michelle Rhee
Brian Burgess
Brian Burgess, the governor's communications director, has been working for Scott since 2009, when Scott launched an organization called Conservatives for Patients' Rights to fight federal healthcare legislation.
A former U.S. Army communications specialist who graduated from a Christian college in Kansas, Burgess sent a January memo to other agency communication directors instructing them not to allow agency heads or any agency personnel to make public appearances or speeches without prior notification and
approval from the governor's office.