The State Board of Governors approved two new members for the University of West Florida, further cementing Gov. Ron DeSantis’s overhaul of the governance of the third-highest-performing university in the state.
- The new trustees are former Escambia County Administrator Janice Gilley and Pensacola attorney Kishane Patel. Their terms begin Jan. 7, 2026. They will also have to be confirmed by the Florida Senate during the 2026 session.
Gilley and Patel replace trustees Alonzie Scott and Dick Baker.
Janice Gilley
Board Governor Timothy Cerio nominated Gilley: “Ms. Gilley was employed at UWF for 12 years as assistant vice president of external affairs and government relations. She served great actually record of service under four different university presidents.”
He continued, “Ms. Gilley has just a tremendous and impressive history working in the executive and legislative branches of government. She served at the Florida House as Deputy Chief of Staff, Florida Senate as Chief Legislative Aid under a senator, and she was a former policy director in the governor’s office.”
- Gilley did serve as Escambia County Administrator from 2019 to 2021, becoming the first woman to hold that title. She was fired by a 4-1 vote in June 2021, leaving the county without a budget proposal due July 1.
After her dismissal, Gilley worked for State Senator Doug Broxson, supporting his tenure as chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
Kishane Patel
Patel brings no political baggage to his new post and has been seen as a rising leader in the community. He is the founder of KJP Counsel, PLLC, a law firm specializing in legal services for the hospitality and construction industries. He serves as in-house counsel and director of development for NashBuilt, Inc., a construction and development firm in Florida.
- While a student at UWF, Patel served as the UWF student body president and the chair of the Florida Student Association (2017-18).
UWF Student Body President elected chair of Florida Student Association
When nominating Patel, Cerio said, “Mr. Patel is an attorney and the founder of KJP Council Law Firm. Very importantly, he was a former student body president and because of that he was a trustee and he was also as the chair of FSAA member of this board and a couple of us on this board served with Kishane at the time, just has a tremendous record of service and experience and he would make a tremendous trustee for UWF. ”
The Board of Governors hid the nominations from the public. The agenda item listed no names or qualifications for the proposed trustees for UWF or any other state university.