Education
Eighteen days after I asked whether we’d just seen the next Pensacola State College president standing next to the governor at the Port of Pensacola, the search committee made it official.
The Pensacola State College Presidential Search Committee has recommended J. Alex Kelly, Florida’s Secretary of Commerce, as the finalist to become the College’s next president. The committee—made up of District Board of Trustees members—voted during its final meeting on Aug. 29, capping a national search to replace retiring President Dr. Ed Meadows.
- Regular readers of this blog aren’t surprised. On Aug. 13, I wrote that sources with Tallahassee connections had been pointing to Kelly since almost the moment PSC closed its application window and that Kelly happened to be standing on stage with Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Port of Pensacola that same week, flanked by PSC Board Chair Zack Smith in the audience.
“Alex distinguished himself throughout this process as a thoughtful, diligent and highly capable leader with a clear vision for the future of Pensacola State College.”
— Zack Smith, Search Committee Chair
That’s a notably warmer tone than the one Smith gave me back in August, when I asked him point-blank at the DeSantis presser how the search was going. He smiled and called it “a work-in-progress.”
Who Is Alex Kelly?
Kelly has spent his career moving between Florida education policy and state government:
- Secretary of the Florida Department of Commerce since 2023, overseeing the state’s economic development, workforce and community development programs
- Deputy Chief of Staff to Gov. DeSantis beginning in 2021
- Chief of staff to then-Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran
- Vice president for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, the school-choice group founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush
- Chief of Staff for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice
- Several posts in the Florida Legislature, including chief analyst for the House Select Policy Council on Strategic and Economic Planning
He holds a bachelor’s in political science from York College of Pennsylvania and a master’s in political science from the University of Florida.
The Numbers Behind the Search
PSC’s search, led by Kenny Daugherty of Myers McRae Executive Search and Consulting, drew a national field:
- 107 qualified applicants from across the country
- 9 candidates selected for interviews
- 4 finalists brought to Pensacola for in-person, second-round interviews
- 1 recommended finalist: Alex Kelly
What’s next: Kelly will visit PSC’s campus in late September for meetings and public forums with students, faculty, staff and community members. The District Board of Trustees is expected to take up his appointment after the visit. Details on the forums will be announced as they’re finalized.
Kelly, in a statement, said he was “incredibly grateful” for the committee’s recommendation and praised the board’s “dedication and thoroughness” throughout the process.
Worth watching: Kelly meets PSC’s minimum presidential qualifications—a bachelor’s degree “or equivalent work experience,” executive leadership experience in higher ed, business, the military or government, and experience with state education policy and budgets. But he has no background running a college campus.
- His September forums will be the first real test of how students, faculty and the community react to a career state-government operative taking the helm of Northwest Florida’s largest state college.
- Will Kelly move his family to Pensacola?