Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has today announced the appointment of Charbel Barakat to the board of his hand-picked Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Charbel Barakat, a former Jeopardy champion, replaces Michael Sasso who resigned last week from his board position after less than four months in the job.
Barakat, of Tampa, is the Regional General Counsel for D.R. Horton, Inc. He currently serves as a Commissioner for the Second District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission and serves on the Florida Development Finance Corporation. Barakat is Vice President of the Federalist Society for the Tampa Bay Chapter and Chairman of the Volume Builders Council for the Florida Home Builders Association. Barakat earned his bachelor’s degree in international studies from Johns Hopkins University and his juris doctor from New York University School of Law.
The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
Barakat will join the board that was appointed by DeSantis to replace the Reedy Creek Improvement District at the end of February 2023. Other members of the five-person board are Bridget Ziegler, one of the authors of Florida's controversial Parental Bill of Rights law, Ron Peri, a former senior pastor of Evangel Baptist Church and now CEO of The Gathering, and lawyers Martin Garcia and Brian Aungst.
The entire board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is being sued by the Walt Disney Company as part of the lawsuit against the district and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
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