Central Florida Tourism Oversight District appoints Stephanie Kopelousos as its new administrator

31 days ago in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

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CFTOD board meeting March 27 2024

Posted: Wednesday March 27, 2024 9:49am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Stephanie Kopelousos has been appointed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District as the new administrator.

CFTOD board meeting March 27 2024

The board unanimously approved a motion to make Kopelousos the district administrator with immediate effect and under the same terms and conditions as former administrator Glen Gilzean. The job comes with a $400k salary.

Stephanie Kopelousos

Stephanie Kopelousos, with a background in public policy and transportation, played a pivotal role in Governor Ron DeSantis' administration as the Director of Legislative Affairs. Her responsibilities involved fostering relationships with state legislators and conveying the governor's policy positions. She also served as FDOT Secretary, and Kopelousos transitioned to DeSantis's failed presidential campaign team in 2024.

Craig Mateer, appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just yesterday, was also present at today's CFTOD board meeting.

CFTOD now has its second new leader in less than a year

Earlier this month, DeSantis appointed the existing CFTOD administrator Glen Gilzean as Supervisor of Elections in Orange County, filling the vacancy left by former supervisor Bill Cowles' retirement in January. Gilzean will head the Elections Office as the state prepares for the 2024 presidential election.

CFTOD Administrator Glen Gilzean

The DeSantis-controlled Central Florida Tourism Oversight District replaced Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District in June 2023.

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pdude813 hours ago

Other than it not being popular at all with the voters in Florida or nationwide. I don't see an upside to the next governor going after the mouse, but I could be missing something.

UNCgolf3 hours ago

I think the biggest problem for Disney is what happens with a new governor who isn't beholden to any agreements DeSantis made. Right now there's nothing stopping a new governor from reverting back to an obstruction board or any other thing they feel like doing on a whim.

flynnibus5 hours ago

THe TLDR is…. We don’t know…. But clearly Disney and DeSantis’ camp do. We just have to wait to see what they agreed to

lazyboy97o6 hours ago

The 2020 plan is back as the guide to the zoning. No word still on what the Board thinks needs to be changed. No actual start on that process but the development agreement was somehow supposed to come first and then, in contradiction to its purpose, be changed after a new plan was developed.

MisterPenguin6 hours ago

This means the 2032 Zoning Plan is not in force, correct? They now have to come up with a plan that the new board approves of, right?

lazyboy97o7 hours ago

Control of what? A new development agreement, which has to lock in what already exists, still hasn’t even been presented for public review.

mkt9 hours ago

I'll call them pragmatists. Pragmatists with control.

lazyboy97o18 hours ago

They don’t have control. They are hedging for the near future that they might be targets on a wider scale.

mkt19 hours ago

It's not a compromise. Disney doesn't actually care about the free speech argument. Disney has quietly restarted political contributions (the true reason behind all of this) and now maintains control over their land with a board that will be friendlier while reserving the right to restart the federal appeal if an unfriendly board re-emerges. At the same time DeSantis can claim he won, and his supporters will not question it. All Disney wanted was control and to stop the damage to their image.

tecowdw1 day ago

Just goes to show that the whole thing was just a political stunt. Now that the political steam has ran out on this issue, it actually operates like it is suppose to. A good sign that maybe CFTOD and Disney can live amicably after all. And I'm sure they definitely will once the remnants of Desantis and his original board cronies are all long gone and forgotten. It was always a given that Disney would be around long after those political individuals' "15 seconds of fame" ended. I wonder if Garcia, the vocal Disney critic, leaving the board was part of a back room deal to get Disney to drop their lawsuits and renegotiate the RCID development agreement. Maybe that's also how an experienced new administrator got put in place as well. I can't imagine Disney just relinquished all of it's lawsuits/agreements without ensuring they had something valuable in return since they are +80% of the district's tax base in land ownership. They just aren't that stupid! ;) At the end of the day, while Disney lost control of their municipality, it's in everyone's best interest to work together for the common goal of bringing tourist dollars in to the maximum potential. Central Florida could be a very different place had Disney not been able to expand their operations for 51 years with RCID.

GoneViral2 days ago

Happy days are here again.

MR.Dis3 days ago

I just read a report that the CFTOD meeting was a boring managing the district business, just like the old RCID days. No protests and very little attendance. No mention of the pending negotiation of the developement agreement.

DCBaker5 days ago

The agenda and documents for the CFTOD Board of Supervisors meeting is now available at the link below. Included in this packet are documents related to the FY2023 Annual Financial Statement presentation and an annual audit by Cherry Bekaert, LLP. As a head's up, the meeting has shifted an hour from previous times - it is scheduled to begin at 10:30am. https://www.oversightdistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BOS-Meeting-Packet-4-24-24-Final-P.pdf