Visit Florida Board of Directors Appoints Ken Lawson as New President, CEO

Visit Florida announced the appointment of Ken Lawson as its new President and CEO. The announcement was made following a unanimous vote of the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors during a meeting this morning in Orlando. Lawson, who currently serves as the Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), will assume his new position with VISIT FLORIDA on January 11.

“The work VISIT FLORIDA does to promote tourism is vital to the continued growth of the state’s economy and having someone with Secretary Lawson’s strong leadership background will secure our continued success.” said William D. Talbert, III, CDME, President & CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and Chair of the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors.

Lawson, a native Floridian and former U.S. Marine Corps Judge Advocate General, has spent 12 years serving and protecting the public in numerous regulatory positions, including his most recent work overseeing—among other divisions—restaurants, hotels and vacation rentals with DBPR.

During his six-year tenure with DBPR, Lawson managed a team of 1,600 employees charged with licensing and regulating more than 1 million businesses and professionals throughout the state.