Manuel "Manny" Kadre will chair the transition, with Ryan Smith serving as executive director, Teresa Ressel as a senior adviser and Tarren Bragdon leading policy development.

Kadre is chief executive of Kollective Auto Group, formerly known as MBB Auto Group, and chairs the University of Miami's Board of Trustees. He also sits on the board of the University of Miami Health System, giving the incoming administration a direct line to one of South Florida's largest private institutions.

Smith served as chief strategist for Donalds' campaign and was a senior campaign director for the Donalds-Avila ticket. He has also advised MAGA Inc., a political action committee backing President Donald Trump — a connection that signals the governor-elect intends to keep close ties to the White House as he assumes control of the nation's third-largest state.

Ressel, a member of the campaign's Businesswomen for Byron coalition, was an assistant secretary and chief financial officer of the U.S. Treasury during Trump's administration. She is the retired chief executive of UBS Securities and was elected to the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank's Office of Finance, bringing financial-market and federal-budget experience to the transition.

Bragdon leads the Naples-based Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative public policy organization that has pushed for tighter eligibility rules on public benefits and other limited-government reforms. A Maine native, he moved his family to Florida in 2011 and previously served in the Maine House of Representatives and worked for the Maine Heritage Policy Center.

In a prepared statement, Donalds said he and Lt. Gov.-elect Bryan Avila campaigned on making Florida more affordable, investing in young people and continuing what he described as "common-sense governance and economic opportunity." The transition team's makeup — heavy on business and fiscal-policy credentials — suggests those themes will shape the early staffing and budget decisions of the new administration.

Donalds has not said whether additional people will be brought in to help manage the handoff from Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration, leaving open the question of how broadly the transition will reach into state agencies.

The announcement comes as Donalds, a Republican congressman from Southwest Florida, prepares to succeed a term-limited DeSantis. His policy agenda has emphasized affordability measures and tax relief, and the choice of a transition chair with deep ties to Miami's civic and health-care institutions may signal an effort to build bridges with South Florida's business establishment.

For Jacksonville and other Northeast Florida communities, the transition's early signals matter: the team will help set priorities on housing costs, insurance, education and state spending before the new governor takes office. Residents and local officials will be watching whether the incoming administration follows through on its affordability message or tilts toward the deregulatory agenda advanced by Bragdon's organization.

The transition team is expected to begin work immediately, vetting agency leadership and preparing a budget blueprint ahead of the January inauguration.