McCann Names UCF SGA Cabinet Directors
News, UCF Administration, UCF SGA — By Staff on May 7, 2011 at 7:33 pmAs the controversial Kilbride administration fades into UCF SGA history, KnightNews.com has already learned who Kilbride’s successor, Matthew McCann, has picked to lead his cabinet.
CHIEF OF STAFF
Kyle Simpson, a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity who has served as chairman of President Hitt’s Leadership Council, was selected as the chief of staff for the McCann/Brock administration. He replaced Joey Femia, also a member of Beta Theta Pi. We’re working to find out Simpson’s major.
COMPTROLLER
E. Joshua Miller, the current Pro Tempore of the SGA Senate, previous Activity & Service Fee chairman and member of AEPI, has been selected as McCann’s comptroller. Miller gained notoriety for bringing more transparency to SGA by publicly posting minutes of $17 million A&SF budget meetings online — without first blacking out SGA officials’ names — even though doing so appears to violate UCF Associate General Counsel Youndy Cook’s apparent interpretation of FERPA, because Cook required the names to be redacted during the previous year. Miller also live streamed video and audio records of of the A&SF meetings online.
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Amanda Newby, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma who has served as Panhellenic President, was selected as Director of Communications for the McCann/Brock administration. This position was previously held by Kristin Harris, who took over after Matt Smith, an Alpha Epsilon Pi, became among the first to resign from the Kilbride administration following several of Kilbride’s controversial decisions in office. Kayla Torpey, a member of Pi Beta Phi, served as Kilbride’s Public Relations specialist. KnightNews.com mistakenly identified Harris as a member of Pi Phi in an earlier version of this story.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Reggie Paros, a member of Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity, gained notoriety for issuing an unprecedented AG opinion to invalidate an SGA senate committee’s decision to move an impeachment affidavit filed against Kilbride forward because the meeting allegedly started three minutes outside the 30 minute window allowed by statutes. SGA could not point to one instance where that rule had ever been enforced prior to Kilbride having the impeachment charges filed against him. Paros took over the AG spot after Nicholas Gurney resigned to run for SGA president.
DIRECTOR OF CAMPUS LIFE
Chris Pombonyo was selected as McCann’s Director of Camus life. Pombonyo previously served as Director of Spectacular Knights, which puts on Miss UCF and Mr. UCF. He replaces Amanda Newby.
DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AFFAIRS
Michael Davis, a member of Sigma Pi fraternity, was selected as McCann’s Director of Student Affairs. He replaces Latoya Jackson.
DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
Lauren Evans was selected as Director of Governmental Affairs. She replaces Andreu Szempruch, a member of Beta. The Governmental Affairs Unit could be key to stopping the UCF administration from getting permission from the state to eventually destroy the arboretum in the name of expansion. KnightNews.com is working to research more about Evans’ record.
KnightNews.com has learned the following individuals were selected to join the cabinet in support staff roles:
- Caitie Shields: Facilities and Projects Coordinator
- Santiago Ossa: Student Outreach Coordinator
- Arielle Bardzell: Athletic and Traditions Coordinator
- Julian Belilty: Sustainability Specialist
- April Brown: Internal Marketing Coordinator
- Michelle Venezia: External Marketing Coordinator
- Ashley Tinstman: Public Relations Coordinator
- Steve Della-Valentina: Web Coordinator
- Trevor Persued: Diversity Initiatives Coordinator
- Alex Bissel: Safety and Transportation Specialist
- Zach McCaffrey: Legislative Affairs Coordinator
- Cynthia Florentino: Community Affairs Specialist
We’re working to learn and post any remaining positions which have been selected. Keep refreshing or checking back for updates.
All of these cabinet officials still have to be confirmed by a two-thirds vote of the SGA senate before becoming official.
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10 Comments
Is there no Deputy Comptroller?
Plus who are half these people?
Your post seems to be proven wrong by my earlier post that you, in fact, tried to debunk. The rule may be a rule, but the fact that it’s never, ever made a difference to anything in the past and Paros decides to use it at the biggest, most important decision in Student Government this year, if not for a while, is quite absurd. I’m not trash-talking Paros, I merely said that it is one of the most recent and the biggest (read: most within the limelight) experiences in his leadership career, so naturally Knightnews would state it.
Come on, let’s not pretend it wasn’t done intentionally. First odd thing: Paros was there the entire meeting! If you had watched the live-stream you would see Paros was there, so wouldn’t he have been able to enforce the rule at the moment? Anything like “hey don’t forget to make sure you start on time because I’m going to make sure this is by the books” would have sufficed. Instead (2nd), it is “enforced” after the fact. Third point, had his decision made a difference, and they would have had to hold the meeting again, it would push back the impeachment investigation and the whole process even further. At this point, they would have either ran out of meetings (and hold a special session when some senators would have left town for the summer) or have had to move the business up, potentially rushing a decision. Then, some senators would make the (invalid) point that Kilbride’s term would almost end and that it’s pointless to investigate, even though that’s irrelevant, though it didn’t stop them this time.
My overall post, not even including this one, completely proves you wrong. I am not one of the many “people on this site” to have never stepped foot into SGA or know about what they do.
just because a rule isn’t followed, doesn’t mean a rule isn’t a rule. And who are you to blast Paros? Have you ever step foot into the office to talk to him and find out exactly what he has done for the Student Body? Doubtful. Just like most of the people on this site.
A news story is just that, A STORY! A reporter takes the “facts” he wants to use, then tells you the story he wants you to believe, along with his own added bias.
That’s just the way it is in all news. Forget about “fair and balanced”. Its a slogan they use, but no news story is really completely “fair and balanced”.
Why? 1. Sell more media
2. Advance their agenda (politics)
Keep that in mind when you read or hear this or any other new story. The guys at Knight News are just practicing for the real world.
Are you serious?
1) KnightNews is simply listing any experience being involved on campus or in a leadership position. If it wasn’t relevent, they wouldn’t put that on their resumes, would they?
2) How is this article really negative? I don’t see how anyone is affected by the release of this information. Yes, there’s the mention of Kilbride’s lackluster performance as President, and Paros’ really only relevant (and most recent) experience in a leadership position in SGA, but the article doesn’t really focus on that as much as it just updates the student body on these positions.
3) Your post about Reggie Paros is ridiculous. The rule he decided to employ was a first, so even if he was trying to hold people accountable, the rule seems to be arbitrarily used and certainly not consistent throughout. It would be a piss-poor time to use it first, but I suppose it’s only smart to find any loophole you can to get out of impeachment, eh, Kilbride? I certainly doubt KnightNews is going to chastise anyone about starting a meeting 2 minutes late, so your “double standard” comment is both absurd and asinine.
Take a look in the mirror Student. It’s been 3 years since Andrew/Chace* lost, yet many students are still passionate about the ideas and ideals they wanted to bring into SGA. I suppose if we all gave up on something we believed in after one defeat, the world would be a better place, huh? And for the record, KnightNews is more than Andrew Stein but a staff, so seriously, get over yourself and move on.
What a terrible cabinet.
I understand wanting to bridge the gap between OSI and SGA, but giving a lot of people from OSI positions in SGA is just going to complicate things. I guarantee you half of their office hours will be spent over in OSI doing work that is completely unrelated to their SGA positions. Not to mention, most of them also have positions in OSI. It would have been better to choose people who could focus on SGA. The environments are completely different, as is the work.
Some of the people on that list are just laughable, but I won’t call them out by name. Some of them truly have the intellect, ideas, and attitude to change the school for the better. I just hoped they don’t get sucked into the drama.
They’re all Adam’s close friends or fellow gays…all of which are completely unqualified and some of which have done horrendously with their previous positions in OSI/SGA/O-Team. Who woulda guessed?
…oh wait, he also did that with KnightDrive so this should be no shocker.
Breaking news? This is a solid 24 hours old, there isn’t anything breaking about this.
Dear Knightnews:
1) Why is it necessary to point out what Greek organization each member is a part of? Doesn’t really have much relevance to your story.
2) What do you have against SGA? As a blog who clearly wants what is best for the student body, shouldn’t you work WITH SGA, not AGAINST?
3) Finally, in your clearly large paragraph about returning AG Reggie Paros, you mentioned that SGA could not point out any other case where that rule had been upheld. Did you ever think it happened now because Paros actually did his job as AG and held people accountable? And if he hadn’t upheld the statute and you found out about it, you probably would’ve written an article saying he violated statutes and was unethical for not upholding the statute. Double standard much?
Take a look in the mirror Knightnews. It’s been 3 years since Andrew/Chase lost. MOVE ON.
Is it just me or does he always have the hottest girls working for him?