Visit Florida board chooses new CEO

The board of Visit Florida hired a new CEO and approved a smaller-than-expected severance package for its departing CEO at its meeting Tuesday in Orlando.

Kenneth Lawson, director for the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation, was unanimously hired at a salary of $175,000 a year. He and board chairman William Talbert III were to meet Wednesday with Gov. Rick Scott in Tallahassee.

Scott has been critical of Visit Florida, the state’s public-private tourism marketing group, over the decision last year to pay rapper Pitbull $1 million as part of a marketing campaign that featured his song “Sexy Beaches.”

The governor asked thenCEO Will Seccombe to resign after the payment was revealed. Critics called for more transparency and accountability from Visit Florida, which is set to receive $76 million in state taxpayer money this year.

The board approved a $73,000 severance package for Seccombe, far less than the $327,000 that a clause in his contract stated he could receive. Talbert said Seccombe — CEO since 2012 — agreed to accept the $73,000, which Talbert said would come entirely out of private funds for the group.

Scott praised Lawson, whom he appointed as head of the department in charge of licensing and regulating businesses in 2011.

Lawson “understands the responsibility we have to be transparent with every tax dollar,” Scott wrote in a statement. “At DBPR, he oversaw crucial parts of Florida’s tourism industry and knows that tourism is important to the economic growth of our state. … I know he will use his unmatched experience and love for Florida to promote tourism while bringing much-needed reforms to Visit Florida so our state can break even more tourism records.”

In his first speech to the board, Lawson promised that “we as a team will send the message that Visit Florida matters.”