Jeremy Ring has right resume for chief financial officer
If you were choosing the business manager for the state of Florida, you’d want someone with experience in finance and investing. That’s obvious. It would be even better if he or she were experienced in running a large corporate enterprise. Better still if they’d started businesses and had a feel for technology.
That being the checklist, the choice for Florida chief financial officer is easy.
Jeremy Ring, a former Democratic state senator from Parkland, was an early executive at Yahoo while it was growing into an internet behemoth. He was an operating partner at Sterling Partners, a multi-billion-dollar private equity fund. While a legislator, he helped found the Florida Institute of Commercialization, which pairs discoveries made in the state’s public universities with entrepreneurs; he says it has sparked over $1 billion in economic impact.
His opponent in the November election, Jimmy Patronis, helps run his family’s longstanding seafood restaurant in Panama City. He was a Republican state representative from the Panhandle until Gov. Rick Scott put him on the state Public Service Commission and then named him, last year, as Florida CFO when the well-regarded Jeff Atwater resigned for a job at Florida Atlantic University.
The state CFO oversees many billions of public dollars besides the annual operating budget. There’s nothing in Patronis’ background that should make voters comfortable with his being the steward of finances on this scale.
Ring, 48, however, is at home with what he calls “the business of government.” While a legislator, he started the Florida Growth Fund, which used $1 billion of the $160-billion state retirement system to invest in Florida technology companies — and which has delivered an 11 percent return over eight years.
Ring would ramp up the CFO’s auditing role. His tech knowledge would be valuable as the state implements a planned new computer system for payroll and vendor contracts. He would seek reforms to make Citizens Property Insurance Inc. more market-based.
We endorse Jeremy Ring for Florida chief financial officer.