BRADENTON, Fla. - The Central Florida Expressway Authority selected insider Laura Kelley to become the agency's first female executive director.
The CFX board on May 14 chose Kelley for the position subject to contract negotiations.
Kelley, who joined predecessor agency Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority in 2006, has served as deputy executive director since September 2013.
Kelley beat out the other top finalist under consideration, Illinois Tollway director Kristi Lafleur.
Altogether, the CFX board considered a dozen qualified applicants for the lead job, which has been vacant since September 2013 when it was still called the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.
Prior to working at the Expressway Authority, Kelley spent most of her 30-year professional career as the executive director of the Florida Transportation Commission, an agency that oversees various transportation authorities across the state. She also was a financial manager for the Florida Department of Transportation.
Kelley is a member of the International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association, the American Society of Highway Engineers, WTS (Advancing Women in Transportation) International, and the Transportation Expressway Authority Management of Florida organization.
She obtained a bachelor's degree from the Florida State University College of Business.
The CFX is a state agency that was created on June 20, 2014 to assume governance of a 109-mile expressway system previously operated by the OOCEA
Under the new name, CFX membership expanded to include Seminole, Lake, Osceola and Orange counties.
CFX's fiscal 2014 operating budget was $52.7 million with a more than $700 million five-year work plan through fiscal 2017.
The agency had $2.67 million of toll revenue bonds outstanding as of June 30, 2014. The debt is rated A by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's, and A2 by Moody's Investors Service.
In upcoming weeks, the CFX is expected to begin searching for a chief financial officer. The position has been vacant for several years, though it has been held on an interim basis by Lisa Lumbard.
