Torey Alston, who has served in a number of high-ranking positions with local and state government agencies, will become the next president of Broward College.
The Board of Trustees unanimously chose Alston over one other finalist, Jose Llontop, a financial administrator for the Washington, D.C.-based Barton Group, which manufactures materials for Waterjet cutting and sandblasting applications.
“I’m excited,” Alston told the South Florida Sun Sentinel after being hired. “It’s a great board. I’m looking forward to working with the board and getting to know all the faculty, staff and students.”
He called his new position “the best job in Broward County,” and the college “the No. 1 destination for academic excellence.”
Alston will lead a college with four major campuses and about 55,000 community college and bachelor’s degree students. The college has had no permanent president since Gregory Haile abruptly resigned in September 2023, amid friction with the Board of Trustees. Since then, the college has been led by two interim presidents.
His priorities will include securing capital funding for two health science buildings, improving student life on campus and increasing student enrollment, Alston and Alexis Yarborough, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees, told the Sun Sentinel. Yarborough said enrollment has declined 24% in recent years.
He will negotiate salary and contract terms with Yarborough.
Trustees said both Alston and Llontop were strong candidates, but they said Alston’s local and state experience, as well as his connections to Tallahassee, would most benefit the college, particularly in terms of funding.
Alston has been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in recent years to fill vacancies on both the Broward County Commission and the Broward County School Board.
“He has deep roots in our community,” Yarborough said during the meeting. “The ability to pick up the phone and know who to call and have them trust you takes time and Mr. Alston has the benefit of living his whole life here.”
Alston “has the experience, who from Day 1 can hit the ground running,” trustee Eileen LaMarca said.
Llontop participated in the interview as well as a town hall and campus tour virtually due to an illness that prevented him from being able to travel, officials said. Alston participated in person.
Alston is the latest in a string of DeSantis allies to secure a job leading a college or university. DeSantis has been appointing conservative trustees in recent years in an effort to make state colleges and universities less “woke.” Some of these appointees have in turn hired college presidents with close ties to DeSantis.
In 2023, DeSantis-controlled boards appointed former House Speaker and former Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran to lead New College of Florida and former State Rep. Fred Hawkins to lead South Florida State College in Avon Park.
Broward College trustees selected another DeSantis ally, former Education Chancellor Henry Mack, as its interim president in 2023, but he withdrew after he and Yarborough couldn’t agree on contract terms.
Yarborough said DeSantis had no influence on the trustees’ decision to hire Alston.
“It was not a factor at all,” she told the Sun Sentinel. “To the extent that Mr. Alston has experience with the legislative process, that was absolutely critical to our decision-making. But that has nothing to do with the governor. There wasn’t any pressure or anything.”
Alston is currently the executive director of the Greater Miami Expressway Agency, which oversees five roadways in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. The agency was created as part of a state takeover of what had been the locally controlled Miami-Dade Expressway Authority.
Alston also has served as a trustee for Florida A&M University, chief of staff for the Florida Department of Transportation, chief of staff for former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief and two administrative positions for Miami-Dade Schools.
“I hired Torey twice and he helped me during a critical phase of the 2012 General Obligation Bond in Miami-Dade,” former Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, said in a statement provided by Broward College. “His fingerprints are still a part of those efforts today, and I’m proud to support him as the next College President.”
Carvalho is now the schools superintendent in Los Angeles.
Alston has held other high-profile positions in recent years, serving a DeSantis appointee to the county’s Board of Commissioners in 2021, and the School Board from 2022 to 2024. He ran for a four-year term on the School Board in August, but lost to challenger Rebecca Thompson.
Alston still has an outstanding state ethics complaint pending, filed by School Board member Allen Zeman, who complained of a conflict of interest related to a charter school settlement vote. Alston’s wife owns a service that provides health services to charter schools. While Alston recused himself from some final votes, he also pushed for the School Board to settle the matter quickly, Zeman alleged.
Ethics Commission staff have issued a recommendation “in my favor” on the matter, Alston told the Board of Trustees, but the state commission still needs to vote on it. That was scheduled to happen last week but was canceled due to winter storms in Tallahassee. Alston declined to elaborate to the Sun Sentinel on the matter after Friday’s meeting. The complaint remains confidential until the Ethics Commission takes final action.
While Zeman has questioned Alston’s ethics, he received praise from Board members Lori Alhadeff and Brenda Fam, as well as former board member Daniel Foganholi, who now serves on the state Board of Education.
“Torey served with distinction on the Broward School Board, and I am excited about the potential for deeper collaboration with Broward College,” Alhadeff said in a statement provided by the college. “Our students would greatly benefit from a true Broward leader. I fully support Torey.”