Dale Declines Offer to Become Space Florida President

Job offer scrubbed: Former NASA official turns down top Space Florida post; interim leader in line?
Orlando Sentinel

Former NASA deputy administrator Shana Dale unexpectedly declined an offer to lead Space Florida, one day before board members of the state’s aerospace development body were supposed to make her hiring official.

The job of Space Florida president has been vacant since Steve Kohler resigned his $175,000-a-year post last May under a barrage of criticism over questionable contracts and failure to create aerospace jobs. Since then, it has been run by interim president Frank DiBello, a respected Florida space consultant.

DiBello was widely expected to be offered the top job. But Tuesday, a five-member search committee announced that it had unanimously chosen Dale from a field of five candidates and was ready to negotiate a contract with her for approval by the agency’s board today.

Dale’s rejection of the job was almost as surprising as her selection.

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