Visit Florida Keys taps David Burke to strengthen accountability and operations

Visit Florida Keys & Key West has created a new chief administrative officer post and hired Key West resident David Burke to fill it, a move that puts accountability and internal controls at the center of the county’s tourism operation after years of scrutiny over how visitor dollars were handled.

Burke, a retired U.S. Navy captain who has lived in Key West since 2020, is scheduled to start May 18. The new role is focused on operational accountability, compliance and intergovernmental coordination, with Burke expected to help build systems, routing for contracts, internal controls and technology tools that support the county’s tourism business.

The appointment gives Kara Franker, the president and CEO of Visit Florida Keys, a senior operations officer with deep government experience. Burke spent more than three decades in leadership jobs involving operations, compliance, program and financial management, and coordination across agencies. Before joining Visit Florida Keys, he worked at Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, where he served as deputy superintendent and then acting superintendent after joining in 2024. NOAA said his work there centered on operations, budget planning and execution, administration, staff alignment, facilities oversight and agreements with partner organizations.

His Navy career included senior posts such as chief of staff at Joint Interagency Task Force South and chief of staff at Carrier Strike Group Twelve. He also holds degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of San Diego and the National War College.

The hire comes as Monroe County’s tourism machinery remains under pressure to prove it can manage public money cleanly. The Monroe County Tourist Development Council, created by referendum in 1981, was the subject of an October 2023 county audit that found repeated noncompliance with purchasing policy, weak internal controls, poor management oversight and serious ethical concerns. The audit also flagged shared passwords, thin invoice review, after-the-fact purchasing, conflicts of interest, management self-dealings and the use of a nonexistent company to bill for services.

That fallout led county commissioners to recommend that the tourism board place its marketing director on leave and hire an independent fraud examiner. In July 2024, the board hired Franker as the first president and CEO of the tourism agency. Later reporting said the TDC had 13 staffers, far fewer than the 55 at Palm Beaches TDC, underscoring the staffing and oversight gaps Franker inherited. In September 2024, former marketing director Stacey Mitchell filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging retaliation after the audits and after the county denied funding for a proposed concert and drone show.

The stakes are high. Monroe County says visitors spend about $3.5 billion a year in the Florida Keys, generating almost $400 million in tax revenue and supporting more than 24,000 local jobs in an island chain of about 80,000 residents. The county says that visitor economy saves each household about $11,500, including $1,124 in property taxes. In its FY 2024 report, the county said TDC funding supported 78 capital projects, up from 48 in FY 2023, with $11,179,838 allocated compared with $8,778,378 the year before. Burke’s job now sits at the center of that financial system.