Her Journey: From the Florida Legislature to Senate President
Kathleen Passidomo
President of the Florida Senate, 2022-2024
Senator Kathleen C. Passidomo was elected to the Florida Senate in November 2016 after having served in the Florida House of Representatives since 2010. Senator Passidomo was elected by her peers to serve as President of the Florida Senate for the 2022-2024 legislative term.
During the 2018-2020 legislative session, Senator Passidomo served as Senate Majority Leader. She also previously served as the Senate President’s appointee on the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking from 2017-2019. She also served as the Chair for the Senate Committee on Rules for the 2020-2022 legislative session.
Senator Passidomo graduated in 1975 from Trinity College (now University) in Washington, D.C., after which she spent eight months backpacking in Southeast Asia. In December 1978, she received her law degree from Stetson University College of Law and built her practice around Real Estate and Business Law in Naples. She was in the first group of attorneys in the state to obtain Board Certification in Real Estate Law and her peers elected her to serve as President of both the Collier County Bar Association and the Collier County Women’s Bar Association.
As Senator Passidomo’s career progressed, she used her background and legal skills to help almost 100 civic, charitable, and business organizations with their corporate documents and governance structure.
From creating the Collier County Juvenile Justice Council to serving as Co-Chair of the Community Engagement Initiative of the Education Foundation of Collier County- Champions for Learning (“Connect Now”), and as President of the Southwest Florida Land Preservation Trust to chairing the Board of The United Way of Collier County, she had the opportunity to work with citizens from all over Southwest Florida with a common goal of making the community a better place to live, work, raise a family and retire.
Senator Passidomo and her husband John have lived in Naples for 43 years. Together, they have three children, Catarina, Francesca and Gabriella, and two grandsons, William and Emilio.