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Ric Grenell’s successor as the president of the Trump Kennedy Center was revealed Friday afternoon after President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to make the announcement.
The change will officially be announced on Monday as the Trump Kennedy Center’s board meets to officially suspend its activities and launch construction efforts.
Grenell, who has a background in foreign policy and assumed control of the center in February of last year in addition to his special envoy role, is being replaced by Matt Floca, the Trump Kennedy Center’s current vice president of facilities operations.
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President Donald Trump speaks to the media alongside Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, during a guided tour of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts before leading a board meeting March 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
A person familiar with Grenell’s thinking said the transition was a result of the construction-focused shift for the organization and consistent with plans President Donald Trump outlined in posts to social media at the beginning of February.
“I have determined that the fastest way to bring the Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of success, beauty and grandeur is to cease entertainment operations for an approximately two-year period of time,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social last month.
The source added that the change in the Trump Kennedy Center’s leadership is reflective of the organization’s focus for the time being.
US President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box as he tours the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on March 17, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
“I mean the whole thing is turning into a construction zone,” the source said. “It’s going to be a construction zone and [Ric is] not a construction guy.”
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Trump also highlighted Floca’s new appointment online.
“As Vice President of Operations, Matt has helped us achieve tremendous progress in bringing the Center to the highest level of Excellence! A Complete Reconstruction of THE TRUMP KENNEDY CENTER will begin after the July 4th Celebration,” Trump wrote.
He went on to praise Grenell’s performance in the executive role, saying, “Ric Grenell has done an excellent job in helping to coordinate various elements of the Center during the transition period, and I want to thank him for the outstanding work he has done.”
Exterior of the Kennedy Center on the Potomac River, Washington, D.C., undated. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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The renovations are slated to cost $257 million, according to figures approved by Congress in Trump’s signature Big Beautiful Bill last year.
Grenell declined to respond to inquiries about what his next role would be.
