Here is the 2018 edition of The INFLUENCE 100: The most influential people in Florida politics

INFLUENCE 100 image

“You’ve guaranteed there will be an INFLUENCE Magazine for another two years.”

That’s what one of the members of the INFLUENCE 100 told me after the first listing of the most influential people in Florida politics was published two years ago. This person’s point to me was that by creating a ‘Fortune 500 of Florida politics,’ I had instantly made our fledgling magazine relevant.

(A link to the digital copy of INFLUENCE Magazine is here.)

(Click here to subscribe to INFLUENCE Magazine.)

I didn’t know if I believed that. Not until another member of the list — a prominent lobbyist — told me about executives of a major corporation who were considering changing their roster of contract lobbyists.

The in-house lobbyist who managed the team pushed back against the executive’s meddling by taking out the INFLUENCE 100 edition of the magazine, showing it to the executives and asking them to show him where the lobbyists who the execs wanted to hire. On those pages were some of the members of his existing team.

That, my friends, is influence. And that is what the magazine — and especially this edition (our tenth!) — is all about.

But influence is a commodity that’s hard to define. The adage that you’ll know it when you see it doesn’t apply to influence because, in many ways, those who wield influence don’t often want to be seen at work.

That’s what’s special about the INFLUENCE 100.

There are no elected officials or agency heads on the list. That’s for two reasons: the first being that, of course, the Governor of Florida is the most influential person in the state; the second is that the power of most officeholders is with their position and that (mostly) they don’t take it with them once they leave.

Instead, the INFLUENCE 100 includes all the other masters of the universe: The Players, The Thought Leaders, The Lobbyists, The Titans, The Counselors, The Media, The Industry Leaders, The Advocates, and The Legends.

The original inspiration for the INFLUENCE 100 is Time magazine’s annual list of the most influential people in the world, which, rather than ranking them, also breaks down its list into sectors.

The INFLUENCE 100’s two favorite aspects for me — beyond the parlor games it will inspire — are the superb photographs that accompany many of the profiles, and that the blurbs were written by the subjects’ peers, competitors, and admirers.

After all, who knows the 100 better?

Since this is the second edition of the INFLUENCE 100, it’s almost as interesting to consider who is no longer on the list as who is making a repeat appearance. About 60 percent of the latest list was on it in 2016, but still, a lot of room opened up on the rankings.

And, as it was with the first edition, this is MY list. I’m responsible for the facepalming, out-of-left-field choices, as well as the glaring sins of omission. I’m the one who initially decided not to rank the list. I’m the one who moved so-and-so from the “100” section to the honorable mentions.

Beyond the INFLUENCE 100, this is a really, really good edition of the magazine. Probably our best yet (and that’s saying something, considering INFLUENCE Magazine finished second in the state for the Florida Magazine Associations’ best single edition award). There’s just a slew of news and notes and insights and features about what we think is the most politically active and interesting state in the country.

(A link to the digital copy of INFLUENCE Magazine is here.)

(Click here to subscribe to INFLUENCE Magazine.)

Hopefully, with this second edition of the INFLUENCE 100, we’ve done more than guarantee another two years for our little publication.

For the record, this year’s list includes:

Jon Adrabi

Adam Babington

Pat Bainter

Brian Ballard

Bill Barker

Sarah Bascom

Lewis Bear

Brewster Bevis

Travis Blanton

Ron Book

Paul Bradshaw

Norman Braman

Dean Cannon

Gaston Cantens

Reggie Cardozo

Tony Carvajal

Kevin Cate

Kelly Cohen

Gus Corbella

Michael Corcoran

Robert Corker

Ana Cruz

Husein Cumber

Nelson Diaz

Matt Dixon

Carol Dover

Chris Dudley

Bill Edwards

Tony Fabrizio

Tom Feeney

Gary Fineout

Julio Fuentes

Mike Griffin

Marion Hammer

David Hart

Alex Heckler

Rich Heffley

Brecht Heuchan

Mori Hosseini

Brian Hughes and Rachel Perrin Rogers

Nick Iarossi

Alia Faraj-Johnson

David and Christina Johnson

Eric Johnson

Jon Johnson

Marian Johnson

Fred Karlinsky

Shad Khan

John Kirtley

Patricia Levesque

Carol Marbin Miller

Andy Marlette

Scott Maxwell

Brian May

Tracy Mayernick

Collier Merrill

John Morgan

Ana Navarro

Rosemary O’Hara

Meredith O’Rourke

Edie Ousley

Anthony Pedicini

Tom Petway

Sean Pittman

Ben Pollara

Noah Pransky

Emmett Reed

Marc Reichelderfer

Joy-Ann Reid

Jim Rimes

Kim Rivers

John Rood

Harris Rosen

Bill Rubin

Chris Ruddy

Monica Russo

Ron Sachs

Justin Sayfie

Chris Searcy

Eric Silagy

John Sowinski

Tim Stapleton

Melissa Stone

Ryan Tyson

Christian Ulvert

Steve Vancore

Jeff Vinik

Ashley Walker

Frank Walker

Nancy Watkins

Susie Wiles

Marley Wilkes

Mark Wilson

Rick Wilson

Jeff Wright

Joe York

Peter Schorsch

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including Florida Politics and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. Schorsch is also the publisher of INFLUENCE Magazine. For several years, Peter's blog was ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.



#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




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