Rosanne Dunkelberger
The marriage of Dave and Shannon Shepp might be best illustrated by their interview for this story. They were on the phone. In the car. Sitting in the parking lot of Lakeland Linder International Airport. Shannon was picking him up after he flew home with a client.
Their jobs take the Shepps hither and yon, especially during Session. Dave is a partner in The Southern Group’s Tampa Bay office. Shannon is the Executive Director of the Florida Department of Citrus, the first woman to hold the position since the state agency was created by the Legislature in 1935.
The couple married in 1999, and finds navigating The Process life for a quarter century together is made much easier to have a spouse who gets it.
“The best thing for me was always being able to come home on the weekends — and especially when it’s after (Session) — and not just being able to reconnect with family life, but have somebody who completely understood … and being able to be a sounding board,” Dave said.
“That is really how I’ve been able to maintain my sanity because I know there are some folks who have no interest in what their spouses may do for a living or want to hear about it. But she knows the ins and outs of politics at the local level, state level, national level and that’s where the teamwork really comes into play. That is from a lucky husband’s perspective. That is what has been able to make me continue to want to do what I do, knowing that she is there both in Tallahassee with me when she can be and always at home.”
But it was not without some major adjustments.
After being dispatched by the Republican Party of Florida to Polk County to work on the 1996 campaign of former Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam when he was first elected to the Florida House, Dave worked for Putnam during his legislative years and moved to his 2000 campaign for the U.S. House.
The plan was to follow Putnam to Washington if he was elected, which he was. But three weeks after their son, William, was born, “Dave came home and said, ‘Hey, we’re not going to D.C.’ And I said, ‘What happened? Surely something bad must have happened,’” Shannon said.
“He’s like, ‘Nothing bad happened. This schedule is not going to get any better if we go to D.C. and I’ve already missed too much of my son’s life.'”
He would go on to lead Florida Strategic Group for 14 years before joining Southern Group.
Meanwhile, Shannon was making a name for herself in the ag world, working for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for 12 years. She served as Deputy Commissioner for 2 ½ years, which required her to spend every other week in Tallahassee. But she got a wake-up call after their son broke his finger playing baseball and it wasn’t discovered until grandmother pointed it out. Shannon realized it was time to move to a position closer to home.
“We’re both faithful people. We’re both very Catholic,” she explained. “We know when to recognize God’s path, and God’s path led me to the Department of Citrus. And two years later I was the Executive Director.”
Son William, now 23, has thrived, now studying for a Doctor of Physical Therapy at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Dave and Shannon will be in different cities on Valentine’s Day. “Maybe we’ll send each other’s selfies of our ashes since it’s Ash Wednesday,” she says. Shannon is off for a Galentine’s weekend with friends in the Bahamas the next day. “It’s getting away from The Process. It’s basically a place to disappear.”
Dave gets it.
“We’re just a team in life and … these just happen to be our jobs. We make decisions based on our family and we’re lucky to have the positions that we have in public policy because we both love it,” he said. “But I say this all the time. There are two things: family first, every time, and always use your powers for good.”
