Janelle Irwin Taylor
RSA Consulting is celebrating its 15th anniversary this week, with a celebration as iconic as the Tampa-based firm.
The Wednesday night event will be held at the Tampa Theater — which is a client — with friends, family, clients, firm staff and professional acquaintances. Firm founder Ron Pierce and firm Partner Natalie King expect about 75 people or so.
The evening will celebrate a now mid-level lobby shop’s success since its founding in 2009 by Pierce, an anniversary extravaganza planned to mirror RSA’s love of birthdays. The firm, its employees and its clients go big on such milestones, celebrating even pets’ birthdays.
And it’s all being done as (mostly) a secret to Pierce.
Without totally spoiling the surprise, King offered a few details to Florida Politics. Drinks will be flowing for a social hour, complete with an open snack bar where the Tampa Theater’s typical popcorn and candy will be available, as well as a Tampa-themed menu to satiate bigger hungers. Yes, that means Cuban sandwiches.
The event will also feature a seven-minute film, which Pierce has not seen, celebrating the firm’s growth and success over the years. Pierce will also deliver brief remarks.
“He’ll cry,” King said.
The firm has come a long way since Pierce first imagined it in 2009.
Pierce started RSA with family values in mind. The firm’s name depicts that with the R representing his name; the S for his wife, Stephanie; and the A for his son, Andrew.
Now, his family has grown. Pierce and King joke — but they’re also serious — about being the firm’s mom and dad. The employees, of which there are now 10, are their kids. Their clients are family, too. And by extension, King says they’re also part of the team.
“Natalie and I, what we have built in 15 years, if you would have told me we’d be this big back then, I would have never thought that,” Pierce said of his firm’s anniversary.
What sets RSA apart from other lobby shops is its commitment to client experience. The firm, as King describes it, knows what they are, and they’re careful not to exceed that.
RSA launched with just a few anchor clients, including the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pepin Distributing Company, the state’s largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributor, which serves the Tampa Bay region. Today, the firm boasts nearly 100 clients.
“The ball we have our eye on is: How do we continue to maintain it?” King said of the firm’s future.
And Pierce recalled a story that stuck with him, one from fairly early in the firm’s history, but after it had grown substantially from its roots. A client asked him how many clients RSA represented. Pierce answered, at the time, that it was about 60. The client was shocked, telling him, “When we’re with you, we feel like we’re your only client.”
It’s that dedication that makes Pierce and King the most proud, along with a culture they’ve instilled in the firm’s employees. And it shows, as evidenced by a recent workplace anecdote.
Edward Briggs is the firm’s Vice President of Community and Government Affairs. He recently showed a level of leadership that espouses the growth RSA enjoys, both as a firm and through its people.
“Edward struggles to trust others, because nobody does it better than him,” King said, adding that it often makes him reluctant to hand off responsibilities to other team members.
But preparing for an extended vacation, he had no choice but to delegate.
“We watched Edward with the greatest amount of confidence we’ve ever seen, download nearly 100% of his load to Josiah,” King said, referencing Josiah Johnson, the firm’s Government Relations and Community Affairs Coordinator who began as an intern.
“It showed how much Edward had grown as a leader, and how Josiah was able to instill that trust in Edward,” King gushed of her work “children.”
“And it’s a show of Natalie’s mentorship,” Pierce interjected, offering praise for his No. 2.
In addition to Pierce, King, Briggs and Johnson, the firm is also home to several other rock stars in The Process, including Senior Lobbyists Melody Arnold, Matt Herndon and Natalie Brown, Junior Lobbyist Will George, Director of Client Relations and Special Projects Brittany DesMaris, Special Projects Director Gina Sisk, and Chief Treat Officer Sammi Pierce (AKA Office Dog).
RSA represents clients in a number of industries, including education and early learning, health care, transportation, economic development, construction and, the team’s favorite, sports.
The RSA team was able to accompany the Stanley Cup into the House and Senate chambers two years in a row to celebrate the Tampa Bay Lightning’s back-to-back championship seasons. The Lightning are among the firm’s most high-profile clients.
The team also represents the Florida Aquarium, the Tampa Sports Authority, the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Moffitt Cancer Center, BayCare, Advent Health, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, Film Tampa Bay, United Way Suncoast, and more.
Pierce began his career in the Legislature working for Sen. John Grant and, later, Sen. Tom Lee, who went on to serve as Senate President.
The firm has grown to accommodate significant needs in Tallahassee. A second office in the state capital serves as the team’s base during Legislative Session, and with the addition recently of three new staff members, now affords Team RSA a year-round presence in Tallahassee.
