Public policy veteran leaves St. Johns County Chamber to start his own consulting firm

Robert Porter. Image via Robert Porter.

A veteran public policy advisor is parting ways from the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce to open his own firm, but he’ll be staying on the First Coast.

Robert Porter stepped down this week as vice president and director of public policy of the St. Johns Chamber and immediately transitioned into his own public policy office. Porter, who was with the St. Johns Chamber for nine years after an extensive career in Washington, began work on the new public policy consulting company Anastasia Island Group. That’s where he resides, and his new company is operating out of his home.

“Basically, it’s what I’ve done my whole life,” the 67-year-old Porter said. “I realized that 90% of my time was spent doing public policy work, lobbying work both at the city, county and state level. I just decided this was a good time to back away from the Chamber.”

Prior to arriving in St. Johns County a decade ago, Porter was a key public policy consultant in the nation’s capital. In the early 2000s, he was involved in First Coast efforts. He was hired by former Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton for lobbying work to prevent the closure of Mayport Naval Station and Naval Air Station Jacksonville, which were initially listed for potential closure as part of the federal Base Realignment and Closure process. His efforts helped to keep the military installations open.

Given nearly a decade of work for the St. Johns Chamber of Commerce, Porter said it was a good time to step away and begin his own company.

“I think I had accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish at the Chamber. I was brought on nine years ago to basically set up a business advocacy program for the Chamber,” Porter said. “We created a public policy committee with volunteers and we’ve become very actively involved in the local and state legislative processes.”

St. Johns Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President of Economic Development Scott Maynard has absorbed many of the public policy duties into his fold as Porter departed.

While Porter has technically parted ways from the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, he hasn’t gone too far. His first client for his consulting firm is the Chamber from which he just resigned.

“We agreed I would still like to continue doing work for the Chamber and their general business agenda,” he said.

Meanwhile, Porter said he’ll largely focus on providing consulting work for businesses at large, though he’ll concentrate mainly on St. Johns County issues. He acknowledged that the county, rich with tourism and peculiar historic regulations, is ripe for showing businesses how to navigate the tricky government stipulations.

“We are the fastest growing county in Florida. A lot of businesses are trying to adapt to everything from a sign for a business, which is truly a medieval process. It’s truly astounding,” Porter said. “St. Johns is a lot different from Duval.”