3) Apple Inc
4) Artificial Intelligence for Manufacturing, Inc. (AIM)
6) AtkinsRealis
7) Bay County Board of County Commissioners
9) Beep, Inc.
14) EcoLandCo, LLC
17) Florida Senior Living Association
18) Florida Sheriffs Association
19) Florida Trucking Association
21) Gopher Resource
22) IBM
23) International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
24) JAX Chamber
25) Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC and Affiliates
26) Lake Wales Property Holdings, LLC
27) Lemon Grove Mitigation Bank
30) NASCAR, LLC
31) Neal Communities
33) Nightlock
35) OnSolve, LLC.
36) Osceola County
38) Punam, LLC.
39) Raydient LLC
40) ReCap, LLC
43) Second Harvest of the Big Bend
45) simplySOLV LLC
48) Tall Timbers Research, Inc.
50) TECO Energy, Inc
51) The Mahaffey Apartment Company
53) Tom Thumb Food Stores, Inc.
54) Transportation Research Center Inc.
55) TSG Public Safety Advisors, LLC.
56) Urban SDK
Rachel Cone joins Southern Strategy Group after more than a decade of service in the highest levels of local and state governments. Rachel served as the Interim Secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), where she successfully shepherded the department's policy agenda and $11 billion budget across the finish line of the 2017 legislative session.
During her time at FDOT she also served as the Assistant Secretary for Finance and Administration, overseeing the offices of work program and budget, finance, procurement, technology, human resources, performance management and other administrative functions. She managed three of the largest transportation work programs in state history and represented the department in front of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Treasury, Fitch and Moody's rating agencies.
Rachel also directed changes to how the department finances the work program, and successfully advocated for statutory changes that resulted in a new financing vehicle for the department. This allows the department to fund additional, major transportation projects at a lower cost. She also oversaw the reorganization of the department's technology offices, which resulted in a culture shift for the department in how it prioritizes, spends and manages transportation-specific and traditional technologies.
In 2012, Governor Rick Scott appointed Rachel to serve as his Deputy Chief of Staff, where she was responsible for advising him on statewide issues, appointments to boards and commissions and providing guidance and direction to 14 state and quasi-governmental agencies on operational and management issues, including policy, budget, communication, legislative strategy and agency priorities. Those agencies were the Departments of Business and Professional Regulation, Citrus, Emergency Management, Economic Opportunity, Environmental Protection (and Water Management Districts) and Transportation. Also included under her purview were Florida Wildlife Commission, Space Florida, Visit Florida, Volunteer Florida and CareerSource Florida.
Rachel previously served as the External Affairs Director for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection where she directed planning and statewide communications strategies for the department, and coordinated communications efforts with Florida's five water management districts. This included topics such as renewed water management district oversight, various departmental restructuring, the health of Florida's springs, Governor Scott's Everglades Restoration Strategies plan and Florida's ongoing recovery after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Prior to her family's move to Tallahassee, Rachel served on the executive leadership team in the Mayor John Peyton administration in Jacksonville. Rachel began her career as a military reporter at the Florida Times-Union.
Rachel is a proud graduate of Auburn University. She and her family are active members of Trinity United Methodist Church, and Rachel serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at Holy Comforter Episcopal School in Tallahassee.
1) Airbnb, Inc.
3) Altria Client Services LLC and its Affiliates
4) American Property Casualty Insurance Association
6) Apple Inc
7) Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services, LLC
8) Association of Florida Colleges, Inc
10) AtkinsRealis
12) Beep, Inc.
14) Breakthru Beverage Florida
17) Cengage
18) City of Orlando
20) Copart, Inc
22) CVS Health
23) Darden, Inc.
25) Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County
26) EcoLandCo, LLC
30) Fidelity National Financial, Inc
31) Flagler College
32) Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association
33) Florida Blue
34) Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority
38) Florida Sheriffs Association
39) Florida State Alliance of YMCA
40) Florida State College at Jacksonville Foundation
41) Florida Trucking Association
42) Friends of Florida Iron & Steel
43) G.L. Homes of Florida Corporation
44) Gopher Resource
47) International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
48) Jack and Nancy Dwyer Workforce Development Center, Inc.
51) Lake Nona Property Holdings, LLC
53) Museum of Science & History
54) NASCAR, LLC
57) Pearl Holding Group (Ocean Harbor)
59) RedSpeed USA
61) Smart Horizons Career Online Education
62) Tall Timbers Research, Inc.
64) TECO Energy, Inc
65) Tenet Healthcare Corporation
66) Tesla, Inc.
69) University of Florida Foundation, Inc.
70) Vestcor Companies, Inc., The
71) Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, U.S.
72) Wells Fargo
Chris joined the firm in November of 2000 after serving seven years in Florida government. During this time, Chris served as the Assistant to the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff to former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Prior to serving in Governor Bush's administration, Chris served as the Deputy Chief of Staff, Deputy Legislative Director, and Special Assistant to former Florida Education Commissioner and former Florida Lt. Governor Frank T. Brogan. Chris also served as a legislative aide in the Florida House of Representatives. Throughout the years, Chris has worked on various state and local campaigns, including the 1998 and 2002 Bush/Brogan gubernatorial campaigns.
A devoted community activist, Chris was a finalist for Volunteer of the Year in 2007. Chris has served on the Board of Directors for the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science, where he served for two years as Chairman, the Board of Directors for the United Way of the Big Bend, and the Board of Directors for the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. Chris is currently the Chairman of the Florida Network of Youth and Family Services, a not-for-profit statewide association representing agencies which serve homeless, runaway, and troubled youth. Chris also serves on the local advisory board for Hancock Bank and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Maclay School. Chris was recently appointed by Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum to the Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority, an entity created by the Florida Legislature to promote the business and hospitality interests of downtown Tallahassee.
A native of Fort Myers, Florida, Chris Dudley graduated from the University of South Florida in 1993 with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. Chris, his wife Susanne, and their two sons live in Tallahassee.
