Seth McKeel recently concluded a long and distinguished career in public service that began in 2000 with his election to the Lakeland City Commission at the age of 24. Seth was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2006 and re-elected subsequently until the conclusion of his eight year term limit in November of 2014. A Tampa Bay area native, Seth's among the fifth generation in his family to call Florida home.

Early in his legislative career, Seth tackled tough issues including higher education reform as well as energy, agriculture, and natural resources policy. A strong commitment to fiscal responsibility earned Seth the trust of House Speaker Will Weatherford. In 2012 the Speaker tapped Seth to be the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee where he led the Florida House's efforts to balance the $77 billion budget of the third largest state in the Union. Under his leadership Florida maintained AAA bond rating and set aside more than $3 billion in healthy reserves.

As a former City Commissioner, Seth understands regional issues and excels at achieving local consensus. Legislative colleagues trusted Seth to chair the Polk County Legislative Delegation, Hillsborough County Legislative Delegation for two years in a row, and larger 9-county Bay Area Legislative Delegation.

A graduate of the University of Florida (UF), Seth recently was awarded the Presidential Medallion, one of the university's highest awards, for his contributions and service to UF and higher education in our state. Seth is a Graduate of Leadership Florida, Leadership Lakeland, and a member of Florida Blue Key -- "Florida's oldest and most prestigious Leadership Honorary since 1923."

Seth credits the YMCA's Youth in Government program for sparking his interest in public service and his respect for civic engagement. Seth has a knack for solving problems and excels at building relationships.

Seth proudly serves on the Board of Directors of the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida and is a member of Leadership Florida's West Central Florida Regional Council.

Seth and his wife Kim, who's also a Tampa Bay native, live in Lakeland with their two children Seth, III and Caroline.

20+ years

Melanie joined CLS in 2000 and has nearly 25 years of expertise in public policy, lobbying, business, banking, bioscience and renewable energy. She enjoys working on complex economic development and tax policy, and has one of highest success rates passing incentives for varied industry sectors. She also has experience effectively lobbying k-12 education, capital development and healthcare. Melanie's strong network of relationships with legislators, as well as influencers in the government and public policy arena, ensures CLS' clients have unparalleled access to policy leaders.

Before beginning her lobbying career, Melanie was the Public Relations Director for the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, then moved into lobbying as the Legislative Director at Colorado Farm Bureau, while obtaining a Master's from University of Colorado Denver's Graduate School of Public Affairs. Prior to that, she received her Bachelor's from Colorado Christian University. Melanie is a state board member of Girls on the Run and has served as an assistant instructor at the Colorado Mountain Club's High Altitude Mountaineering School.

Melanie is a married mother to three children and an extreme athlete. Her noteworthy accomplishments include finishing the Leadville 100 Ultra-Marathon, climbing all 58 of Colorado's mountains over 14,000', along with numerous high-altitude mountains around the world. Her current athletic focus is Pack Burro Racing, Colorado's official heritage sport, with her two rescued burros. Her dedication to these endeavors translates to the vision, planning and execution it takes to succeed in politics and advocacy.

11-15 years

Garin began her political career in Washington D.C. working for Senator Wayne Allard and ran the government affairs department at Colorado Farm Bureau before joining Colorado Legislative Services in 2007. She became partner in 2012 and steadfastly through her career, Garin has honed her policy knowledge on issues related to agriculture, including water and property rights. She also is highly skilled as a strategist for higher education, business, liquor, and state licensure issues.

Growing up on a ranch in southwest Colorado gave Garin a strong work ethic and her dedication to understanding an issue completely shows up when representing CLS clients. Her adeptness in many policy areas and direct manner of speaking means that she is a trusted resource for legislators on both sides of the aisle. She is regarded as a top water policy expert in Colorado and has been recognized for her work bolstering the Colorado business climate by working to align agriculture and energy-- two of the top five drivers of the Colorado economy--on a variety of issues. Garin was recognized as one of Colorado's "Top Women in Energy" by the Denver Business Journal in 2017.

She is a proud graduate of Colorado State University where she earned an Agricultural Business degree. Garin has completed Colorado Farm Bureau's Elite Leaders Academy, is a member of the Women's Energy Network of Colorado and has served on the Colorado Agricultural Leadership Program board and Butterfly Pavilion's Fund Development Committee.

In her free time, Garin cherishes time with her husband and two daughters, especially during trips to the mountains. She is an avid reader, sous-chef for her husband and wine connoisseur who frequents the Napa Valley.

11-15 years

Kimberly V. Kent joined Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., in December 2011, as a lobbyist and consultant, to form Copper Dome Strategies, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the law firm. She will be based in the firm's Greenville office when the South Carolina General Assembly is not in session and in the Columbia office during the session.

Ms. Kent has spent her professional career working in and around South Carolina government. Prior to joining Copper Dome Strategies, LLC, she spent four years with another private consulting group representing a variety of clients, including small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, professional trade associations and specific issue coalitions, on matters before federal, state, and local governments.

Ms. Kent began her legislative and legal career working as the vice president for governmental relations for the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance (SCMA). In this role, she represented the interests of many of South Carolina's largest companies on issues related to economic development, environment, taxes, labor and employment and healthcare, before state agencies, the governor's Office and the S.C. General Assembly.

Following this position, Ms. Kent served as the governmental affairs director and assistant general counsel for the South Carolina Department of Commerce. While at the state's leading industrial recruiting agency, she was the primary liaison for the agency between the executive branch and the S.C. General Assembly on all state funding matters relating to commerce, statutory changes relating to tax incentives and for any and all legislative changes needed by the agency to assist companies interested in expanding or locating new economic development projects in South Carolina.

In 2005, Ms. Kent joined the South Carolina Medical Association as the chief policy officer of the statewide trade association that serves more than 6,000 physicians. During her tenure, Ms. Kent served as the association's general counsel, directed all legislative initiatives before the S.C. General Assembly and the executive branch and managed the recruitment and renewal of physician memberships. She was responsible for all membership publications as well as all communications to members, the public, and the S.C. General Assembly.

Combined with her legal training, Ms. Kent's wide range of experience working in the private sector, professional trade associations and state government, gives her a unique ability to represent a variety of clients.

DAVID A. SMITH is a partner in the Princeton Public Affairs Group, is a veteran of the public affairs arena and has successfully managed public affairs campaigns impacting auto insurance, life insurance, tort reform and environmental legislative initiatives. Mr. Smith received national acclaim when he was honored with a ""Pollie Award"" by the American Association of Political Consultants and named to their United States ""Public Affairs Team of the Year." Mr. Smith was also named one of the most influential players in New Jersey's Healthcare arena by the Annual HealthSense Listing. Since 2005, Mr. Smith has been a Commissioner on the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission (nominated by the Governor for two separate four year terms and confirmed by the NJ Senate) and currently serves as an Officer on the Commission (Secretary). Mr. Smith serves on the National Board of Directors of the Public Affairs Council, and was one of the few contract lobbyists in the Country to be appointed to a National Task Force charged with creating ethical standard for lobbyists throughout the United States. Mr. Smith is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of ProtectingAmerica.org, an advocacy organization Co-chaired by James Lee Witt, former Cabinet member under President Clinton and Admiral James Loy, Deputy Director of Homeland Security under President Bush. Mr. Smith also serves as an Officer (1st Vice President) of the New Jersey Hall of Fame Foundation Board of Directors and also serves on the Executive Committee (Secretary) of The Advocacy Group (TAG). Finally, Mr. Smith serves on the Board of Directors as an officer (Treasurer) of the State Capitol Insurance Company RRG, the first professional liability company for lobbyists headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mr. Smith has appeared on television and radio stations representing clients' interests, authored dozens of articles on politics/policy issues in New Jersey and is a frequent guest speaker/lecturer at national and state conferences, legislative hearings, meetings and seminars. He has been a consultant to statewide and legislative political campaigns and is a member of the Executive Finance Committee of the Assembly Democratic Leadership Committee as well as the New Jersey State Democratic Committee. Prior to joining the firm in 1995, Mr. Smith served as Director of Policy and Planning for the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Office. In that capacity, Mr. Smith supervised the partisan staff of all Assembly Committees and Task Forces while serving as senior staff aide to the insurance and commerce legislative committees. He was a Director with the New Jersey Dental Association from 1985 to 1990 and served on several national and state health care and insurance advisory committees.

Mr. Smith was awarded a Master of Science in Financial Services (MSFS) Degree from the Richard D. Irwin Graduate School of The American College. He is a Graduate Fellow of the Public Affairs Institute, a three year educational program of the Public Affairs Council located in Washington, DC. Mr. Smith also graduated with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Political Science from Gettysburg College.