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.

David Shepp joins Southern Strategy Group after leading Florida Strategic Group, a full-service government affairs consulting firm, for 13 years. David provides services to state and local governments, businesses, educational institutions, economic development entities, national companies, and statewide trade associations. Activities include legislative and agency monitoring and advocacy, research and analysis, resource development and strategic communications. Throughout his years lobbying, David has secured tens of millions of dollars for clients in the Florida budget.

With a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Florida State University, David started his practical experience in Florida politics in 1996. David learned the intricacies of the Florida Legislature while assisting the lobbying efforts for multiple clients of the Fowler White Law Firm. Later that year, David accepted a position as a field representative with the Republican Party acting as a liaison to Central Florida candidates, including then-candidate Adam Putnam.

After Rep. Putnam's 1996 campaign, David was retained in the position of Legislative Assistant where he enjoyed four years of relationship building both in Polk County and in Tallahassee before managing now-Commissioner of Agriculture Putnam's victorious Congressional campaign in 2000.

David is skilled at developing, maintaining, and strengthening relationships essential to governmental representation before the Legislature and state agencies. David works very closely with the DeSoto, Charlotte, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, and Sarasota legislative delegations.

In addition to his comprehensive institutional knowledge of the Florida Legislature, David enjoys personal and professional relationships with legislative leaders and key Chairmen and Chairwomen at every level of the legislative committee structure. David also enjoys strong working relationships with many of the staff behind the scenes of public policymaking.

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.