F E AT U R E
Cody Farrill
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INFLUENCE Winter 2022
he pandemic pressed many of Florida’s public servants well beyond their job descriptions, but few were pushed further than Cody Farrill, who normally oversees policy development and communications strategy. As millions of residents failed to receive unemployment benefits meant to address lost income because of COVID-19, the CONNECT system, Florida’s online portal, all but froze. Fewer than one-quarter of eligible filers received timely payments in June, according to federal data. At one point, the state started distributing paper applications because of online breakdowns. Farrill, 29, proved one of the few links in that chain that held. He spent countless hours on the phone, troubleshooting a system failure. He is not an IT specialist. He is the Chief of Staff of the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration, having at the time served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Department of Management Services. “It’s a mix of being, one, fearless; and two, the hardest worker in any room you walk into,” Zach Hubbard, a government consultant who previously worked in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Office of Policy and Budget, said of Farrill. “Through the whole unemployment crisis, the guy worked 22-hour days for weeks straight,” Hubbard said. “He was on the phone with constituents and legislative aides all day, just trying to get people their unemployment checks.” Farrill waves the praise aside. His boss at the time, Secretary Jonathan Satter, had asked him to try to aid the surge in claims, he said. Working out all of the kinks took six months. “I’m not in public service to one day be a lobbyist,” he said. “Having been born and raised in the Central Panhandle and after attending undergrad in Alabama’s black belt, I naturally look for opportunities that help people and their communities.” Farrill grew up in Panama City, a fifth-generation Floridian – but not, he emphasized, the kind of fifth-generation Floridian “who has the opportunity to just automatically be able to enter politics.” His father owned Treasure Island Seafood, a commercial fish market. “I learned at a young age that you had to be OK with cutting fish even if you were the owner of the business, because you’ve got to get the job done,” he said. He was in the fourth grade in 2000 when the presidential election recount was stalled for three months. “I remember that to this day,” he said. Weeks later, his dad took him up the elevator in the state Capitol to meet Gov. Jeb Bush and shake his hand. “That day I just knew I wanted to work in politics,” he said. He graduated from Troy University in Alabama and served as student body president. He interned for Congressman Steve Southerland of Panama City and then state Rep. Jimmy Patronis. After graduation, he entered the state’s Gubernatorial Fellows Program, which trains select candidates in public service and policy. Farrill and teammate Elizabeth Hyatt won the Governor Jeb Bush Award for Outstanding Achievement, given to just one mock bill each year. Their proposal, “Florida TeleHealth Network: A Strategic Initiative to Transform the Delivery of Healthcare,” came six years before a pandemic washed over the country and medical practices scrambled to offer telehealth. Throughout the second term of Governor Rick Scott, Cody served as Deputy Legislative Affairs Director for the Florida Department of Transportation. When Hurricane Michael slammed the Panhandle, Cody was deployed to the State Emergency Operations Center to support his hometown, overseeing legislative affairs. It was after Hurricane Michael when he was introduced to Governor DeSantis’ team and subsequently served as an aide to First Lady Casey DeSantis at the onset of the administration. “He’s like a chameleon,” Hubbard said, “where he can blend into any role and then within a month, be an expert in that field.” DeSantis appointed him to the AHCA Chief of Staff position in March 2021, supporting Secretary Simone Marstiller. Farrill’s priorities for the agency center on delivering cost-effective transparent health care. “Generally, the biggest part of my job is working to advance Governor DeSantis’ health care agenda, to create a more innovative, transparent, and high- quality health care system.” he said. In his spare time he hikes or kayaks or fishes the waters of his native Panhandle. Sometimes simplest pleasures are best. “I really enjoy getting away sometimes having fried shrimp and grits at a little fish house on the coast,” he said. “It’s the forgotten coast. Getting in and around, and getting away from Tallahassee.”