BFR
Briefings from the Rotunda
PHOTO: Mark Wallheiser
Carol Bracy takes the ‘pulse’ of Ballard Partners
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arol Bracy says her recent promotion to managing partner in Ballard Partners’ Tallahassee office, where she’s worked for 11 years, is “really kind of an extension of what I’ve been doing for the last two-plus decades.” The veteran lobbyist (her first Session was 1994) sat for an interview with INFLUENCE at Ballard’s new building downtown, which Brian and Kathryn Ballard still are adorning with art, including a hallway full of pop art-inspired works. “I’ll continue my role with representing clients that I have with the firm, but I’m also now managing the day-to-day operations of the Tallahassee office,” Bracy said. “That includes a lot of personnel issues (and) management issues that I didn’t have before.” One of the things she does is “team calls with the (other) managing partners on a regular basis, just to kind of get a pulse of where we all are … We’ve grown quite a bit since I’ve been here.” Most recently, Ballard moved lawyer-lobbyist and Sayfie Review publisher Justin Sayfie to the
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Washington, D.C., office, and hired former state Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz as executive vice president in Miami. “... For me, it’s sort of a natural progression,” Bracy said. “I’ve had management roles before, so this is not completely foreign to me. Now it’s a matter of making sure (that) we’re seamless, in terms of our strategic focus and growth. And Brian in particular is someone who is incredibly supportive, been a great mentor for me. “He works incredibly hard, so he sets the bar pretty high for the rest of us,” she continued. “For me, I find that personally and professionally challenging. I’ve gotten to work with really incredible clients, private-corporate, public sector, nonprofit, so you have a range of issues that you get to work on here.” Bracy, a Boston-area native who graduated from Philadelphia’s Temple University, spent a decade representing Florida’s 67 counties as interim executive director and legislative director for the Florida Association of Counties. “I got to pretty much learn everything, from airports to
growth management, to finance and tax, to health care,” she said. She later served as chief of staff to former Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings before joining the Ballard firm. But Bracy calls herself “more of a policy wonk than a political wonk.” That includes keeping an eye on emerging trends. “I think we’ve only scratched the surface of technology” in terms of lobbying needs, she said. “We’re seeing it in Congress with privacy issues, social media and elsewhere. I feel like that is still an area that is not quite done, from a regulatory perspective.” Bracy and her colleagues will be ready, she said. “The work that we do, and the engagement in the process, is incredibly serious. We’re the third-largest state in the country. Folks are paying attention to what Florida is doing, and I think that the type of folks that you have on your team, for me, have to have that understanding and appreciation for the work that we’re hired to do.”