Influence100
Ryan Tyson
PHOTO: Mary Beth Tyson (Tyson, McClure, Schale); Courtesy Brecht Heuchan
{thought leader} The man who best understands what the future holds knows today’s elections are not won in Washington, D.C., or the Republican or Democratic parties. That person is Ryan Tyson and he can be found in a science fiction-inspired Political War Room on a quiet Tallahassee street a few doors down from the Capitol of the state of Florida. The man who some call the “Crystal Ball Reader,” is not what you would expect. Born in a small northern Florida town, he learned very early that in order to understand where the electorate is moving, one must read where they are coming from and why. He realized in 2009 that there was a cultural demographical shift within the psyche of American voters and that in order to win in today’s political world, one needs to understand voters’ demographics and ethnic composition. Ryan knew before many others (and most still don’t care) that the largest shift among America’s voters was larger than our last shift … the baby-boom generation. In a recent presentation to an audience of Florida’s largest employers, he shared a stark reality: Neither the R’s nor D’s are no longer the largest voting bloc, but the nonaligned voters. In that meeting room, those listening were quieter than the Capitol during a vote count. He stated: “Nationally and locally elections are won by a small margin and that spread can be delivered by the Hispanic population. This statement is even more important in Florida, one of the country’s growing states, because of the large influx of Latinos starting with the Cuban-American influx that began in 1959 and today’s ever-increasing growth of the native Puerto Rican population, which is growing at the rate of 3,000 per month. “For the first time in history the Puerto Rican group, mostly found in the I-4 corridor of Central Florida, will outnumber the Cuban-Americans primarily found in southern Florida. “In the United States today, we have already changed.” Ryan represents the best of America’s future. He is not persuaded by personalities, nor misinformation. With an extremely bright mind he is focused on the “numbers,” and is years ahead of most, if not all, political operators in Florida. Mike Fernandez is the founder of private equity firm MBF Healthcare Partners. He lives in Florida after emigrating from Cuba in 1964 at age 12.
FALL 2015 INFLUENCE | 105