by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Deno Hicks and Shannon Hewett don’t have a whole lot in common professionally or from an education standpoint. He’s an engineer and she’s a political science major.
However, the tie that binds is politics and their declaration that it has always been a hobby for both. Hicks has been appointed to various Republican Party committees since 2004 on the local, state and federal level, including serving as the Republican State Committeeman for Duval County. Hewett has been a volunteer for the GOP in Duval County, a political talk show panelist, a former City Council assistant for Jim Overton, the Northeast Florida Regional Director under former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack and — most recently — served under Mayor John Peyton.
Today, their hobby is paying the bills.
Hicks and Hewett are equal partners in the Jacksonville office of Southern Strategy Group — a Tallahassee-based lobbyist with offices all over the country.
“This is the first expansion in 2009 for Southern Strategy Group,” said Hicks of the Jacksonville office. “We have 16 offices nationwide in 13 states with four in Florida.
“We have over 300 clients and 43 registered lobbyists.”
Locally, Hewett and Hicks have 10 active clients. Those clients employ Southern Strategies to facilitate both business-to-business and business-to-government issues. Between Hewett’s experience and passion for politics and Hicks’ engineering background that requires meticulous planning, the two believe the partnership works well regardless of the client and regardless of the issue.
“We both bring a unique set of skills,” said Hewett. “Deno is from the development and engineering world and my experience is from lobbying in Tallahassee on behalf of the mayor. We really complement each other.”
At the basic level, Hicks said the company provides access, advice and advocacy. He and Hewett bring together businesses that want to work together or with a government agency (access). They also provide the strategy necessary to accomplish the client’s goal (advice).
“We know the processes and the right people and we form a strategy around that,” said Hewett. “Advocacy is messaging, being able to take that advice and put it into the proper message.”
Interestingly, with dozens of campaigns either active or looming, Southern Strategies stays out of the “candidate advising” business.
“We continue to be active politically, but Southern Strategies will not run a campaign,” she said.
“We may be a resource for them (candidates), but not part of the leadership team on the campaign,” said Hicks, explaining that it would be very difficult to get behind one or a few particular candidates because their clients span beyond party lines and the company is more concerned with issues than individuals.
The Jacksonville office of Southern Strategies Group is a Limited Liability Corporation and Hewett and Hicks essentially have equal ownership. However, they didn’t start the business March 1 with no one to call. Both have deep ties to the area and have used those connections to help generate clientele.
“I think we are off to a very good start. It’s not like we opened the doors and they (Tallahassee) said ‘Here’s the book.’ We opened the doors and they said, ‘Go grow,’” said Hewett.
“We have been their fastest growing office and that’s a nice pat on the back,” said Hicks.
The plan for the next few years is steady growth. Hewett and Hicks aren’t just the managers of the office. They are the office. They answer the phones, set meetings, empty the trash and do everything else required to maintain an office.
“I could see us adding one or two people over the next several years,” said Hewett. “It depends on the growth of the business.”
Hicks believes that hitting the 20-client milestone will be the impetus to expand personnel. Until then, Hewett and Hicks will serve their clients and, as self-marketers, themselves to an extent.
“We go out and sell ourselves and our services,” said Hewett. “You schedule meeting after meeting with different folks in the community and tell them of the opportunities we have here.”
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