Our Team

Brian has earned a reputation as a tireless, persistent, and effective advocate for his clients’ interests. He has been recognized in The Hill: Top Lobbyists / Hired Guns and Florida Trend’s Most Influential Business Leaders every year since 2020. In 2025, he was named to Washingtonian’s “500 Most Influential People in Washington, DC.” Previous honors include Vanity Fair’s “New Establishment” (2019) and Politico Playbook Power List’s “18 to Watch” (2018). His career spans 25+ years of legislative success across hundreds of policy and funding initiatives in Florida and Washington, DC.

Brian brought his passion for politics and policy to the national stage by opening Ballard Partners’ Washington, DC office in 2017. He leads the firm’s bipartisan federal government relations team, representing clients across a wide range of domestic and foreign affairs issues.

Widely regarded as a top political insider in both Florida and DC, Brian has played senior roles in multiple presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. He chaired the Florida Finance Committee for GOP presidential nominees John McCain (2008), Mitt Romney (2012), and Donald J. Trump (2016). He served as Vice Chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee and on the Presidential Transition Finance Committee. The Republican National Committee appointed him Finance Vice Chairman, recognizing his political and fundraising acumen.

Brian and his wife Kathryn were selected by three Florida governors—Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, and Charlie Crist—to co-chair their gubernatorial inaugurations.

In public service, Brian currently sits on the Board of Trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He previously served on the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service Advisory Council (by appointment of the U.S. Secretary of Commerce) and helped lead the transition and Senate confirmation of Governor Bob Martinez as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

As Chief of Staff in the Florida Governor’s Office, Brian developed deep expertise in environmental policy. He was the chief architect of Preservation 2000, then the largest public land acquisition program for environmentally sensitive areas in the U.S., and led negotiations with the U.S. Department of the Interior to end offshore drilling along southeast Florida and the Keys. The American Lawyer recognized him as one of the nation’s top lawyers in Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resources law.

Brian has been an active civic leader, with roles in the Council of 100, the Collins Center for Public Policy, the Florida Governor’s Mansion Foundation, and the City of Tallahassee Architectural Review Board. He received Florida’s highest award for historic preservation and, with Kathryn, was inducted into Florida State University’s Francis Eppes Society for their philanthropy in 2016.

Prior to founding Ballard Partners, he was managing shareholder at Bryant Miller Olive P.A. He currently serves as counsel to Panza, Maurer & Maynard, P.A. He earned both his B.S. in Business Administration and J.D. from the University of Florida and is a member of the University’s Hall of Fame.