KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Shawn Hamilton – Secretary
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Shawn Hamilton has worked at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection since 2007, where he has risen through the ranks of the department. Early in his career he served as Ombudsman and public affairs manager in DEP’s Northwest District Office. He was promoted to assistant district director in 2010 and was appointed district director in 2011 and was subsequently promoted to interim deputy secretary of Land and Recreation in 2020 and formally appointed as deputy secretary in 2021.
Mr. Hamilton has 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors, where he has proven to be an effective and driven leader with the ability to influence and build trusted and constructive connections with community stakeholders, elected and appointed municipal officials, and organizational team members.
He served as the agency’s environmental justice coordinator with responsibility for providing statewide guidance on sensitive environmental justice issues and was appointed as the principal state liaison for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice.
Shawn had provided effective leadership, incident command, and focused recovery during multiple large-scale natural and industrial emergencies to include Deepwater Horizon oil spill, International Paper Mill explosion, and hurricanes Irma and Michael.
He also led the creation and execution of reoccurring partnership meetings with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Gulf Power, Emerald Coast Utilities and Escambia County.
Mr. Hamilton has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Troy State University with a minor in business. He and his wife Charlene have three sons, Christopher, Brandon and Joshua.
CONFERENCE MODERATOR
Frank Walker – Executive Vice President of Government and Political Relations
Florida Chamber of Commerce
Frank Walker serves as Executive Vice President of Government and Political Relations of Florida’s largest and most influential business advocacy organization, the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Frank manages the development and strategic implementation of the Chamber’s annual legislative agenda, the Florida Business Agenda, and leads the Chamber’s team of 20 lobbyists. He also oversees the Chamber’s extensive political operations.
Prior to joining the Chamber, Frank spent nearly 11 years in Washington, D.C. serving two Members of Congress, two U.S. Senators and a sitting Governor. Having most recently served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Daniel Webster, Walker also held key policy and leadership positions with former Senator George LeMieux, Representative Dave Reichert, and former Senator Mel Martinez.
Frank’s policy work included advising Members on energy and natural resources, environment, agriculture and transportation. He also brings an understanding of congressional parliamentary procedure after serving as an Associate to the House Rules Committee.
Additionally, Frank has served on multiple successful congressional campaigns, including campaigns for Webster, Reichert, former Representative Steve Southerland and U.S. Senator Bob Corker.
Frank was raised in Tallahassee, Florida, where he went to Maclay School. He graduated from Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, with a B.A. in History and a scratch handicap. After college he moved to Kanazawa, Japan to teach English through the Japanese Exchange Teaching (JET) program before returning home and heading to our nation’s capital.
Frank and his wife, Katie, reside in Tallahassee with their two daughters.