Keynote Speaker & Conference Moderator

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.