Michael Simas, the President & CEO of the Florida Council of 100, credited the state's conservative foundation, which has been established over the last fifteen years, for laying the groundwork for its current economic outlook in business and tech in an exclusive interview with The Floridian. Simas' organization is responsible for relaying advice on important economic development issues in the eyes of Florida business leaders to state lawmakers and government officials.
"We've got these regional economies that are competing with global cities," Simas said. "We've got $150 billion financial services sector in southeast Florida. Huge economy. Big financial services operations are there, and it becomes magnetic."
He attributed the state's economic growth to its growing population, which particularly spiked after the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida's population grew by over 8% from 2020 to 2024.
Building off that post-COVID surge, Simas emphasized that the state could be more strategic in its growth, a plus aided by its natural recreational and leisure benefits, such as its numerous beaches.
"We know we're good at healthcare, we know we've got a great financial services industry," Simas commented. "Let's focus on these assets and start telling people outside of the market what we've got, so that we drive more activity - because our talent pipelines are already lined up for them. We've already got the people graduating to feed these industries."
While Gov. Ron DeSantis is the state's current driver for business prosperity, Simas credited his predecessor, former Gov. Rick Scott, for paving the foundation for Florida's success. Scott served as Florida governor from 2011 to 2019 and is the state's current senior Senator, a position he has held since leaving the governor's office.
"From what I understand, he was a terrific business development governor, and definitely jump-started a lot of the activity we're seeing today," Simas commented.
Regardless of who deserves the lion's share of the credit, the Florida Council of 100 has projected a positive hiring outlook for the state's economy moving forward. Simas also attributed the optimism to Florida's expansion of growing metros, including Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville.
"We're going to continue to talk about Florida's assets out of market, domestically and globally, because it's important for people to know what's actually going on here in the private sector economy," Simas shared. "We've got an engaged private sector. They want to do the right thing and scale these industries."
While being cognizant of the state's challenges, including issues on affordability, Simas maintained keeping Florida competitive in the business market with other states, including Texas and others in the southeast. Texas, similar to Florida, is one of the fastest-growing states in the country.
"The most competitive states are certainly in the Sun Belt," Simas assessed. "I think you're always going to have a center of financial capital; headquarters are always going to be in New York. The media industry is going to be headquartered there. Silicon Valley is always going to be in California. You're going to have that network."
One company, ServiceNow, appears to already be helping Florida maintain that competitive edge.
"I think you can see it firsthand at the ServiceNow announcement in West Palm Beach, the governor was there alongside the Democratic mayor of West Palm Beach, all rallying around these jobs and capital investment coming to Southeast Florida," Simas explained. "I think that unified messaging goes a long way out of the market and makes people think twice about why they're not in Florida."
