The Merchant Strategy - President
Summary of Qualifications:
Ms. Merchant brings 30 years of public and private leadership experience as a Member of the Florida House of Representatives and President of The Merchant Strategy (TMS). She is responsible for business development, government relations and quality control for the firm.
Areas of Expertise:
• Government and Community Relations, Public Involvement, Media Relations, Strategic Planning, and Crisis Management
• Federal, State, City and County political, community and business contacts
• Experienced negotiator for economic development and growth management
• In depth knowledge of Florida’s budget, transportation infrastructure, water issues, telecommunication business regulation, agriculture, and growth management
Government and Community Relations:
Sharon lobbies on behalf of businesses to effectively compete to win public sector contracts and/or to help local projects succeed. Sharon works with elected officials and key staff members to persuade them to introduce, support, modify or kill legislation or projects. Clients/projects include: CGHPP3; Tenet, Educational Partners International; Lotis Wellington; Related; CTC Disaster Response; EVaaS EV, GoldCoast Logistics; Image One; Sailfish Marina; Carollo Engineering; Florida Public Utilities; the Cities of Atlantis, Boynton Beach Utilities, Loxahatchee Groves, Hollywood and Riviera Beach Fire Rescue.
Public Involvement/Community Outreach: Sharon is an experienced Public Involvement Project Manager, responsible for quality control in preparation of Public Involvement and Community Awareness Plans, databases, and collateral materials. Public involvement clients include engineering firms, cities, counties, utilities, FDOT, and FTE. Some of these include: KCI Technologies.; Boynton Beach Utilities Department; T.Y. Lin International; Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency; AECOM; CES Consultants; Snubbs Consulting, Inc.; Parsons; VIA; Craven Thompson, Garney Construction; WGI; CPC; Stanley Consultants; CDM Smith; CAPTEC Engineering, Stantec, Erdman Anthony; Whiting Turner and the City of West Palm Beach.
Business Leadership: Over the last 19 years, Sharon has grown The Merchant Strategy, Inc. (TMS) into a well-recognized public involvement and lobbying SBE, MBE and DBE certified firm. She spent 25 years at the helm of her family business, Equipment Rental Service (ERS), also certified SBE, MBE and DBE, building new customer relationships and successfully competing with larger firms.
Community Leadership: A State Representative for 8 years, she chaired the Appropriations Committee on Transportation and Economic Development and the Committee on Juvenile Justice. She served as Vice Chair of the Utilities and Telecommunications Committee, co-authoring telecommunication deregulation legislation. She chaired the Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation and was Vice Chair of the House Republican Caucus. She persuaded the House and Senate to give Kravis a tax-free status and wrote the local bill to pay for the Convention Center Hotel by reconfiguring bed tax pennies.
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