Jim McClellan
President
Southern Solutions, Inc. opened for business in Pensacola in July of 2003. However, the firm’s principal, Jim McClellan, is a veteran communications professional with over 17 years of experience.
Southern Solutions’ core focus is executive and organizational media relations, as well as public and governmental affairs consulting. Among the firm’s clients are Nestlé Waters NA, AccessEscambia, Inc., Aylstock, Witkin & Sasser, LLP, and Baskerville-Donovan, Inc.
Site selection and development of large-scale capital and public works projects have been hallmarks of Jim McClellan’s career. The Tampa Bay Desalination Plant, Atlantic High School relocation, Pembroke Pines Wastewater Treatment Plant, Suwanee American Cement Plant, and the Nestlé Waters Madison County Bottling Facility are among the projects for which Jim served as a public affairs consultant.
Prior to launching Southern Solutions, Jim served as executive vice president of Ron Sachs Communications, Inc., Florida’s third-largest public relations firm, where he directed daily operations. During that time, the firm grew fourfold, adding graphic arts, advertising, television production and electronic media capabilities.
In the Spring of 1996, Jim was selected by Lt. Governor Buddy MacKay to serve as his Press Secretary. In that capacity, he developed a media communications strategy to bring attention to efforts to improve Florida’s schools, protect its fragile environment and provide better jobs for its citizens. As his speechwriter, Jim also authored a number of high-profile addresses, including MacKay’s remarks to the 1996 National Democratic Convention.
Before serving with Lt. Governor MacKay, Jim was Director of Communications for the Florida Department of Commerce. From June of 1994 until March of 1996, he was responsible for developing the agency’s communications policy and serving as its primary spokesman. Among the highlights of his tenure was the passage of the 1996 Enterprise Florida legislation that capped a two-year effort to privatize the agency. He also helped the agency regain its leadership in the tourism industry in the wake of devastating media coverage of the 1993 tourist slayings.
From 1992 until 1994, Jim was deputy press secretary and chief speechwriter for Governor Lawton Chiles, a position that placed him in the forefront of some of the most intense legislative confrontations in Florida’s history. Landmark reforms in health care, criminal justice, workers’ compensation, tobacco and immigration were among the leading communications issues of the Governor’s first term. Jim played a key role in designing the messages that brought those issues to successful resolution.
In March of 2002, Jim received an honorable discharge from his duties as a captain in the Florida National Guard after 15 years of service. He is a 1987 graduate of Florida State University and a member of Leadership Florida Class XXII.