Today, we’re proud to introduce the fifth and final installment of the 2024 Power & Influence 50 – the twelfth annual tradition from Yellowhammer News.
As the dust settles from this year’s legislative session, our team has spent time talking with key leaders and operatives across state government to offer an inside look into the top individuals who are leveraging their power and influence for those they represent in the Yellowhammer State. The list factors recent policy and political developments and includes Alabama business leaders, lobbyists, consultants, and elected officials.
2024 Power & Influence numbers 20-11 can be found here, 30-21 can be found here, 40-31 can be found here, and 50-41 can be found here. Our 2024 ‘Who’s Next?’ list can be found here.
Quentin Riggins, Alabama Power Company
His name may be unassuming, yet it resonates universally: “Q”
Despite being a celebrity as a standout at Auburn in a state that idolizes football players more than any politician, Q treats his unparalleled college career as just a line on his resume. Q has worked for three Governors, a long-standing Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, the state’s top business association, ran his own firm, and now is president of the Auburn University Board of Trustees during a time of unbelievable growth. Without ever stepping into the limelight, Quinten Riggins is an architect of transformation that benefits every corner of the state. 
Danny Garrett, Alabama State Representative
Danny Garrett knows numbers. As Chairman of the House Ways & Means Education Committee responsible for distributing $10 billion in state funding this session, Danny Garrett puts those numbers to work for his top priorities in education, while keeping Alabama in elite financial condition through conservative budgeting. He also maintains a powerful list of longstanding personal contacts among Alabama’s business elite from his career as a successful businessman and CFO. Those connections, paired with the strong support of the education community, ensure that Chairman Garrett will be holding these record-setting purse strings for years to come.
Clay Ryan, Alabama Power Company
The U.S.S. Clay Ryan continues to make headwinds. Seriously, Clay is like an aircraft carrier. He personifies unwavering strength and precision. Wherever he stands becomes central command to the state’s business and political structure – whether that is on top of a skyscraper or in a fishing boat. Challenges bounce off him, leaving no trace. People instinctively turn to him for guidance, knowing that his decisions are anchored in experience. He leads an extensive team of Government Relations and External Affairs professionals. In the realm of Alabama politics, his extraordinary capabilities in messaging stand out, placing him among the most skilled communicators in the field. Needless to say, he’s yet to hit his peak.
Joe Perkins, Matrix, LLC
Joe Perkins is a highly influential figure in Alabama, known for his strategic consulting, public relations, and political expertise. He serves a dynamic range of clients, from large corporations to individual problem-solvers. Perkins is not a lobbyist or a traditional governmental affairs practitioner but offers strategic direction and positioning for his clients. His influence extends to major initiatives, campaigns, and institutions.
Robbie McGhee, Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribal Council
Without a doubt, McGhee clocks in higher on this list than any year prior. In the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, he represents one of Alabama’s prominent job creators, investors, innovators, and corporate citizens. McGhee has been effective in his role because officials on all levels of government understand this better with every interaction with him. His background from the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, as well as in private practice, and his devotion to PCI spanning decades has culminated to his indisputable standing among the most powerful in Alabama. He has a unique ability to take smart, calculated risks. Last year, we wrote “McGhee’s legacy in Alabama is cemented by his ability to leverage PCI’s strength so that all gaming legislation in the state goes through the tribe.”
Bob Geddie, Fine Geddie & Associates
When Bob Geddie tells you something, you can consider it done. For over 40 years, Geddie has built something incredible based on the pillars of trust, integrity, relationships, and work ethic. Lawmakers, clients, and colleagues alike know they will get the truth and results when working with him. Prior to forming Fine Geddie & Associates in 1984, Geddie was Director of State Governmental Affairs for Alabama Power. He also served as Legislative Liaison and as Executive Assistant to Governor Fob James, and was a staffer for the late U.S. Senator John Sparkman. There are few people alive like Bob Geddie anymore, a true southern gentleman full of grit and determination. There are even less in any industry who have earned the respect of their peers across the board the way that Bob Geddie has.
Will Ainsworth, Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
Will Ainsworth frontloaded his 2024 with impactful legislative wins, key among them being comprehensive school choice reform. He’s been one of its top and most vocal proponents long before it became a central focus this year. Since then, he’s kept a loaded calendar, communicated conservative priorities, and operated strongly behind the scenes to successfully stay above the fray this session. As workforce development gained full attention, Ainsworth took the lead in legislative efforts due to his involvement leading the 21st Century Workforce Commission from the beginning. Ainsworth is just ready to go.
Greg Reed, President Pro Tempore of the Alabama State Senate
Reed has been the most influential force in the Alabama Legislature year after year – and this year is no different. He’s a man of the Senate: He’s deliberative, receives and offers advice generously, and most importantly, he gets things done. The Senate itself is a unique and inherently powerful mechanism in the overall reality of state government: Procedural, practical, and sometimes unspoken traditions serve to make it as decisive as it is in the outcome of all legislation introduced. The same can be said of Reed. And he’s used that capacity to the fullest. Reed is deeply conservative, pro-business, a truly gifted speaker and retail politician, as well as our favorite kind of lawmaker: A fulltime lawmaker. As was evident this session, Reed controls the timing and tempo of the legislative process. In terms of the Senate body, we’re not sure who could do as good of a job as he does.
Nathaniel Ledbetter, Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives
This session, the gentleman from Rainsville set the table of the Alabama Legislature. As we’ve signaled in years past, Ledbetter has been on a lightning fast trajectory to the level of responsibility and respect he accumulated by the close of session. He and his deputies came prepared. They did their job. And Ledbetter was in control of his chamber the entire time. This applies to the whole range of accomplishments from the House in 2024. But it also applies to gaming – which advanced further in the legislative process than in 25 years. In his sine die address from the well of his chamber, Ledbetter said all 105 members of the Alabama House of Representatives were like family to him. The leadership he displayed this session and the power it represents was tough as nails. We’re looking forward to seeing what he does with it next.
Kay Ivey, Governor of Alabama
It’s inarguable that every moment of Governor Ivey’s tenure has been a fulfillment of the unbelievable mandate she accepted now over seven years ago. Increasingly among the nation’s most popular governors, and by far the most popular Governor of Alabama of the 21st century, Ivey demonstrates perfectly how popularity translates to power. And that’s hardly been her primary source of getting as much accomplished as she has all throughout her career. Kay Ivey, and those with whom she surrounds herself, make the people of Alabama proud. She’s not only Alabama’s education governor, Alabama’s infrastructure governor, Alabama’s manufacturing governor, and now, she’s Alabama’s workforce governor. Kay Ivey speaks for Alabama. And Alabama will always be Kay Ivey country.
