Yellowhammer News proudly presents the 2025 edition of the Power & Influence Top 50 list – the most candid and comprehensive annual index of who is moving the needle in Montgomery.
This year marks the thirteenth installment – and the stakes have never been higher.
With a monumental 2026 election cycle already taking shape, the men and women on this list are positioning their constituencies and clients for success in the next era.
RELATED: 2025 Power & Influence: Who’s Next?
Taking into account conversations with insiders, as well as the most recent developments in politics and public policy, the list is meant to recognize the top individuals in government and politics who leverage their power and influence on behalf of those they represent.
We will host our annual ‘Power of Service’ event in Montgomery next week on Thursday, May 15th to coincide with the release of our final list of this year’s honorees.
Welcome to the class of 2025.
50. Hal Bloom
The Bloom Group
A true fixture of the Alabama State House, Hal Bloom once again clocks in on our list as one of the most influential forces shaping public policy in Montgomery. Not a year goes by without Hal Bloom’s presence being felt throughout every level of state government – and this one was no different.
When the Alabama Farmers Federation wanted to pass their farm bureau health plan legislation, among those they turned to was Hal Bloom and his team. In a battle between the Bloom Group and a cadre of the State’s finest lobbyists, Bloom won.
But his effectiveness is only one dynamic of the influence he wields. His genuine interest in the people he deals with and the intentionality he brings to his life and work are traits that cannot be taught.
He is naturally one of the most well-liked professionals in Alabama politics.
49. Porter Banister
The University of Alabama System
Across more than two decades serving the University of Alabama System’s mighty government affairs operation, Porter Banister has distinguished himself as one of the most dependable and effective in-house professionals for any organization that keeps pace in the Alabama legislative process.
Everyone knows him, and they know who he represents.
Banister was born to do what he does today. Long before his ascension with the UA System, he was good at politics.
He’s dealt with multi-billion-dollar responsibilities and continues increasing the System’s $18.6 billion annual economic impact. But Banister is still a young man with much room to continue rising.
48. Brandon Farmer
Alabama Nursing Home Association
Bill “OC” O’Connor was an Alabama political legend when he retired from the helm of the Alabama Nursing Home Association. This group had its work cut out to find someone to step into the position to lead one of the most politically influential associations in the state.
Farmer was named to that spot just weeks before the pandemic. Armed with a host of industry, state and national contacts from his previous role as Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs for NHS Management, Farmer and his top-notch government relations team navigated the financial and regulatory framework of pandemic and post-COVID landscape to emerge as one of the state’s most respected associations.
47. Derek Trotter
Bradley
Derek Trotter became a perennial feature on this list since his time as Chief of Staff to two pivotal Alabama Senate Pro Tems. During his two sessions with Bradley, Trotter has successfully leveraged the instincts, institutional memory and high-speed processing he gained in government to the benefit of his clients in the private sector.
But Trotter’s real power comes from something harder to quantify: His ability to connect. He’s built a career on the kind of personal rapport that can’t be faked – and that will keep him in the conversation at the State House and on this list for years to come. His influence in Montgomery and elsewhere is expected to increase.
46. Greg Butrus
Balch & Bingham
In Alabama politics, some attorneys explain the law – and then there’s Greg Butrus, who fundamentally shapes the law, how it’s written, interpreted, and enforced. He’s the real deal.
When executives, state officials, or party leaders need absolute clarity on what a statute means or regulation requires, they don’t call their lawyer – they call Greg. He’ll tell them exactly what they need to know, not what they want to hear. And he’s always a lot of fun to talk to.
Before becoming one of Alabama’s most trusted legal minds, Butrus was a staffer helping the legendary U.S. Senator Howell Heflin navigate the political machinery of Washington. That experience still lives in his work today.
Butrus has the lawyer’s discipline, the staffer’s instinct, and the patience of a professor. He wields a degree of influence that will never go away.
45. Clay Loftin
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama
If this session is any evidence of Clay Loftin’s continued ascension on the index of influence in Montgomery, he will earn a spot year after year.
A tireless presence at the Alabama State House, Loftin is known for his exceptional humor. Behind the scenes, Loftin is a team player. He’s a valuable and trustworthy arbiter of information. In the foreground as an official voice for Alabama’s largest insurer, his busy session was proof that he is not just well-versed on the policy issues he’s leveraging influence for – he’s fluent in them – and knows how to get others on the same page.
He continually recalibrated, outpaced the noise, connected the dots, and successfully mitigated unintended consequences this session. Where other lobbyists test the waters, Clay stirs them. Bank on his longevity as a new-generation player who earned his influence the old fashioned way.
44. Will Wilson
Jim Wilson & Associates
With a hand in both the business and political arenas, Will Wilson is one of the most influential figures in modern Alabama.
He and his brother, the late Jim Wilson, a longtime member of the UA System Board of Trustees, carried on the legacy of their father and built something that Will will carry forward long into the future. Everyone who knows Will Wilson knows he is an incredible steward of that legacy.
As Chairman of the Business Council of Alabama’s ProgressPAC, Wilson is also one of the most influential power brokers in Montgomery. He is known for his handshake-deal approach, his commitment to giving back, and his belief that business and politics is about more than just the bottom line.
As he often says, if you wouldn’t want to have dinner with someone, you probably shouldn’t be doing business with them.
43. Mike Cole
Many who walk through the doors of the Alabama State House chase power. Mike Cole routes it. Quietly, surgically, with a degree of precision only possible after four decades of working Alabama politics from a higher elevation than few will ever reach. He is never in the spotlight whatsoever. But anyone around for long enough knows a simple truth: It’s rarely far behind him.
Cole is a textbook case of why we enjoy publishing this list year after year. In the pursuit of informing our audience about those who are physically moving the needle in Montgomery – the power that he wields isn’t a matter of public notoriety – but it is truly universal. Such was again the case in this year’s session.
And as we have written in years past about Cole: We won’t know the half of it for months. From healthcare to utility regulation to county and municipal issues to tech and beyond, Cole’s expertise and foresight were put to work this session.
We have no doubt he used it to open doors that no one else can.
42. Steve Livingston
Alabama Senate Majority Leader
In a chamber known for strong personalities and quiet calculations, in his second session as majority leader, Steve Livington continued to prove he is trusted by and essential to both camps.
After coming up just short in a head-to-head caucus vote for the Senate’s top job as Pro Tem – by all accounts – Livingston has worked intentionally to keep every member at the table and focused on getting conservative legislation over the finish line. Just a few months before this year’s session, midway through the quadrennium, a leadership change poised 2025 to be a seminal year upstairs in the Senate.
Because of the hallmark characteristics that we’ve all come to expect from him, Livingston effectively ensured there was a consistency between both eras.
And as 2026 looms, his influence isn’t holding – it’s accelerating.
41. Jason Isbell
Regions Bank
When a Fortune 500 company entrusts a single individual to manage its standing across 16 statehouses, the qualities required go far beyond technical knowledge or a tidy résumé. That person must speak fluent policy, think like a general counsel, move like a political strategist, and persuade decision-makers like clockwork.
For Regions Bank, that person is Jason Isbell – and he delivers on every front. But he’s also uniquely effective in another major way: Jason has more personality on the tip of his nose than some in Montgomery can fit into an entire suit. In combination with a top-notch credibility and expertise that allows him to speak on behalf of Alabama’s business community with authority, Jason is one of the state’s most effective lobbyists.
Proof of that played out strongly in this year’s session through the legislation that had his attention.
