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.
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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 later today, Thursday, May 15th to coincide with the release of our final list of this year’s honorees.
Here they are. Welcome to the class of 2025.
10. Liz Filmore
Office of Governor Kay Ivey
Power doesn’t always involve the loudest voice or the boldest move. Sometimes, it’s about precision, poise, and the ability to remain unflinching in the face of chaos.
That’s the approach Liz Filmore has mastered as a longtime advisor to Kay Ivey, even before her reign as Governor of Alabama.
There’s a reason the governor’s office has become synonymous with her name. Her approach to leadership is as disciplined as it is demanding.
She sets a high bar for her team, but also fosters a sense of loyalty and trust, which ultimately yields good outcomes for the people of this state.
Liz Filmore has established herself as one of the best Chiefs of Staffs in Alabama history.
She runs a tight ship, staying above the fray and positioning Governor Ivey to continue being one of — if not the most — transformative governors in state history.
She was the first, and remains the only, female Chief of Staff in Alabama history.
She isn’t going anywhere. Expect her to be even higher on our list when the time comes.
9. Bob Geddie
Fine Geddie & Associates
Bob Geddie’s career began in the shadows of legends. He cut his teeth as a staffer for U.S. Senator John Sparkman before moving into Alabama state government as an Executive Assistant to Governor Fob James.
He later served as the Director of State Governmental Affairs for Alabama Power.
When Geddie co-founded Fine Geddie with Joe Fine in 1984, perhaps they knew then they weren’t starting a firm – they were founding an institution that would become the most powerful contract lobbying firm to this day.
Unlike some lobbyists who rely on a single specialty, Geddie’s expertise spans the full spectrum of the governmental, legislative and political landscape. His influence is inexhaustibly evident in the lower chamber.
Members regularly seek his counsel before taking a stand on contentious issues. Lawmakers have remarked that a bill isn’t really in play until Geddie has weighed in.
Others have tried to replicate his formula of institutional knowledge, skill and relationships, and none have come away with the power and influence he enjoys.
8. Joe Perkins
Matrix, LLC
Joe has made a career out of sticking up for the little guy. The nameless, the faceless, those without power.
He is so dangerous because of how many times he’s picked those fights and won.
While some have accused Joe of dirty tricks in the past, the brutal truth is that he’s just so good that it’s never a fair fight.
Today, that remains true as ever.
These days, we wonder if some degree of celebrity is warranted, and even welcomed, by Joe. The man with no name seems more above board about the wars he’s waging than ever before.
2026 might be a landmark year for Perkins. We expect him to fight his way out rather than the alternative.
7. Clay Ryan
Alabama Power
Clay Ryan is a trusted consigliere to Alabama’s most powerful business and political leaders, providing strategic counsel that drives agendas and resolves high-stakes challenges.
As the head of External Affairs and Government Relations at Alabama Power, Ryan sits at the nexus of the state’s business and policy ecosystems, shaping outcomes and influencing decisions that ripple across every major sector.
His unique blend of experience — as a private sector attorney, senior advisor to the governor, and chief political strategist for the University of Alabama System — makes him one of the most seasoned and connected figures in the state.
Over the past decade, Ryan has played a central role in nearly every major political development in Alabama, earning a reputation as both a steady guardian of the state’s goodwill and the sharp tip of the spear in its most consequential maneuvers.
6. Stephanie Bryan
Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Stephanie Bryan has worked to transform the Poarch Band of Creek Indians into one of the state’s most remarkable economic powerhouses.
Since becoming the first female Tribal Chair and CEO in 2014, PCI has transformed from a historically marginalized community into a dominant player with a footprint that extends from Atmore to the Caribbean and even into the competitive gaming markets of the Northeast.
Raised by a single mother in rural Alabama, Bryan’s rise is a testament to grit, determination, and a keen understanding of business, as well as Alabama.
With gambling legislation permanently on the horizon, Bryan will likely continue wielding influence over the 2026 legislative session, election cycle, the next quadrennium, and beyond.
5. Arthur Orr
Alabama Senate Ways & Means Education Committee Chairman
A mainstay of this list for as long as it has been published, Orr continues to surprise us.
Not only has he accounted for every cent of this year’s $12.1 billion education budget, he’s been on the front lines of some major lifts, advanced numerous bills of his own, and still had time to smirk through hundreds of meetings with those coming to him for requests.
Of course, Orr doesn’t always get everything he wants – but he does get most of it.
In the grand scheme of things, it seems as if Orr has hit the apex of his career: He’s a lawyer, has a rock-solid career, his path to re-election looks clear next year, and he’s accumulated more influence in Montgomery than most people would know what to do with.
It’s hard to say if Orr would give it up for anything.
Who’s to say?
4. Will Ainsworth
Lt. Governor of Alabama
Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth has discipline. He has been highly praised on this list for over half a decade, and today is no different – as Ainsworth exerts his influence in one of the most targeted fashions of any elected official we index.
All big bills that receive passage from the Alabama Senate have Ainsworth’s fingerprints on them.
Outside the legislative session, Ainsworth has some thinking to do — but we don’t expect he’ll head to Buck’s Pocket just yet.
He’s never been someone you’d bet the under on.
The relationships and goodwill he has accumulated throughout his tenure as an elected official and businessman across the state are worth more weight than gold.
Ainsworth is responsible for some of the biggest legislative and political upsets of the modern era, which have been leveraged to the benefit of Alabamians.
3. Garlan Gudger
Alabama Senate President Pro Tempore
Taking over as Pro Tem of the Alabama Senate exactly halfway through the quadrennium is no small feat for any man. However, for Gudger, who was in critical condition after a boating accident last summer on Smith Lake that nearly took his life, it’s an achievement that defies the odds.
The story of Gudger’s victory in the caucus vote is indicative of the Senate: He won out through direct, face-to-face negotiations with his colleagues.
He pressed harder, drove further, and didn’t take no for an answer. This savvy is what we expect of Gudger’s future running the chamber.
Whether he’s for or against you on an issue, expect him to be deliberative, engaged, and interested in compromise. But once his mind is made up, it’s over.
Gudger’s high tolerance for the adrenaline of the political and legislative process will make him a mainstay of the list’s top ten year after year if he so chooses.
2. Nathaniel Ledbetter
Alabama Speaker of the House
Speaker Ledbetter has every reason to feel good about this year’s legislative session heading into the 2026 election cycle.
The gentleman from Rainsville has been a shepherd to the current flock of House lawmakers because he knows he’s herding a group of lions. He fights off battles on their behalf and has the backs of every single member of the body.
In fact, he even gives good counsel on how to maneuver those battles best. That takes confidence.
That sort of reciprocal trust is right on brand for the Speaker, who we believe is now more well-liked exiting this year’s session than any year prior.
He dealt deftly with caucus issues and kept his members together no matter how hard the boat rocked.
Ledbetter is a loyal man of the Alabama House. When attacked as a body from the outside, he has always proven ready to come correct with the facts and down-home, country-cooked wisdom.
Maybe not as lyrical as his good friend Randy Owen, Ledbetter knows how to orchestrate an ensemble to near perfection.
1. Kay Ivey
Governor of Alabama
Governor Ivey is facing something she never expected as a girl growing up in rural Camden, as Auburn University’s first female SGA vice president, or even as State Treasurer or Lieutenant Governor:
The final year of an eight-year term as the Governor of Alabama.
Entering 2026, knowing she will deliver her final State of the State address and Alabama voters will decide who will become her successor, Ivey also knows she has taken up – and accomplished – some of the most significant legislative lifts of any governor in the 21st century.
She leads our list as the most powerful force currently in Alabama politics for another consecutive year.
On day one of her first and unexpected term, Ivey said, “Today is both a dark day in Alabama, yet also it’s one of opportunity.” She vowed to steady the ship of state. In the time since, Governor Ivey delivered on that promise.
She went on to win the election to two full terms in commanding fashion. She has turned those electoral mandates into concrete achievements.
As we wrote last year, Ivey is not only Alabama’s education governor, Alabama’s infrastructure governor, Alabama’s manufacturing governor, and Alabama’s workforce governor. She shored up virtually all those accolades this year and earned a few new ones.
Governor Ivey has become by far the most popular Governor of Alabama of the 21st century.
Simply put, Kay Ivey speaks for Alabama, and long after her tenure, Alabama will continue to reflect the achievements of the state she helped build for the modern era.
