Mike Simas

Michael Simas is the President & CEO of the Florida Council of 100, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of chief executives committed to promoting economic growth and improving the quality of life for the people of our state. Now representing more than 150 businesses with over 1.3 million employees, for more than six decades, the Council has been charged with providing advice on key economic development issues from the business community’s perspective to Florida’s elected leaders and government officials across the political and ideological spectrum. Having engaged with Fortune 500 CEOs for the past twenty years, Michael brought his economic development acumen to Florida after serving as Executive Vice President of the Partnership for New York City, the city’s most powerful business association. While there, he forged groundbreaking alliances between many of the state’s largest companies and top elected officials to increase talent, infrastructure, and sector-driven investments in New York’s emerging industries. His accomplishments include spearheading the creation of the $1.2 billion Excelsior Jobs Program to expand the footprint of the city’s growth sector businesses, and leading initiatives that generated $2.7 billion in savings over 10 years for city businesses through coalition building and the negotiation of New York’s first business tax changes in nearly two decades. Additionally, Michael has long been an ardent supporter of innovation as a key driver of economic success. While in New York City, he created the Partnership’s Innovation Council, which brought together the city’s top tech entrepreneurs and investors to advocate for the city’s competitiveness. He also launched the Transit Tech Lab, which for the first time in a century brought private sector solutions to solve the city’s transit crisis, and successfully led advocacy efforts for a city and state government investment of $1.5 billion to accelerate the development of wet lab space, support creation of multiple incubators and accelerators, and attract venture capital investors to the region to scale the city’s life sciences industry. Michael has also held private-sector leadership positions in the financial services and technology industries. He was recognized as one of New York’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars by City and State Magazine. Following the lead of many top executives, Michael moved to Florida full time in 2022. He lives in Sarasota with his wife Cara and their two sons, Logan and Blake.