Roger Chapin, President - Chapin Communications

During college at Florida State University, he had the opportunity to work for the late-Governor Lawton Chiles in the governor’s communications office. Prior to graduation, he also worked one year with Dick Batchelor Management Group, before graduating with a degree in Political Communications.

After graduation, he was hired as a Government Affairs Representative for General Mills Restaurants. There, he led state and federal government relations as well as public affairs when the company spun off from Genera Mills to become Darden Restaurants, the largest casual dining restaurant company in the world. Roger was the youngest Director at the company before leaving to join Mears Transportation Group, a private family-owned business in Orlando.

As Executive Vice President for Mears, Roger led all public affairs for the company; including government relations, public relations and community outreach. He sat on the Executive Committee where he also advised the family owners on other business ventures as well as real estate acquisition and development.

Roger is now President of Chapin Communications, a full service public affairs firm. In addition to representing firm clients, Roger also serves “of counsel” for the national public affairs firm - Align Public Strategies - as well as “in-house” Vice President of Public Affairs for Mears Transportation Group.

Chapin Communications specializes in representing clients and businesses before the public and governmental entities. Over the years, Roger has interacting with virtually every governmental body in Central Florida, including the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, City of Orlando, Orange County, Port Canaveral, Orange County Convention Center and the Central Florida Expressway Authority among other government and regulatory bodies.

Roger is a Commissioner with the Orlando Utilities Commission, serves on the Martin Andersen-Gracia Andersen Foundation as a Director and is involved with several local non-profit boards, including the University of Central Florida’s Coastal Advisory Board, a world-class effort to assess natural and human-related impacts to the health, restoration and sustainability of coastal systems. As a passionate outdoors enthusiast, Roger is also a United States Coast Guard Certified Captain and is a member of Captains for Clean Water, a state-wide advocacy coalition for sustainable water solutions in Florida as well as a longtime member of Florida’s Coastal Conversation Association.