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<\/p>\nShumaker Advisors is continuing to strategically expand its Florida operations, adding former St. Petersburg City Council member Ed Montanari as Principal in the St. Pete office.<\/p>\n
Montanari\u2019s hire is expected to strengthen the firm\u2019s presence and leadership in St. Pete, one of the state\u2019s fastest-growing markets.<\/p>\n
Montanari brings a wealth of St. Pete-centric experience to Shumaker, with 20 years of public service experience in municipal government, land use and long-term planning. Montanari was first elected to the City Council in 2015 and served through 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cEd\u2019s leadership and institutional knowledge of St. Pete are invaluable,\u201d said Ron Christaldi, Shumaker Partner and President\/CEO of Shumaker Advisors. \u201cHe has played a critical role in guiding the city through transformative growth, and his insight into public policy, development, and civic leadership will be a tremendous asset to our clients and the communities we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to his service on the City Council, Montanari served for eight years on the city\u2019s Planning and Preservation Commission. Through his service on both boards, Montanari played a key role in shaping St. Pete\u2019s waterfront redevelopment, general redevelopment initiatives and long-term planning efforts.<\/p>\n
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As the City Council\u2019s only Republican member \u2014 though the position is technically nonpartisan \u2014 Montanari proved himself a collegial member even as politics elsewhere became increasingly divisive and split along party lines.<\/p>\n
His service on the City Council earned him admiration and respect from Republicans and Democrats alike, ensuring he will bring with him to Shumaker a network of allies that will further help poise the firm for success.<\/p>\n
Among several others<\/a>, Montanari joins former St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman at Shumaker Advisors\u2019 St. Pete practice. Kriseman serves as of counsel for the firm.<\/p>\n Montanari most recently ran unsuccessfully for House District 60<\/a>, losing in the 2024 General Election to incumbent Democrat Lindsay Cross, though Montanari\u2019s 8-percentage-point loss was considered a good showing<\/a> in what was, and remains, a blue district.<\/p>\n In addition to Montanari\u2019s appointment to the St. Pete practice, Shumaker Advisors is also celebrating the return of Patrick Baskette as a Principal in its Tampa practice. He previously served in the same role from 2016 until 2019.<\/p>\n And the firm has added Sean Schrader as its Director of Operations in the Tampa office, where he will focus on strengthening internal operations and support firm-wide growth. Schrader is a former District Office Manager for former U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist and has an extensive background<\/a> in civic service in Clearwater and St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shumaker Advisors is continuing to strategically expand its Florida operations, adding former St. Petersburg City Council member Ed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[11338,39855,66298,3302,3519,66299,66300,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-135365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-ed-montanari","9":"tag-lindsay-cross","10":"tag-patrick-baskette","11":"tag-rick-kriseman","12":"tag-ron-christaldi","13":"tag-sean-schrader","14":"tag-shumaker-advisors","15":"tag-st-pete","16":"tag-st-pete-headlines","17":"tag-st-pete-news","18":"tag-st-petersburg","19":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","20":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FAC_728x90_web-ad_03.jpeg\")
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