Hector Alcalde. Photo: Katherine Lamberrt

With about 30% of his firm's client roster coming from municipal governments, the name of Alcalde & Fay's founder and chairman, 73-year-old Hector Alcalde, is appropriate: In Spanish, alcalde means mayor or the chief administrator of a town. "My whole life has been government and public policy," says Alcalde.

A native New Yorker of Spanish descent, Alcalde didn't speak English until he attended kindergarten. In fact, he'd never even been outside of New York when he was offered a basketball scholarship to attend the University of Tampa, where he earned a bachelor's degree in government. He went on to get a master's in education from Vanderbilt University and in the 1950s began teaching civics and English at a west Tampa junior high school.

After a chance encounter with then-Florida state Sen. Sam Gibbons -- Alcalde was a swimming instructor at a swim club attended by Gibbons' son Cliff -- Alcalde joined Gibbons' 1962 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. Gibbons, a Democrat, won that race, and Alcalde followed Gibbons to Washington to serve as his chief of staff and help him implement an array of social programs under then-President Lyndon Johnson, including the Head Start program. "He was a good, vigorous staff member," recalls Gibbons. "Bright, honest, hardworking."

But as satisfying as government service was, there wasn't much money in it. So in 1973, while Washington's influence industry was still in its infancy, Alcalde hung out a shingle as a lobbyist. Adrienne Garcia, executive director of the Hillsborough Community College Foundation and one of Alcalde's students in 1962, says his friends and students in Tampa were "shocked" when he left Gibbons' office to do something "so risky." "We said, 'You mean you think people are going to pay you money to represent them? I don't get it.' "

But Alcalde had found his calling. He signed up his first three clients -- the Port of Tampa, Jim Walter Corp. and Tampa Electric. None had ever hired a Washington lobbyist. With his connections and knowledge of the legislative process, Alcalde got them results, and his practice grew. Dade County put Alcalde & Fay on retainer to help it get aid for everything from beach erosion and migrant housing to water issues. Air Florida, a small airline operating flights between Florida cities and later other U.S. cities, hired the firm to help it get its first international operating certificate.

Kevin Fay, a former lobbyist for the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, came on board in 1982 and carved out a niche for the firm on environmental and energy issues. In addition to serving as president of Alcalde & Fay, he is executive director of the International Climate Change Partnership, a coalition of companies and trade associations that develops international policies to cope with global climate change.

Today, Alcalde is semi-retired, spending more time in the stables with his horses than in his office in Virginia -- the former civics teacher breeds thoroughbreds. Alcalde says successful lobbying boils down to expertise. "If you're going to be a lobbyist, you have got to pay your dues. You're not going to fool your client."