During the last 25 years, California Strategies LLC has grown into one of the largest and most respected public affairs firms in the state. With over thirty partners providing coverage in nine different regions, the company offers a wide variety of consulting services for its public and private sector clients. As the company’s co-founder, Jack Flanigan is a very active participant in the arena where politics and policy development merge. He serves as a senior advisor to a number of the largest and most influential private sector companies in the country.
While he has be engaged in a broad portfolio of issues during his career, one of his areas of special expertise is in the real estate development sector. Very early in his career, he had hands-on responsibility for the development of industrial office parks in Texas. That experience provided an extremely valuable foundation for his long-term representation of real estate interests in California. He has been the Executive Director of the California Housing Council, a coalition of the state’s 30 largest owners and operators of multi-family housing. From 1985 to 1992 he was Vice President of Public Affairs for the Irvine Company, one of the nation’s most respected land developers and community planners. In this capacity, he oversaw all state and federal legislative activities related to the company’s extensive real estate operations. Today representing one of the largest owners of commercial properties in the state, he is currently serving a member of the board of directors of the California Business Properties Association.
In addition to his professional activities, Flanigan also has been actively involved with the creation of a number of private sector start-up companies. He was an original shareholder – and later member of the board of directors – of SuperShuttle International which has grown into the largest shared-ride airport ground transportation service in the country.
On the political side, Flanigan has held key leadership and advisory posts in numerous state and national campaigns – for both candidates and initiatives. In 1975, he managed Pete Wilson’s successful re-election campaign for Mayor of San Diego and went on to serve in senior capacities in all of Wilson’s campaigns for Governor and the U.S. Senate. In 1992, he was appointed by the President George H.W. Bush to serve as one of the two state co-chairmen of his California campaign.
An important component of Flanigan’s career has been his active participation in community organizations. He is a former Executive Director and later national board member of the Coro Foundation, a respected post-graduate public affairs training program. He was a founding board member of the California Mentor Foundation and serves as a Director Emeritus on the board of Athletes and Entertainers for Kids, a non-profit organization headquartered in California.
During his career, he has accepted various volunteer assignments from the leadership on both sides of the political aisle. President George H.W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. In March of 2012, recently-elected Governor Jerry Brown selected Flanigan as one of his first two new appointees to California’s Little Hoover Commission, an independent state agency responsible for the oversight and investigation of state government operations.
Flanigan is a graduate of San Diego State University where he served as student body president. After graduation, he received a direct commission in the United States Army’s Medical Service Corps and served as aide-de-camp to the Commanding General of Brooke General Hospital in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. During his tour in Vietnam, he was a member of the special USAMSC team that was responsible for establishing the first in-country drug detoxification centers. He is a recipient of both the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal.
Upon returning from Vietnam, Flanigan received his Juris Doctorate degree from Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 1975.
Flanigan has two grown sons. He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.