February 28, 2023
John Wittman, PLUS Communications partner and head of our new Austin office, sat down to discuss how Texas’ political and business landscape is evolving and our team’s capabilities across the state. Watch the interview and read the transcript below.
Full transcript:
Texas isn’t slowing down. Its economy is continuing to explode. New businesses are moving there every single day.
If you talk to folks in the know – people who work in these economic development organizations, or people who work in state government who are talking to these businesses – they’re very clear that this pipeline is not slowing down in any way, shape, or form.
Hi, I’m John Wittman. I’m a partner at the public affairs practice of PLUS Communications, and I run the Texas office. I’ve been in Texas for about a decade now, and about seven of those years I worked for the governor of Texas.
If you think about Texas, what happens there does have a real impact on the nation. It’s the ninth-largest economy in the world. There are 30 million people there in 38 congressional districts, so it really has an impact on the overall economy in the United States.
I believe 55 Fortune 500 companies are headquartered there – that’s more than any other state. But it’s not just the big companies. It’s the small mom-and-pop businesses. It’s the medium-sized businesses who are looking for that business-friendly climate, that low-tax environment to build their business and raise their family.
So, there’s an opportunity for PLUS to come in and help folks and help these corporations deal with public affairs issues specifically relating to politics and communications and media.
To me, the thing that has been the most exciting is the level of resources that PLUS has. Everything is in-house, and PLUS can accomplish anything for its client on the public affairs side. My dream is to provide a level of service to our clients where they never want to look anywhere else. When something new comes up in what they need in their strategy, they come to PLUS.
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