Billy Canary | President and CEO | Business Council of Alabama 

Canary’s résumé includes stints as Special Assistant to President George H.W. Bush, Chief of Staff for the Republican National Committee and CEO of the American Trucking Association. That level of national political experience is rare on the state level, but Canary used it to quickly become one of the key players in Alabama politics.

In his current position as President and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama, Canary leads the state’s foremost business association. Every significant business leader in the state is involved in his organization.

To Canary’s credit, he had the foresight to get behind Republicans in a huge way heading into 2010, while other major interest groups hedged their bets and kept siding with incumbent Democrats. As a result, his relationships with Republican legislative leadership may be stronger than anyone else’s in the state house.

The BCA will once again be a major player during the 2014 election cycle. Their PAC currently has a balance of $2.1 million, according to campaign finance disclosures, and Canary’s the one holding the purse strings.