Jay Morgan is a veteran public affairs strategist with nearly three decades of experience advising corporations, business organizations, coalitions, and public officials. He is known for building coalitions, navigating complex public-policy challenges, and developing practical solutions that connect government, politics, communications, and business strategy.
Jay founded J.L. Morgan Company in 1997 after serving as Senior Vice President of Edington, Wade & Sanders. Since its inception, the firm has counseled more than 125 corporations and business organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, major business associations, and industry coalitions. Jay develops public affairs and issue-management strategies designed to advance business objectives while building durable relationships with policymakers and stakeholders.
A hallmark of Jay’s work is his ability to organize diverse interests around complicated or controversial issues. He has been recruited to lead or participate in lobbying and coalition efforts involving healthcare cost containment, litigation reform, criminal justice reform, state tax policy and tax credits, financial services, payments, and other highly regulated industries. His approach is grounded in a simple principle: Education is advocacy. Effective public affairs begins by ensuring that policymakers understand an industry, the people it serves, and the practical consequences of the decisions before them.
Jay also brings extensive political and campaign experience to his public affairs practice. He has advised more than 25 federal, state, and local campaigns, including roles for the 1988 Bush for President campaign, the late U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson’s statewide campaigns, Governor Nathan Deal, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, former California Governor Pete Wilson, the late Congresswoman Tillie Fowler, the late Congressman Mac Collins, and numerous state legislative leaders. After Nathan Deal’s election as Governor of Georgia, Jay was appointed co-chairman of the 2011 Inaugural Committee and served as a senior advisor to the gubernatorial transition.
Jay is deeply involved in the growth of the payments and financial technology sector. He helped build the American Transaction Processors Coalition into a national advocacy and education platform for the payments-processing industry and later led its integration into the Electronic Transactions Association. He continues to serve as a senior advisor to ETA and as a member of the Executive Committee of FinTech Atlanta, helping strengthen Georgia’s position as a leading payments and financial technology center.
As one long-held client in the financial services industry stated, “I’ve known Jay for nearly 2 decades. I’ve been his client at two Fortune 1000, NYSE-listed public companies. I’ve also had the privilege of serving as board chair of a leading payments and financial technology industry group which he led. He operates with urgency and senior-statesman-level of calm maturity. Perhaps most impressive is his ability to translate the positive community impact of a business or industry into compelling messaging that elected leadership can truly hear. I value Jay not just as a lobbyist, but as a partner who builds real coalitions that promote thought leadership proactively – not just in times of urgent need.”
Jay has also maintained a longstanding commitment to civic and nonprofit leadership. He is a former Chairman of the Georgia 4-H Foundation and a former board member of FAITH (Fighting Abuse in the Home). Throughout his career, he has also made mentorship an important part of his work, helping develop and counsel numerous public affairs professionals who have gone on to build successful careers of their own.
Across his work in business, government, politics, and civic affairs, Jay has built his career around a consistent idea: the most effective advocacy is built on relationships, credibility, education, and the ability to bring people together around solutions.
Jay Morgan founded The J.L. Morgan Company in 1997. Nearly thirty years later, the firm carries his work forward as Georgia Advantage, and keeps his tartan close.
Charlotte Davis is a public affairs strategist known for building coalitions, advancing legislative priorities, and navigating complex policy issues across Georgia. Drawing on experience in local government, trade association management and legislative affairs, she has represented clients on issues ranging from land use and public safety to telecommunications and emerging technologies.
Prior to the launch of Georgia Advantage, Charlotte served as the J.L. Morgan Company’s Legislative Director, leveraging relationships with decision makers across Georgia on behalf of the company’s extensive list of clients. Most recently, she led efforts to pass a constitutional amendment creating a statewide emergency services trust fund which was approved by Georgia voters in 2026. She also successfully advocated for the creation of a new statewide grant fund for child care providers with annual recurring appropriations of $15 million and counting, and shepherded legislation enhancing consumer protections in the financial services industry, among other recent victories.
Before that, she advocated for the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) for six years, including serving as deputy director of governmental relations. As part of the GMA team, she represented the legislative and regulatory interests of Georgia’s 537 cities before the General Assembly and various state agencies.
In 2021 Georgia Trend magazine recognized Charlotte on the “40 Under 40” list. She currently serves on the Georgia Chamber’s Government Affairs Executive Committee and the Berry Alumni Council. Charlotte holds a master’s degree in Political Science from Georgia State University and an undergraduate degree from Berry College in Rome, GA.
