Earl Ehrhart is a Managing Director of Freeman Mathis Decisions, the Government Relations team within Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP. In his role, Mr. Ehrhart has responsibility for the overall direction and strategic success of Freeman Mathis Decisions. Mr. Ehrhart brings the public policy experience and the problem solving capacity needed at the nexus of business and government.
As a retired elected official for the State of Georgia, Mr. Ehrhart brings a wealth of experience necessary to assist his clients. Mr. Ehrhart was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1988, and served as one of the State’s longest serving elected officials. During his thirty-year tenure as a state representative, he served eight years as the Minority Whip and six years as the Rules Committee Chairman. Mr. Ehrhart served as Chairman of Higher Education Appropriations, a role he held for 7 years. He was elected as the National Chairman of American Legislative Exchange Council in 2005. He served as a board member for more than 20 years and as its chairman and member of executive committee for over 5 years. Mr. Ehrhart’s political efforts have received national media recognition in The Economist, the New York Times, CNN and The Fox News Channel.
In addition, Mr. Ehrhart has led organizations in both the public and private sectors. He began his career as a young entrepreneur. At age 21, he co-founded, The Marble Craftsman, a marble and granite subcontracting company, which he grew from a backyard business to more than $2 million in revenue when he sold the company in 1995.
He then went on and was an Executive Vice President of Facility Group, an international design and construction company where he served as the company’s Chief Strategist, developing and implementing company-wide strategic growth initiatives in five vertical sectors: Food & Beverage, Education, Municipal, Hospitality & Entertainment and Retail Distribution. Facility grew from six employees and $25M in revenue to more than 500 employees and more than $600M in revenue.
In 2003 Mr. Ehrhart was the original organizing director and vice chair of the board of one of the most successful startup community banks in Georgia history. He supervised all aspects of this very successful financial endeavor. In 2006, Georgian Bank was sold for a premium to an investor group who eventually grew the platform to more than $2.1B in assets.
Mr. Ehrhart served as CEO of LakePoint Sports Development Group and Managing Partner of Sports Parks of Georgia, LLC. Mr. Ehrhart and his partners drew on his diverse background and experience in business, politics and youth sports to develop, grow, manage and operate America’s Premier Sports Vacation Destination.