Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Cassie Gilson

37. Cassie Gilson

With Jason Kinney (No. 36) and Kevin Schmidt, Cassie Gilson co-founded Axiom Advisors in 2019 and the trio quickly turned it into one of Sacramento’s top lobbying firms. Indeed, through the first 15 months of the legislative cycle, Axiom trails only Capitol Advocacy and California Strategies in payments, with nearly $11.9 million. That is not bad for a firm that was started less than a decade ago. And while Kinney may enjoy a higher profile, particularly in the news media, he’ll be the first to tell you that Gilson is Axiom’s beating heart. A widely respected player in clean energy, technology, state and national environmental issues and land use – among many others – Gilson is the only female managing partner among the top five Capitol consulting firms. Side note: her partner Loren Kaye is the head of the Cal Chamber’s California Foundation for Commerce and Education, meaning we just might have missed one of the more obvious choices in the inaugural Capitol Weekly ranking of Capitol power couples.

Updated Aug. 7, 2024