Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Susan Santana

No. 52 Susan Santana

Whoever sits in this role would have a lot of political clout around the Capitol because – spoiler alert – AT&T has a lot of money and is not afraid to use it. And AT&T is not your great grandfather’s phone company. These days telecommunications is still about phone service, but it also encompasses everything from broadband and AI to cybersecurity. So if the company would be influential anyway, why is Susan Santana on this list? Because she is not just anybody. Santana is a master at navigating the Capitol’s treacherous partisan waters, a critical skill considering that any communications legislation or proposed regulation is bound to impact her company. And real talk here – telecoms are rarely seen as the good guys in the Capitol. Case in point – AT&T finally winning a yearslong brawl with California regulators to win the right to cut off landline service to 184,000 rural users. A legal battle is still pending over so we’ll see if it sticks, but rest assured that Santana will be in the middle of whatever happens from here.

Updated Aug. 11, 2026.