Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Susan Santana

29.  Susan Santana

Susan Santana is AT&T’s lobbying director in Sacramento, making her the maestro of the telecommunication giant’s well-organized advocacy corps. Her story is an inspiring one: going from a grocery bagger in Chula Vista to UC Berkeley, then to law school at UCLA. She joined AT&T in 2007 and lobbied for the company for 10 years in DC before heading out to Sacramento. No longer a registered lobbyist herself, Santana’s influence can nonetheless be seen in AT&T’s famously aggressively lobbying strategy – although the company’s influence has taken a hit of late as it lost sponsorship of the Speaker’s Cup, the annual golf tournament that serves as a major fundraiser for the California Democratic Party.

Updated Aug. 7, 2024.