Sunrise Consulting Group announced Monday that Andrew Kalel has joined the firm as a government affairs consultant.

Kalel started in the new role on Oct. 1 and fills the position vacated by Sam Wagoner. He has worked in and around state government for the better part of a decade, most recently as legislative affairs director for a set of criminal justice state offices.

Kalel launched his career in state government as an undergraduate in college, holding positions with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, in the Secretary's office of the Florida Lottery, and as a court-appointed auditor for the Justice Administrative Commission.

In these roles, he was exposed to executive decision makers and the workflow process of large state agencies with multi-million-dollar budgets impacting every day Floridians. He also interned for the Florida Sheriffs Association, the House of Representatives, and with Security First Insurance Company, a top-five Florida-based property insurance companies.

After college, Kalel leveraged his knowledge of state government to work in the private sector in a project management position under Jason Gonzalez at Shutts & Bowen. There he supported large government affairs projects for the firm by liaising with the Executive Office of the Governor, as well as assisting with tracking legislation and gathering and analyzing political research.

He holds both an insurance adjuster and broker license and has experience working as a catastrophe adjuster after Hurricane Matthew, and as a daily claims adjuster. He continues to stay abreast of insurance public policy, and emerging industry trends.

Kalel will work out of Sunrise Consulting's Tallahassee office.