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Draft:Keith Gross

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Keith Gross

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Keith Gross

Keith L. Gross (born October 1983) is an American entrepreneur, author, pilot, attorney, and a conservative activist.[1]

Keith Gross is a native Floridian [2] and a Republican candidate for United States Senate. Prior to announcing his run for US Senate, Keith served as Executive Director of Advancing Florida[3]. As a lifelong businessperson, he has helped grow dozens of successful businesses and created hundreds of jobs.

He previously served as an Assistant State Attorney prosecuting cases on behalf of the people of Florida's Eighteenth Judicial Circuit[4]


Early Life & Education

Born in Panama City, Florida, Keith grew up in the rural Florida panhandle.  After graduating from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Public Safety & Security, he continued his education earning a Juris Doctor from The University of Montana School of Law.[5][6]

In law school he worked as a law clerk in the United States Attorney's Office in Montana and was the editor of Business and I.P. Law Journal.  Keith actively worked in his businesses while attending undergrad and law school.  After attending law school at the University of Montana, he returned to his home state of Florida, where he continued to operate businesses as Chief Strategy Officer and in-house counsel.

Raised by a single mother in the Florida panhandle, Keith Gross is the definition of an American success story. He worked his way through school, served in the National Guard, and returned home to Florida after earning his law degree.[7]

Career

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Keith Gross is a businessman and attorney who previously oversaw Fleet Clean USA's legal operations and operational strategy[8].

Keith and his partner, Scott Marr, grew Fleet Clean USA from a one-location firm in Atlanta, GA, started in 2009 into a national corporation that now serves hundreds of cities from coast to coast[8]. After managing several sites, this business began offering franchises in 2013. It was one of the nation's largest mobile fleet cleaning companies[9] After expanding to be the country's second-largest mobile fleet washing business a rival with private equity[10] backing purchased Fleet Clean in a private transaction estimated in the tens of millions.[11]

Following the sale of Fleet Clean, Scott and Keith invested in a startup insulation business as a test market for a future franchise. This franchise was made available in 2020 around the time the pandemic led to government shutdowns[12]. In its first year of business, the new company Koala Insulation sold hundreds of franchise units. In connection with this growth, Koala Insulation was ranked as the 14th and 8th fastest-growing franchise globally and in the U.S..[13][14]


Gross and Marr continued to incubate new companies and developed Wallaby Windows, which recently announced that it will offer franchises nationally in January 2023[15][16], after rejecting takeover proposals for Koala Insulation which were reportedly valued at over $100MM in 2022, according to private sources. Based on Koala Insulation's extraordinary success, which as of December 2022 has developed over 350 franchise territories serving more than 75 million customers in the U.S[17][12]

Keith Gross is on the board of 1954 Capital Partners, his family office investment firm, which backs startup businesses in the fields of innovative technology, residential and business services, and consumer goods.[18][19]

Community Involvement

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Keith Gross announced his run for United States Senate in the Republican Primary against one term incumbent Rick Scott in April of 2023[20].

Keith is a guest columnist for publications including Florida Today and Yahoo News[21][22] and tends to focus on encouraging a smaller, constitutional government[3].  This includes issue advocacy through Advancing Florida a non-profit organization.[3] Keith launched Advancing Florida to promote the constitutional way of running and operating government.[3]

Political Activities

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Keith Gross is currently running for US Senate in the Republican Primary against the incumbent US Senator from Florida, Rick Scott.[23]

Mr. Gross has pledged to spend millions to ensure the people of Florida have an alternative to the incumbent Senator, who Gross calls "ineffective."[24]

In an apparent hit piece facilitated by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who is backing Rick Scott, it was reported that Gross ran as a Democrat in Georgia in 2008 when he was in his 20's.[25] Gross acknowledged that this is true, pointing out that Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan and most of the registered Republicans in Florida were not always registered Republicans. Gross stated that he is thankful his eyes were opened and that he has been a strong constitutional conservative for many years now.

Gross' Senatorial campaign site is focused on a message of Freedom, minimizing the size and scope of the federal government, eliminating unnecessary federal agencies and cutting spending while preserving core constitutional rights including the rights to free speech and the right to bear arms.[26]

  1. ^ Gross. Dirt Roads to Runways: Defending the American Dream for the Next Generation. ISBN 978-1959099772.
  2. ^ "Keith Gross Official Website". Keith Gross. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  3. ^ a b c d "Advancing Florida". Advancing Florida. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  4. ^ Gancarski, A. G. (2023-01-25). "Melbourne lawyer floats Primary challenge to Rick Scott". Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  5. ^ "LinkedIn - Keith Gross".
  6. ^ "Lawyer Directory – The Florida Bar". Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  7. ^ "Keith Gross for U.S. Senate". www.keithgross.com. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  8. ^ a b SharonE. "Mobile Truck Wash | Fleet Wash Service | Fleet Clean®". Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  9. ^ "Fleet Clean USA Brings Fleet and Facility Washing Service Franchise to Denver". PRWeb. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  10. ^ L.L.C, ACON Investments. "ACON Investments Acquires Majority Stake in Fleetwash, Inc". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  11. ^ "Fleetwash". www.fleetwash.com. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  12. ^ a b "Insulation Franchise Opportunities". Koala Insulation Franchise. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  13. ^ "2022 Fastest-Growing Franchises (Worldwide) Ranking". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  14. ^ "2022 Fastest-Growing Franchises (U.S. & Canada) Ranking". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  15. ^ "Announcing National Franchise Expansion". wallabywindows.com. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  16. ^ "Home Services Franchise Legend Launches A New Brand - The Wolf of Franchises". wolfoffranchises.com. 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  17. ^ "Locations". Koala Insulation. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  18. ^ "1954 Capital". 1954capital.com. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  19. ^ "Duration Health raises pre-seed round to deliver urgent care, anywhere". Duration Health. 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  20. ^ Codingest (2023-11-16). "Keith Gross: Rick Scott's deep-pocketed MAGA challenger". The Orlando Local News. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  21. ^ "FAA problems go beyond recent outage and delays | Opinion". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  22. ^ Gross, Keith. "FAA problems go beyond recent outage and delays | Opinion". Florida Today. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  23. ^ Flagler News Weekly (2024-03-13). 2024 Candidate Interviews: U.S. Senate Candidate Keith Gross. Retrieved 2024-05-16 – via YouTube.
  24. ^ Bernal, Rafael (2023-09-18). "Rick Scott's GOP challenger has deep pockets — and says he's willing to spend". The Hill. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  25. ^ "Sen. Rick Scott's Republican challenger was once kicked off the ballot in Georgia". NBC News. 2023-10-28. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  26. ^ "Keith Gross for U.S. Senate". www.keithgross.com. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
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