Chad is wanting to become a subject matter expert and put

mark delegal

“I think a lot of nuance is lost on us sometimes. And nuance takes (putting in) the hours to be able to know what you’re talking about, to understand both sides of an issue. That makes you a better advocate for your position, but it also makes you better at thinking, and thinking is good.”

He majored in political science and government at East Carolina University, graduating in 2017. Casting around for jobs, he thought about Florida, where he had family, or on Capitol Hill. Kundee landed with Rep. Paul Renner in 2018. Renner, a Republican whose district includes Flagler County, is the current House Speaker. It turned out to be a fortuitous relationship.

Kunde worked as his aide for nearly a year, driving him around and contributing grassroots campaign strategies.

He moved to Palm Coast in the heart of the district, with Renner’s encouragement, and got to know it intimately.

“I didn’t come in with a MAPP degree, or even have an understanding of what Florida politics looks like,” he said, a reference to Florida State University’s vaunted master’s program in policy and politics. “When you have the opportunity to be with (Renner) every day, you’re kind of held to a standard and you have to learn quickly. And there was nobody better to learn from.”

He talked to residents who had called the legislator in distress. Those calls left a lasting impression.

“It was eye-opening,” he said. “Some of that stuff you don’t see in Washington.”

Kunde joined the staff of Rep. Wyman Duggan in 2019, first as a district aide and then a campaign manager. That same year, he started grad school at Jacksonville University, studying public policy. He earned a master’s degree in 2021, and worked as public policy coordinator for Florida Realtors, the state’s largest professional trade association with more than 238,000 members.

Representing Realtors allowed him to drill down further on a growing property insurance crisis, with Florida accounting for 76% of insurance litigation nationwide. Those costs get passed to customers.

“There is a lawsuit abuse pandemic in this state, where every business is sued constantly,” he said. “It’s really the No. 1 issue facing this state.”

He had been doing that job for 16 months, at which point Delegal told Kunde that the Florida Chamber was looking for a director of business climate and government policy. “I reached out to him and said, ‘This would be perfect for you to get into this,’” Delegal said.

The timing couldn’t be better, Delegal believes, and the reason is his colorful theory on three career “layers.” The first layer is learning every possible answer about a subject, with real estate policy generally and insurance litigation being two examples.

“Now, as he goes on with his career, in phase two, he will pretty much know the answer but he’s going to have to double check himself,” Delegal said.

In phase three, the one in which Delegal would place himself, “You do know the answer and you are the answer.”

Look behind the lawyer’s jocular tone — there is, for example, a fourth phase, the “kooky old man no one listens to” — and a serious point takes shape: A lot of promising young people with talent and credentials invest too much in prestige and power and forget about acquiring expertise.

“Some of these young guys come along,” he said, “and they don’t want to spend the time learning. They want to go out, hang out at the Governor’s Club, fool around and think about golf tournaments on the way to public policy events. And that’s not Chad. Chad is wanting to become a subject matter expert and put his time in.”

Kunde recently bought a house in Tallahassee 45 minutes from the Gulf Coast. He enjoys spending time with his fiance, Kayla Nocella, and a circle of friends. He relishes a work and social environment in Tallahassee that allows for people to form bonds despite their differences, an example his parents deliberately modeled for their children.

“That’s something I really love about Tallahassee,” Kunde said. “Everyone has a difference of opinion, but to be able at the end of this thing, when you hang your boots up at the end of the day, to say, ‘Yeah, we’re all friends.’”