Ask Us Contact Us My Account DEPARTMENT SECRETARY Get to Know Julie I. Brown Julie Imanuel Brown serves as the Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation where she leads the state’s regulation of more than 1.4 million licenses across more than 30 fields of industry. Appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis on February 22, 2021, Secretary Brown joined the Department following three terms of service on the Florida Public Service Commission. Secretary Brown was initially appointed to the Florida Public Service Commission in 2011 and subsequently reappointed in 2015 and 2019. For more than ten years, she served as one of the five commissioners with responsibility for ensuring electric, natural gas, telephone, water, and wastewater services are safe, affordable, and reliable for Florida’s consumers. Secretary Brown was elected as the Commission Chairman from 2016 to 2018, and she led the Commission’s recommendations for electric utility storm-hardening actions following a period when the state experienced major hurricane impacts for the first time in more than a decade. As Chairman, Secretary Brown established initiatives to build and strengthen links between the Commission and its stakeholders with improvements in technology, communication, and quality of service. As a state utility regulator, Secretary Brown served on the Financial Research Institute’s Advisory Board, the New Mexico State University’s Center for Public Utilities Advisory Council, the Gas Technology Institute’s Public Interest Advisory Committee, the Southern States Energy Board Blue Ribbon Task Force, and the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners. She also chaired the Florida Legislature’s Study Committee on Investor-Owned Water and Wastewater Utility Systems. Before serving on the Commission, Secretary Brown was Associate Legal Counsel of First American Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, where she handled a variety of regulatory compliance and legal issues in the Eastern, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic Regions. In her prior practice of law, she has also represented corporate clients with a specialized focus on matters involving mergers, acquisitions and securities. Previously, she served as the Director of Franchise Sales and Development for Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., and as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Tampa. Throughout her career, Secretary Brown has remained involved in other community endeavors, including service on the City of Tampa’s Architectural Review Commission, the Board of Directors of the Tampa Firefighters Museum, the Florida Bar’s 13th Judicial Circuit Bar Grievance Committee, and Leadership Florida Class XXXIII. By appointment of Governor Ron DeSantis, she also served on the Florida Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission to support the statewide observance of the centennial of women’s suffrage in 2020. Secretary Brown graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida, where she served as President of Florida Blue Key, was inducted into the UF Hall of Fame, and was honored as the recipient of the Outstanding Female Leader Award and the Dean’s Cup for the College of Journalism and Communications. She earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and is a member of the Florida Bar. Secretary Brown and her husband have two children. Follow @FloridaDBPR About Menu RESOURCES Business Brief Emergency Bridge Loan Disclaimer Americans With Disabilities (ADA) Privacy Statement RESOURCES MyFlorida.gov Job Opportunities Florida Has a Right To Know Report State Fraud Waste & Abuse Employ Florida Florida Child Abuse Hotline Human Trafficking Florida Disaster MOBILE Search DBPR records for businesses and professionals licensed by the department. Users can verify licenses by name or license number. Copyright ©2018 Department of Business and Professional Regulation - State of Florida GET IN TOUCH Customer Contact Center 2601 Blair Stone Road Tallahassee, FL 32399 Phone: (850) 487-1395 Submit Request: Customer Contact Assistance "License Efficiently, Regulate Fairly"