Well known consultant, entrepreneur Brock Mikosky dies at 47

Brock Mikosky, who moved from a Republican consulting career to founding a printing company but never left politics behind, died Friday in Piedmont Atlanta Hospital after a three-month struggle that began with the flu and progressed to heart disease. He was 47.

Throughout his adult life, Mikosky had been a vigorous consultant and businessman who prided himself on delivering for his clients, dozens of whom went on to election wins. He worked with both large and small lobbying firms, founding two of them before starting Ink Barrel Printing in Jacksonville in 2022.

Friends and colleagues have flooded his wife’s social media with remembrances of a kind, funny, inquisitive, and thought-provoking man who embraced life and the people in it. Some noted the seeming contradictions of an outspoken Republican who found common ground with Democrats; who was at least as curious about the people he met, regardless of circumstance or social station; who spent a year traveling the world with his wife to see how everyone else lived.

“One of the most endearing qualities about Brock is that he’s just interested in ideas,” said Jennifer MacPhee Mikosky, his wife since 2009. “He loved to talk to people about politics, business, entrepreneurship – any topic, really.

“He loved engaging with people. He would manage to get someone’s entire life story in a 30-minute cab ride.”

The unexpected loss of such an energetic man has hit the community around him hard.

“He had a big, gregarious, huge personality,” said Mike Manley, his business partner in founding Ink Barrel Printing and, before that, a small lobbying firm. “He could cut to the point and come across to some people as really brash and loud. But he was passionate. He loved music; he had very eclectic tastes. He loved food and travel, and to travel with his 8-year-old daughter and show her things.”

Brock Anthony Mikosky was born Dec. 30, 1978, and grew up in Jacksonville. After graduating from the University of Florida, he earned an MBA degree at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. After returning to Florida, he worked in business development within the sports media and construction industries. The Florida Chamber of Commerce later tapped him to serve as the Chamber’s primary liaison to legislators and business leaders across North Florida.

Near the end of 2005, he met Jennifer MacPhee, then the chief spokesperson for Visit Jacksonville. They had both joined a new civic organization targeting young professionals called Impact Jax, where she was intrigued by a talkative and opinionated stranger named Brock. By 2006, they had started dating and never looked back. They married on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2009.

They lived in the Tampa Bay area, where Mikosky served as a regional lobbyist for Associated Industries of Florida. In 2010, he founded a consulting company, Momentum Strategy Group.

After the 2014 Elections they put the daily grind aside to travel in earnest. The couple spent nearly a year visiting more than a hundred cities in 30 countries across Europe, Asia, and Australia. He started conversations everywhere, often answering questions about the upcoming 2016 Elections.

In the Tampa Bay area, he was a diehard Rays fan and Chair of the Board of Directors for Pepin Academies.

“It is with heavy hearts that the Pepin Academies family mourns the loss of a friend,” said Dr. Jeff Skowronek, Pepin’s executive director. “Brock was not only a supporter of all students’ potentials but a presence of strength and stability during an important transition in Pepin Academies’ growth.”

In 2019, Axion Strategies, a national firm, acquired Momentum Strategy Group and hired Mikosky to lead its Tampa operation. “Like Axiom, I’m a true believer that conservatives can win elections,” Mikosky said at the time.

Exciting as that was, Mikosky would return to Jacksonville and to self-employment by 2021. He co-founded the 1845 Group with Mike Manley, with whom he had productive conversations while both worked for large national lobbying firms.

“He was with Axiom; I was with Majority Strategies,” Manley said. Both men felt their jobs were financially rewarding but unfulfilling in the ways that mattered – or, as Manley put it, “kind of soul-sucking.”

They started their own consulting firm, The 1845 Group, in 2021. The following year, their partnership shifted gears altogether, founding a printing company. The inspiration for the name came from the famous quote by Benjamin Franklin, “Never argue with anyone who buys ink by the barrel.”

At first, mastering production was a challenge, Manley said, like “drinking from a fire hose.” But over time, the Ink Barrel became a high-end print service, ideal for promotions, direct mail, digital printing, or getting your brand on T-shirts and baseball caps.

The Mikoskys, a family of three since the birth of Collins, 8, have continued to travel, most recently on a 2025 Thanksgiving cruise to Colombia and Panama. In mid-December, the parents watched their daughter perform in the Spirit Cheer Dance Grand Nationals and Cheer Nationals at the Orlando Convention Center.

“We were walking miles at the convention center and cheering her on,” Jennifer Mikosky said. “That night he said he felt like he might be coming down with a little bit of something.”

By the next evening, Brock was in the emergency room at Mayo Clinic. He never returned home.

A diagnosis that started with Influenza A worsened with inflammation. One historical event seemed to resurface, either symbolically or in fact – the open-heart surgery he had undergone at age 10. He was transferred to Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, nationally known for its cardiac care. But a chain reaction stemming from inflammation to organ failure proved too much.

The affections and well-wishes of so many friends and co-workers have heartened her, Jennifer said. And one irony made her smile.

“After fighting for coverage in Florida Politics for his campaigns for all those years,” she said, “I think he would have gotten a real kick out of this story about him.”

Mikosky is survived by his wife, Jennifer; his parents, Anthony and Diane Mikosky; and his daughter, Collins. A celebration of life is being planned for the coming weeks. Assistance for his survivors, organized by Laurie Veldhuizen, is available at gofund.me under “Honoring Brock Mikosky: Support for the Mikosky Family.”