Dennis A. Ross is a former Member of the United States Congress, a former Member of the Florida House of Representatives, and currently serves as the Director of the American Center for Political Leadership at Southeastern University, where he is also a distinguished professor of political science.
A native of Lakeland, Florida, Dennis graduated from Auburn University in 1981. After working in the Florida Legislature and then the newly created microcomputer industry, Ross attended the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and in 1987, graduated and became a Member of the Florida Bar. Mr. Ross is also a Member of the Washington DC Bar Association.
In 2000, Dennis was elected to the Florida House of Representatives where he served for eight years, before being term limited. In the Florida House, he served on various Committees and Chaired the House Committee on Insurance where he marshaled significant legislation to assist the state of Florida to recover following the devastation of three successive hurricanes crossing the state of Florida in 2004.
In 2010, Dennis was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served Florida’s 15th Congressional District for eight years. Dennis served on various House Committees, including the House Financial Services Committee for six years, the House Judiciary Committee, and The Education and Workforce Committee, as well as two terms on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, serving two years as the Chair of The Federal Work Force and the United States Postal Service Subcommittee.
After retiring from Congress in 2019, Dennis joined Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida as a Distinguished Professor and as the Director of the American Center for Political Leadership (ACPL).
In addition, Dennis is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Court Mediator and serves as a Board Member for the Former Members of Congress Organization (FMC) and serves on the Board of Trustees at Ariel University in Israel. Mr. Ross was recently inducted into the Workers’ Compensation Institute’s, Florida Workers’ Compensation Hall of Fame for his efforts in that industry over the last 33 years.
He is married to Cindy Hartley Ross, and they have two sons, Shane and Travis, and two grandchildren, Emmett, a student at Achievement Academy, and Charlotte.