The search firm recruiting candidates to become the first CEO of the City's Downtown Investment Authority is in the final stages of interviews, with a goal of presenting a "short list" of candidates to the authority by the end of this week.
Todd Jorgenson, managing director and principal of Jorgenson Consulting, said Thursday the search is "at the back end" of the process and he hopes the six to eight candidates he will submit to the authority will be interviewed as soon as possible.
As of Friday, 61 people had submitted their resume or letter of interest for the position, according to a list of applicants obtained by a public records request.
Of the 61, several appear to have ties to Northeast Florida.
They are Tara Gardner, a third-party claims adjuster with Transfield Services; William Spann, CEO of International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association; Michael Danhour, chief operating officer of J. Henderson Co.; Darren Gardner, director and site coordinator at Edward Waters College; Christopher Flagg, founder and principal of Flagg Design Studio; Lisa Kiernan, a resolutions and receivership specialist at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.; and Joseph Wyzkoski III, director of operations and distribution with Ignitions Music Magazine.
Several others — Roscoe Morton Jr., Charles Everett, Temika Jones and Ramon Clemente — listed Florida as their location, but there was not enough information to determine local ties.
In addition, Jorgenson said he has proactively contacted individuals to gauge interest, with some coming from "target communities."
He defined the term as a city or community with a similar makeup to Jacksonville — not necessarily in population — with a downtown that has undergone a "renaissance" with a vision and strategy set by the public and private sectors.
He declined to identify which communities he considered to be Jacksonville's counterparts, citing the confidentiality of the search.
Those who Jorgenson might have contacted but have not submitted their interest in writing were not required to be on the list.
"Overall, it's gone very well and has been very well received," he said of the search.
There is no official cutoff date for applications.
The nine-person authority board discussed the search Wednesday during its monthly meeting and determined that after Jorgenson submits the list of candidates, each member of the search committee will have individual phone interviews with candidates, instead of collectively at a public meeting.
Authority Vice Chair Oliver Barakat, head of the search subcommittee, offered the two options and said he favored the one-on-one interview, which he said would be more laborious but offer an opportunity for a more candid conversation.
"JaxPort is going through a similar process," he said.
Members who meet with or talk to candidates one-on-one are not subject to the state's open record or public meetings laws. If two or more members are present at the time of the discussion, the meeting would be required to be publicly noticed and open to the public.
The board agreed to the proposal and Barakat said after the search has been narrowed to two candidates, the board could have an open session to interview the finalists.
The board discussed having one-on-one candidate discussion the week of April 29, narrowing the list the following two weeks and naming two finalists by the third week of May.
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Applicants vying for DIA CEO
More than 60 candidates have submitted a letter of interest or resume to Jorgenson Consulting for the City Downtown Investment Authority CEO position. Those who Jorgenson proactively contacted but have not submitted paperwork for the position are not on the list. The 61 candidates are listed, along with their current title, organization and state. It is current as of Friday.