Four of the seven candidates seeking to become Downtown Vision’s next executive director have been invited back for a second round of interviews.
“I have been impressed with the caliber of candidates we have to choose from,” said Debbie Buckland, Downtown Vision board chair.
The final four — Jason Dennison, Sunny Gettinger, Jacob Gordon and Abel Harding — will be interviewed today.
Dennison, from Sioux Falls, S.D., and Gordon, from Camden, N.J., currently are the top executives at Business Improvement Districts similar to Jacksonville’s 90-block zone managed by Downtown Vision.
Gettinger is former senior manager of people operations for Google and chair of Riverside Avondale Preservation.
Harding is a vice president at Wells Fargo Private Bank and chair of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville board of directors.
Buckland said while two of the candidates are Business Improvement District chief executives with hands-on experience, “the two locals have other amazing skill sets.”
In the first round of interviews, search committee members asked each applicant the same series of questions, focused on what they feel the organization’s best path for the future would be. They also asked about their personal business and management styles.
The second round, Buckland said, will be formal presentations when each candidate will detail how they would direct the organization’s $1 million annual budget.
“It’s a case study,” she said. “We gave them the budget and the strategic plan. We want to see what they would do.”
One of the new executive director’s first assignments will be to take the nonprofit agency in a new direction and likely with a new name.
Buckland said since the October 2012 formation of the independent Downtown Investment Authority, “vision” is for the city to decide.
It’s no longer the focus for the 14-year-old Business Improvement District management organization.
She described the authority as “Downtown’s CEO” and the nonprofit as “Downtown’s chief operating officer.”
The new executive director will “integrate” the nonprofit with the authority, Buckland said to each candidate during the first interviews.
Steve Crosby, past president of DVI’s board and selection committee member, described the anticipated new direction with a sports metaphor.
“(Downtown Investment Authority CEO) Aundra Wallace is the coach and DVI is one of the position players,” he said.
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