• Governor-elect Charlie Crist has appointed Christopher Kise as Counselor to the Governor in his new administration. Kise will serve as a senior advisor to Crist on legal and policy matters and will assist in the implementation of the Governor’s agenda. Kise, a partner in the law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP and chair of its National Appellate Practice, currently serves as Transition Deputy Executive Director. Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, he served more than three years under then Attorney General Crist as Florida’s Solicitor General, the state’s top litigator.
• Jacksonville University was pleased with the turnout of 1,500 or so for Wednesday’s noon basketball game at the Arena. The game was scheduled when the Dolphins thought they’d be playing at the campus gym and faced a quandary when they got the big building. “Noon or 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve?” mused Athletic Director Alan Verlander. “Take a chance and figure people wanted to be home in the evening.” It’s now back to tradition: they’ll play Saturday night at 7.
• The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens will hold a press conference at 3 p.m. Nov. 28 to open the museum’s new Central Building. The 17,000 square foot building is located between the Jacobsen Gallery and Art Connections, just behind the Barnette Concourse. Museum Director Maarten van de Guchte said it has been created to accommodate the needs of a larger art collection and contains a new gallery overlooking the gardens as well as expanded storage space.
• The Jags’ 26-10 Monday night win was worth $17,000 – the value of a semi-trainler full of canned goods headed to the Second Harvest Food Bank and the payoff to a friendly challenge between Winn-Dixie president and CEO Peter Lynch and Jaguars Owner and CEO Wayne Weaver. Including the winnings from the challenge, the Jags 12th Annual food drive resulted in enough food to feed more than 100,000 people.
• Erika Orris has been elected president of The Art Institute of Jacksonville by The Art Institutes — a system of 32 education institutions located all over North America. Orris comes from Pittsburgh where she was the vice president of high school programs in the marketing and admissions department of Education Management Corporation, the parent company of The Art Institutes. The Art Institute of Jacksonville — a branch of Miami International University of Art & Design — is currently enrolling students and classes start Jan. 8. For information about classes, call (800) 924-1589 or visit the school’s Web site at www.artinstitutes.edu/jacksonville.
• Some of the area’s biggest names in the development/real estate industry will be at Tuesday’s meeting of the local National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Former NAIOP presidents Chuck Diebel (President of The Auchter Company), Hobart Joost (senior vice president of Colliers Dickinson) and Michael Shalley (vice president-development Jacksonville, St. Joe Company) will serve as panelists. It’s at 7:30 a.m. at the University of North Florida’s University Center.
• Amy Tuck has resigned from the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s communications department. No word on where she’s
headed or what’s next.