by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“Sometimes it’s better not to talk about where we are or where we’re going but rather where we’ve been,” said Jerry Mallot, president of the Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce to begin his remarks Monday to the Rotary Club of Jacksonville.
Mallot directs a staff of 14 people charged with developing a seven-county region’s business development including employment, capital investment and attracting international companies to North Florida.
Prior to coming to Jacksonville 15 years ago, he was senior vice president of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce and executive director of the Tampa Bay Project, a regional development program. Mallot said when he was in Tampa, Jacksonville wasn’t really considered a competitor because the city wasn’t “on the radar” when it came to companies that wanted to expand their operations. He also said in terms of business development Jacksonville was then known as a “call center town.” That meant plenty of jobs but relatively low wages.
“The Jaguars changed all that. Then companies had to take notice and that’s what put us on the list for consideration.
“We have all the assets. Jacksonville is a great place to live and it has a great workforce. We have an attractive cost of living and an excellent business environment,” said Mallot.
The second part of Jacksonville’s transformation had to do with a change in philosophy and a directed effort to attract high-wage jobs and corporate headquarters, especially on a global level, to come to Duval County.
Mallot said Jacksonville has become “one of the powerhouse cities in America” for the financial sector. He cited the presence of Chase, CIT, Merrill Lynch and others as examples.
“A lot of people don’t realize it but Jacksonville is Merrill Lynch’s world headquarters for IT (Information Technology). Fidelity chose to move its headquarters to Jacksonville after a one-year search. Those things have transformed our city,” said Mallot.
Other business categories that have flourished in the past decade and a half in addition to finance are aviation, medical and life sciences and specialty manufacturing.
Mallot said Jacksonville is poised to come out of the recession in a strong position and reminded the club’s members that the city has actually not fared too poorly during the downturn.
“Companies that have either expanded operations or moved headquarters to Jacksonville include Deutsche Bank, the FDIC, Boeing, American Home Mortgage and Oshkosh Trucks. BMW, Volvo and Volkswagen have all opened parts distribution centers here. Pilot Pen moved their headquarters here from Connecticut and RailAmerica moved here from Miami. Saft America, a company that builds energy storage devices for aerospace, power plants and the military, is making a $200 million capital investment to build a factory here.
“In the past 18 months, we have added more than 4,000 new high-wage jobs in Jacksonville. That’s pretty impressive in a recession period,” said Mallot.
That doesn’t mean unemployment isn’t still high because many companies have been forced to downsize but Mallot believes it’s time to start planning for the end of the recession.
“We’re at the bottom and about to start up. We have been dealt a set of cards and we have to figure out how to win. Our best years are in front of us if we develop a collective vision and then go forward and make it happen,” he concluded.
Club member Ken Durkee just returned from Washington, D.C. where he witnessed the “tea party” rally in front of the U.S. Capitol Building. He walked down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol and saw thousand of people pouring out of the side streets to join the crowd.
“There wasn’t a charismatic leader. They were Americans just like you and me,” said Durkee. “And they were carrying home made signs. They weren’t there because they are concerned about health care. They were there because they are concerned about our nation.”
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