Managing Editor
Don Shea said he had a question when he was sought out to consider the job as inaugural executive director of the Jacksonville Civic Council.
“If they are wanting to mobilize a CEO group in order to have more of a strong role in the whole economic development delivery system, does that mean some other agency wasn’t doing its job particularly well?” he wondered.
Shea, departing executive director of the Shreveport Downtown Development Authority in Louisiana, said that turned out not to be the case.
Instead, the 50-member group wanted a new way to lend its guidance to city issues.
“This group of CEOs would like to collectively or synergistically use its influence to help advance the whole economic development agenda,” said Shea.
That agenda could include race relations, public education, the municipal budget, “even saving the Jaguars,” he said.
“Those things have been articulated as initiatives,” said Shea.
Starting Sept. 13, Shea, 58, will become the Jacksonville Civic Council’s first executive director, working directly for JCC Chairman Peter Rummell and the group’s executive committee. JCC comprises community leaders who started the council early this year after the former Jacksonville Non-Group ended after 10 years.
Members pay dues, based on their corporate size, to fund the council.
Among Shea’s other questions about the JCC was what the group wanted to accomplish. “Half a dozen initiatives were articulated, including downtown revitalization,” he said.
Shea isn’t a stranger to city planning, or to Jacksonville city leaders. As president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, he said he worked with Ron Barton, former director of economic development for St. Petersburg and now executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
“We have been trading phone calls since my second interview,” said Shea. “I am looking forward to collaborating with the JEDC and Ron.”
Shea said he also has known Downtown Vision Inc. Executive Director Terry Lorince for 15 years.
“Don will bring a lot of experience, energy and best practices from other cities to Jacksonville,” said Lorince. “We look forward to working with him.”
A Massachusetts native, Shea’s professional planning and development background starts with a degree from the University of Massachusetts and then a Master of City Planning degree from Harvard University.
His professional travels took him around the east and southeast, starting with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and then the city of Methuen, Mass.
He then opened Donald A. Shea Associates before joining Medical Area Service Corp. in Boston and then headed south to Florida to Tartan Development Corp. in Winter Park. Shea next moved to New Orleans to run the Downtown Development District and then the New Orleans Medical Complex.
After serving as president of Capital Center Inc. in Jackson, Miss., he joined the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership as its president and CEO in 2001, moving to Shreveport in 2007.
Shea also is a 20-year member of the International Downtown Association and served as its chair in 2004-2005
Shea said he was approached by the search firm engaged by the civic council. “I had never heard of the JCC,” he said. “I remember the day that happened. The first phone call was on April 20. It was the same day as the Gulf oil leak.”
Shea said he wasn’t in the market to move, “but this is an offer and an opportunity that is irresistible for a person like me, to work with these 50 or so people can really be a great way to get things done.”
Shea and his wife, Dianne, have three grown children between them. They’re house-hunting in Jacksonville, and will move with their two dogs, a border collie named Jazz and “a brown dog of various origins” named Rex.
Shea names several possible residential areas of interest, including near the University of North Florida.
Shea said his office could be in the Haskell building in Riverside or on the UNF campus. Steve Halverson, president and CEO of Haskell, is a founder of the civic council.
“My indication is toward UNF because I don’t want to give the impression that this is another ‘Downtown Vision.’ I don’t want to be in Terry’s turf,” he said, although downtown revitalization is “one of the legs of our JCC stool.”
He intends to “get in there, collaborate with people, communicate with people and make something happen.”
He’s already signed up for the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 30th Annual Leadership Trip Oct. 12-14 to Indianapolis.
Shea said he likely would need at least a part-time administrative assistant. He said he didn’t know whether a research position would be hired or contracted.
“My job is to be outside my office. If I am in my office too much, I am not doing my job,” he said.
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