from staff
Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce 2011 Chair Hugh Greene and the board of directions will meet Jan. 21 to determine the coming year’s work agenda.
Greene is CEO of Baptist Health.
In a review of 2010, the chamber reported that its Cornerstone economic development division helped to attract 3,200 jobs.
Among the larger job announcements were:
• Bank of America Corp., 1,000 jobs
• Lender Processing Services, 350 jobs
• Digital Risk, 300 jobs
• PNC Mortgage, 200 jobs
• Adecco, 100 jobs
• Flightstar Aircraft Services, 200 jobs
• Mercedes-Benz, 98 jobs
• Interline Brands, 70 jobs
Also, the chamber reported that because Jacksonville’s location provides direct access to the Southeastern U.S., the region is positioned as an international center for trade and logistics.
The chamber reported that Cornerstone worked with the City of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Port Authority and the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization to arrange for, fund and start the “North Florida Freight, Logistics and Intermodal Plan.”
The plan, which is required to obtain federal funding, will outline capital infrastructure needs.
“The economic success of Northeast Florida is di-rectly linked to our region’s competitive ability to serve as a logistics hub,” said George Gabel, chair of the chamber’s in-ternational di-vision and a partner with the Holland & Knight law firm.
In other results from the year, the chamber reported that:
• It actively engaged in the effort to defeat Amendment 4, a proposed constitutional amendment that it said would have deterred businesses from locating in Florida. The initiative was defeated statewide, and Northeast Florida rejected Amendment 4 with the greatest margin of defeat, 73 to 27 percent.
• Members of the Chamber’s “Retain the Jaguars” committee personally contacted more than 100 businesses, resulting in individual ticket sales and customized corporate packages.
“The Retain the Jaguars committee effectively engaged the business sector and contributed to lifting the blackouts for every home game this season,” said Ray Driver, committee vice chair.
• Nearly 200 representatives from the health care industry and small business owners concerned about health issues participated in the chamber’s first Health Council meeting in September.
• More than 3,000 aspiring and existing small business owners participated in the chamber’s Small Business Division workshops, counseling sessions and mentor programs.
• Five Northeast Florida female entrepreneurs collectively added 80 jobs and attributed their business growth to the guidance they received through the ATHENA PowerLink mentoring program, which is offered through the chamber’s Jacksonville Women’s Business Center.