by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Downtown is high on the list of priorities for the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Tom Van Berkel, who serves on the chamber’s board of governors and will become the organization’s 2012 chair Jan. 1.
He’s the president, CEO and chairman of Main Street America Group, a property and casualty insurance company with revenues of almost $1 billion a year.
Three months after being named CEO of the company in January 2002, Van Berkel moved the company from Keene, N.H., to Jacksonville.
He spoke to the Downtown Council of the chamber at its meeting Friday at The University Club.
Van Berkel said one of the most important decisions for the chair-elect is to choose the destination city for the chamber’s annual Leadership Trip.
The 2011 journey will send more than 100 local business and civic leaders and elected officials to Houston Sept. 26-28 for three days of fact-finding tours and meeting with the Texas city’s officials and executives.
“I wanted to find a city with similarities to Jacksonville in terms of both successes and issues,” said Van Berkel.
He said Houston is a sports city much like Jacksonville, it has one of the sixth-largest ports in the country and over the past several years, its Downtown has undergone significant changes.
Not so long ago, said Van Berkel, Houston’s downtown “was not a place you’d want to go at night.”
The construction of a new football stadium, a sports arena and a convention center were factors in Houston’s revival, as was the conversion of a parking lot into an urban park.
There’s also a light rail system that connects the core with outlying areas and an active arts and cultural community.
He said Houston also has a “very progressive” new school superintendent.
“I think it’s a city we can learn a lot from. It’s going to be a great trip,” said Van Berkel.
While in Houston, the delegation will meet the city’s mayor and officials from its port and several downtown development agencies with the goal of bringing back ideas that can be implemented in Jacksonville.
“Now is a very exciting time for Downtown,” Van Berkel said. He cited Mayor Alvin Brown’s support of Downtown and that Downtown revitalization will be on his list of priorities as chamber chair.
Also on the 2012 agenda is the continued development of the port, improving education and keeping Jacksonville’s NFL franchise intact.
“We’ve got to sustain and support the Jaguars,” said Van Berkel.
One of Van Berkel’s personal goals is to bring more corporate headquarters to Jacksonville because “that will create more executive-level jobs,” he said.
The Downtown Council’s next meeting is scheduled at 7:30 a.m. Aug. 19 at Currents Bistro in the Aetna Building on the Southbank.
For details, visit www.downtowncouncil.org.
356-2466