• Shannon Eller has been hired as the new government and public relations officer for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. Eller has more than 10 years of local and regional government experience in Northeast Florida and also has served as a media relations coordinator in the private sector. She was a deputy general counsel in the City Office of General Counsel, where she specialized in growth management law and served as the primary adviser to the City Council on land use issues.
• City Council President Jack Webb plans to donate a memento to the office as he turns over the presidency at the end of June. He recently was contacted by someone who has a “vintage” paperweight from the St. James Hotel, which is now the home of City Hall. Webb plans to buy the paperweight and donate it to the council president’s office.
• It’s just three weeks until the the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual lobbying trip to Washington, D.C. The April 6-7 event includes plans to meet with U.S. Reps. John Mica, Cliff Stearns, Ander Crenshaw and Corrine Brown, U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio and also the CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities. The trip will include a U.S. Chamber of Commerce legislative briefing and a Maritime Administration update.
• Oscar Munoz, executive vice president and CFO of Jacksonville-based CSX Corp., told participants at the “CFO Rising East: Creating a Sustainable Edge” conference Tuesday in Orlando that the company’s sustained culture of accountability and continuous improvement has been fundamental to its ability to create significant value during economic conditions, including the recent recession. Over the past five years through 2010, CSX investors have seen an increase in the share price of more than 150 percent.