• Two Jacksonville economic development and marketing executives — Lindsey Ballas Kimball and Jennifer Mikosky — joined the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. as part of a reorganization under new President and CEO Rick Homans. Kimball joins May 7 as director of business recruitment. She most recently was senior vice president at Infinity Global Solutions LLC in Jacksonville and before that was business development chief at the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. Mikosky joined March 12 as director of marketing and communications. She previously served in a similar capacity for both the JAX Chamber and Visit Jacksonville.
• Kimball won’t be far from her former boss, Ron Barton, who was executive director of the JEDC. He joined Hillsborough County as director of economic development March 5.
• First Watch will open in Hodges Pointe Plaza at 13470 Beach Blvd., according to a City-issued building permit Tuesday. Target Contractors Inc. will build out space for the restaurant at a project cost of $225,000, the permit shows. The chain, which serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, opened two stores already – in the Beaches area and Mandarin.
• The JAX Chamber returns to Cincinnati, Ohio, this year for its annual Leadership Trip. The chamber visited Cincinnati in 1984 and will visit this year Oct. 23-25 to learn how Cincinnati’s leaders addressed key initiatives related to the city’s economic development, public-private partnerships, downtown revitalization, education reform and sports and entertainment marketing.
• The Rotary Club of Jacksonville announced the sponsorship of a new Rotaract Club, Rotaract Jax. Rotaract is an international program for young adults age 22-30. The inaugural meeting is 6-8 p.m. today at CoWork Jax Downtown.
• The Jacksonville Port Authority issued a request for proposal for external auditor services. Visit www.jaxport.com.
• The Sanctuary on 8th Street added three board members: Damien Haitsuka of Wells Fargo, Patrick Rhodin of Fidelity National Financial and Shannal Thomas of CSX Transportation.