Retiring JAX Chamber senior executive John Haley has been working since he was 14 years old.
He turned 70 in April, having put in almost six decades of focusing on doing the job – many jobs, but primarily in the U.S. Navy and Florida economic development.
“I figured if you were ever going to retire, why not now?” Haley said Tuesday from his second-floor office at the JAX Chamber Downtown.
Haley is senior vice president for business development for the JAXUSA Partnership economic development division of the chamber.
His successor, retired U.S. Navy Capt. Aaron Bowman, occupies an office near Haley’s. The two will work closely through the coming week.
Haley’s last day is Aug. 31 but his boss, JAXUSA Partnership President Jerry Mallot, has asked him to take on a consulting role and to work with Bowman over the coming months.
An Atlanta native, Haley attended the Georgia Institute of Technology and earned a degree in industrial management. It was the height of the Vietnam War and he enlisted in the Navy. He served in Special Operations as a diving and salvage officer.
After five years of active duty and 25 years in the Navy Reserves, he retired in 1996 with the rank of captain.
Haley has been involved in economic development since 1970, when he took a job with the Atlanta chamber of commerce. His Florida work began in Miami.
His focus at the JAX Chamber is with the targeted industries of aviation and advanced manufacturing. He said every deal that the chamber pursues, whether it wins or not, improves the process.
“We get insight into what it takes to be competitive,” he said. “We’re sharper and we’re ready for the next one.”
Haley said the pipeline of active projects has picked up. It had ballooned to more than 90 in the 1999-2000 timeframe and then dropped, especially during the housing bubble. When it burst, the number fell to 48.
He said there are about 55 now. Of those, most are in the “long-list” prospect stage, but a fair number are in the “short-list” phase.
He said four to five are considered imminent, meaning they are “ours to lose.” Haley said he can’t comment on those deals unless they have been otherwise reported and considers the widely reported Deutsche Bank and Embraer projects among those.
Haley has plans for retirement. He and his wife, Janet, plan to travel, including a New England fall foliage tour, visits to children and grandchildren and a trip to the Greek Islands.
They are “big-time gardeners” and he is a woodworker, having created loveseats, desks and tables. He rebuilds Porsches. And he sails.
“I think that’ll be a pretty full day,” he said.
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