Kirk Wendland moved to Jacksonville from Peoria, Ill., as a student to play baseball at Jacksonville University.
Wendland, an outfielder, played two years and then decided to focus on his professional future, earning a business degree with a major in accounting.
He joined the Jacksonville City Council auditor’s office in 1986 and became a CPA in 1989. Since then, he worked in different City departments, eventually serving as executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission for 3 years.
He left in 2005 for the LandMar Group development company and then, when the real estate market stalled, he ran his own company before he took the call to apply for the presidency of the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce.
That was two year ago and he took the job. Wendland, 48, now works for a much smaller organization than the City of Jacksonville. He remains close, however, because his chamber is part of the JAX Chamber JAXUSA Partnership regional economic development division.
St. Johns is the second largest of the seven counties in the partnership, with a population of 195,823, according to the U.S. Census Bureau based on 2011 estimates. Duval reigned at 870,709.
Wendland and his wife, Diana, have two children. Daughter Morgan, 18, is a freshman at Stetson University in DeLand and son Tyler, 16, attends Nease High School, where his sport is golf.
Wendland said the chamber, with 800 members, has four focuses: economic development, business advocacy, business education and business promotion.
His one big wish: “I sure would love to bring in a Fortune 500 company,” he said. “St. Johns County has been discovered as a great place to live. Now it has to be discovered as a great place to do business.”
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