Today, the Daily Record presents the top 10 newsmakers for the year.
While many people in power will make headlines in 2012, some Duval County business and civic leaders are in positions, by choice or by circumstance, to influence significant events in the coming year.
The Daily Record staff nominated, reviewed, voted and debated a list of dozens of people who are in critical civic or business positions and who are expected to tackle significant issues of citywide importance in the coming year.
The top 10 are presented today, although it’s important to note that many others were strongly considered. One person who would make the list hasn’t been announced yet, and that’s the City’s new economic development officer.
As it was last year for our first annual list of newsmakers, those chosen are in a specific place of particular relevance to the direction of the city. Their comments and insights will signal directions in business, politics, education and the future of Northeast Florida.
Whether or not you agree with the list of 2012 newsmakers, you might benefit from knowing their views and plans because they might well affect you.
Also, you won’t see the names of elected officials. We excluded them from this list because elected officials are expected to influence events. As we said last year, that’s their job.
However, this year you will see several appointed City officials who are taking the lead in the new administration of Mayor Alvin Brown, who took office in July.
Here is the Daily Record Newsmakers list for 2012.
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• Shahid Khan
Owner
Jacksonville Jaguars
• Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver
Former owners
Jacksonville Jaguars
• Jerry Mallot
President
JAXUSA Partnership
• Paul Anderson
CEO
Jacksonville Port Authority
• Lenny Curry
Chairman
Republican Party of Florida
Duval County Republican Party
• Chris Hand
Chief of Staff
Mayor Alvin Brown
• Cindy Laquidara
General Counsel
City of Jacksonville
• Karen Bowling
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer
Mayor Alvin Brown
• Lucy Talley
Publisher
The Florida Times-Union
• Ron Townsend
Chairman, JEA
Co-chair, EWC Foundation for Edward Waters College
Shahid Khan, Owner, Jacksonville Jaguars
Shahid Khan quickly became the highest-profile business buyer in the area and the newest member of the National Football League owners’ club when Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver announced in November that he was selling the Jaguars franchise to the Illinois businessman.
The sale was completed last week for a reported $760 million. Khan, whose introduction to Jacksonville immediately made the moustache a fashion statement and a must-have accessory for the Jaguars fan, said his first goals were to hire a coach and build fan and city support for the team.
Khan and his wife, Ann, who will keep their primary home in Illinois, will be in the headlines for almost any move they make.
Who will become the Jaguars head coach to replace Jack Del Rio, whose firing was announced and overshadowed at the news conference announcing the Khan deal?
Where will the Khans buy a home in Jacksonville? Where will they dine? Shop? Donate? What clubs will they join? Will their children be highly visible?
How involved will the Khans become in the community and in business circles? When is Khan’s first speech to the JAXUSA Partnership quarterly lunch?
Will he move any part of his Flex-N-Gate auto-parts manufacturing company to town or perhaps start another business here?
Will the Jaguars make the playoffs next season?
Will there be any indication that Khan indeed will keep the team in Jacksonville, its home since Wayne and Delores Weaver and their partners bought the franchise in 1993, for the long term?
Khan said Wednesday that “the check has cleared” and that he had a lot of work to do with the franchise.
“Every minute is a minute we are not going to get back. I want to make sure we do the right thing and move quickly,” he said.
Jerry Mallot, President, JAXUSA Partnership
It’s the job of Jerry Mallot to create jobs, and 2012 could become one of the most important years in his career.
Mallot joined the JAX Chamber in 1994. He is its executive vice president and is president of its JAX
USA Partnership for regional marketing, prospecting, international trade and economic development.
Since July, he has been a loaned executive to Mayor Alvin Brown to create an economic-development strategy for the new administration, which took office July 1.
That includes but is not limited to helping to create a new Jacksonville Economic Development Commission that focuses on Downtown; hiring a new City economic development officer who supposedly will work closely with Mallot and the chamber in attracting jobs and development; create strategies for small business and Downtown growth and revitalization; work on policies for deals; likely assist the mayor in an expected business summit this year; reach out to other counties as well as to private businesses for their involvement; and, oh yes, do his job at the chamber.
When Mallot joined the mayor’s staff in July “on loan,” it was announced that would be for four to five months and take about 15 hours a week. That appears to have been a low-end calculation.
Asked for his New Year’s resolution, the seemingly tireless Mallot said: “Lots of new jobs, updated economic development policies at the City that will help Jacksonville be more successful, and getting back to one job at some point.”
Paul Anderson, CEO, Jacksonville Port Authority
Next week, on Jan. 17, Paul Anderson celebrates his first anniversary on the job as CEO of the Jacksonville Port Authority.
After an almost 30-year career that included service on the Federal Maritime Commission from 2003-08, the University of Florida graduate took the helm at the port with the charge to find funding to upgrade port infrastructure, correct the Mile Point navigational hindrance and deepen the St. Johns River channel.
The needs are estimated at $1 billion or more.
Anderson has been making strides. Over the year, the port was awarded $10 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for a proposed $45 million intermodal container transfer facility; is facilitating a state grant of $1 million for one of the port’s top tenants, TraPac; and is working with City, state and federal leaders to find funds for the Mile Point and deepening projects, among other achievements.
“I will commit all of my energy and experience to supporting our partners as we compete in the global market and continue to grow our port,” Anderson said in a statement when he was hired by the JPA board.
He has help. The JAX Chamber and the First Coast Manufacturers Association along with other business groups are strong port and logistics supporters. Anderson also has the assistance of Mayor Alvin Brown, who considers port development, deepening the channel to 50 feet and correcting Mile Point among his administration’s priorities, as well as other state and federal elected officials.
For example, state Rep. Lake Ray, president of the manufacturers association, has been working on legislation to assist the port.
Anderson, entering the second year of his three-year contract, told the Daily Record six months into the job that he was well aware of his charge. “We’re making generational decisions,” he said.
Lenny Curry, Chairman, Republican Party of Florida, Duval County Republican Party
When Duval County Republican Party Chairman Lenny Curry was elected chairman of the statewide GOP in September, he met with the Daily Record and was clear in his mission.
“We have to win,” he said.
That means the presidential election this year. That means Curry must deliver the state to the Republican candidate, whoever that might be.
Curry announced recently that the Jan. 26 Republican primary debate will take place at the University of North Florida. It is expected to be the final televised debate before Florida Republicans head to the polls on Jan. 31.
The Republican National Convention is planned Aug. 27-30 in Tampa.
To underscore the importance of Curry’s role, ABC News reported in November that “all signs point to Florida being absolutely decisive for the Republican primary. It is the state that is most representative of the country and helped John McCain secure the GOP nomination in 2008.”
“If a candidate has run the table up to that point, Florida Republicans could provide the final push in crowning the nominee,” said ABC.
Curry said in September that his foremost task at hand was winning the White House and taking the Senate, and then carrying that momentum into Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election.
Asked about the time he would spend up to the 2012 election, he asked: “Are there more than 24 hours a day, seven days in a week?”
He had a strong belief in September that the Republican presidential candidate would prevail in the election.
“Florida has to win the presidential (election) next year. That’s an absolute must. I mean, that is directly tied to me at this point. I own it now,” he said.
Chris Hand, Chief of Staff, Mayor Alvin Brown
Anyone working in or with the office of Mayor Alvin Brown, or who wants to do so, probably has met his chief of staff, Chris Hand.
Hand doesn’t so much as make his way into the news as he does make the news on behalf of his boss, although he is quick with a quote when necessary.
In his role, Hand deals with the mayor’s staff and City Council and any other person or entity that needs his attention. He also works closely with media and is known to text responses to requests at all hours and is available by phone at whatever time he’s needed.
He meets with reporters when he can, such as on a Saturday afternoon at the coffee shop. He dropped off materials one Friday evening on the way to a wedding rehearsal dinner. That was his own wedding rehearsal dinner, with his fiancée in the car. He responded to texts during his honeymoon.
Hand is a lawyer by trade. A 1996 graduate of Princeton University and a 2003 graduate of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, he has been with the Terrell Hogan firm in Jacksonville since 2007 and has represented firm clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases in state and federal courts.
He previously served as a speechwriter and press secretary for former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and was campaign manager for Alex Sink in her successful 2006 bid to become Florida’s chief financial officer. He also worked with the Rogers Towers firm.
Regardless of whether his name is associated with news about the mayor’s office, there’s a good possibility that he had a — sorry for the pun — hand in it.
Cindy Laquidara, General Counsel, City of Jacksonville
Cindy Laquidara, as the City’s General Counsel, is the chief legal adviser for the mayor’s office, JEA, Jacksonville Aviation Authority, City Council and other agencies.
She supervises a team of almost 40 lawyers.
Laquidara, who earned her law degree in 1982 from Boston College and her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1979, became the first woman to serve as the City’s general counsel.
Mayor John Peyton chose her for the job in 2010 after General Counsel Rick Mullaney resigned to run for mayor. She had been chief deputy general counsel for 12 years and also worked as an assistant general counsel from 1985-87. She also spent time in private practice.
While Laquidara had filed a resignation letter with Mayor Alvin Brown’s administration, he rejected it and she stayed on, although she already had planned to work with Foley & Lardner.
Laquidara’s appointment was confirmed by Council, which is no stranger to her or her staff.
She and her staff will be pivotal this year in Brown’s restructuring of City government. When Council was voting on the 87-page bill in December so that Brown could start the reform, Laquidara was in the chambers ready to respond to any questions.
Seated in the front rows, she was overheard rattling off answers to complicated questions without cracking open the binder of information.
“I was bored,” she responded when asked by the Daily Record in 2010 why she left private practice.
“There are many more issues that I can be involved with working with the City, like First Amendment issues. I also like being behind the scenes advising elected officials to help them do what they were elected to do.”
Lucy Talley, Publisher, The Florida Times-Union
The first woman to serve as publisher of The Florida Times-Union, Lucy Talley guides the daily newspaper, owned by the Augusta, Ga.-based Morris Publishing Group, and drives its editorial policy.
She also finds herself having to respond to community and employee questions about the health of the newspaper in the wake of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Morris Publishing and its agreement to pay back debt.
In February 2010, a federal judge cleared the way for Morris Publishing Group, which owns 13 daily papers, to emerge from bankruptcy protection less than a month after it filed under Chapter 11.
In her Nov. 4, 2011, blog on Jacksonville.com, Talley wrote, in part:
“In personal and professional circles, I am often asked about the future of the T-U. Here’s what I say:
• The Times-Union and Jacksonville.com are the most dominant source of news and information on the First Coast, reaching over 58 percent of the market in a given week.
• We are a profitable company but, like many businesses have had to make some tough decisions.
• We’re building a new economic model for journalism, communications and advertising.
• People are migrating online, and in 2010, the Internet passed newspapers for the first time as the platform where people regularly get news.”
Talley also said she is asked that if the company is profitable, why did it make drastic expense cuts? Her response, in brief:
“As a company, we have a payment schedule. We made expense cuts in order to be able to repay the loan and make our payments on time. Revenue continues to be down compared to last year. But expenses also are under last year. Overall, we are performing better than last year and expect to finish 2011 ahead of 2010. Morris Publishing Group is not adding people. In fact, there are fewer employees at MPG than ever before. We have a plan – a great plan, actually. We are going to transform our company in 2012. We have the momentum for a strong finish this year and are in position to have a successful 2012.”
Ron Townsend, Chairman, JEA Co-chair, EWC Foundation for Edward Waters College
Ron Townsend sits in the hot seat at JEA.
The Gannett Co. retiree is serving his second term as chairman of the JEA, the power and water supplier to the area. As such, he is in a critical position to work with management during a time of fluctuating fuel costs and the further push into a diversified power portfolio, including nuclear power.
He also must look at the JEA’s leadership with the eventual retirement of JEA CEO Jim Dikenson.
A communications consultant, he retired from Gannett in 1996.
Townsend’s community work is extensive, and this year, along with his JEA role, he co-chairs the EWC Foundation for Edward Waters College to raise funds for the historically black college in Jacksonville.
Townsend’s JEA biography shows extensive community involvement:
Trustee of the University of North Florida, board member of the Guardian Catholic Schools, board member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, director of Rayonier Corp. and a member of the board of trustees of the Freedom Forum Newseum Inc.
He was appointed to the JEA board in July 2007 to an unexpired term and was reappointed for a four-year term that expires Feb. 28, 2015. He chaired the finance/audit committee in 2008 and 2009.
Townsend, who studied business administration at City College in New York, brings a strong background of business knowledge to his roles, including having served on the boards of Bank of America Corp., Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. and Alltel Corp.
Karen Bowling, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, Mayor Alvin Brown
Depending on how long you’ve been in Jacksonville, you know Karen Bowling as:
• Mayor Alvin Brown’s deputy chief administrative officer.
• Co-founder and former CEO of the Solantic urgent-care chain.
• Vice president of marketing for The Health Network.
• Vice president of marketing for Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy Inc.
• A marketing executive at Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.
• A Jacksonville news anchor from 1980-83 at the former WJKS TV-17.
Those in the know say it wouldn’t be unlikely to see Bowling add another title or two to her list of accomplishments. Considering that her co-founder at Solantic was Gov. Rick Scott, it’s not outside the realm of logic to envision a move to a statewide position or to take on more duties in Jacksonville.
Scott appointed her to the Florida State College at Jacksonville board of trustees. She recently stepped down from the JEA.
Bowling also serves on other boards.
Bowling’s experience in business startups and leadership will take her in more directions.