Special to Realty/Builder Connenction
Daniel Davis took only a few minutes after being announced as the Jacksonville area's chamber of commerce's new leader to salute his old industry.
Davis has resigned as NEFBA's executive director to take over as president and CEO of the JAX Chamber — he'll start July 1 — and said he wants to create a Real Estate Council to add to the nine chamber councils that exist to cover geographic areas and specialized interests. Davis said he wants the Chamber to work more closely with the real estate and construction industries.
Davis outlined other goals:
• He wants a proactive chamber communications campaign to reach businesses of all size to increase membership and show the value of being a member, and also to improve the community's knowledge about the chamber's work. He envisions a campaign "directed toward the business community on how we can help them," he said. "The communication has got a lot of opportunity to be improved."
• He will bring his experience as a fundraiser to the chamber to generate money for economic development and capital needs, including completing the funding for the chamber's $3.5 million renovated downtown headquarters, for which there are naming rights for "everything from the building to the coffee pot." He would not divulge donor names. At the builders' association, "I am fundraising all the time and that is one thing that I feel very comfortable doing and I expect to bring that talent and expertise to the chamber," he said.
• He will capitalize on his local ties as a former City Council member and current state representative as well as being a 34-year resident of Jacksonville, moving to the Westside as a child and maintaining a residence in West Jacksonville since.
• He wants the chamber to take advantage of economic development circumstances. "From London to the port to Cecil, we have a lot of opportunities to capitalize on," he said, referring to the Jacksonville Jaguars' once-a-season game in London the next four years; Jacksonville's ports, considered a major area economic driver; and Cecil Commerce Center, the City-owned business and industrial park in West Jacksonville.
• He wants to create a downtown initiative. "I have a lot of ideas and I need to work with the leadership in the chamber to hone all these ideas into a policy initiative," he said. "We need to capitalize on the sporting events and events like One Spark. We have to provide opportunities for people to leave the suburbs and come downtown. And they've done it. There is proof that they do it. We have to make sure we continue in an organized fashion and the chamber can add horsepower to that," he said.
The move from NEFBA to the chamber was a closely-kept secret.
"I never thought in a million years you would have been able to keep it under wraps, because it was a long process," he said. "I think everybody included in the process understood how important confidentiality was."
Davis, 40, succeeds Walter M. "Wally" Lee, who retired after 23 years in the position. Lee remained an adviser until March, when he turned 65.
Davis isn't much younger than Lee was upon taking the job. Lee was 41.
He was one of about 150 applicants considered for the position and said he was approached by the search firm before the legislative session began March 5.
It was a new experience in that he had never applied for a job before and had to put a resume together. He was invited in 1999 to take the builders' association job, first as government affairs director and then moving up to associate director and becoming executive director in 2006 upon the retirement of longtime director Arnold Tritt.
A Westside resident, Davis represents House District 15 and chairs the House Transportation and Highway Safety Subcommittee.
He was elected to the House in 2010 and re-elected in 2012 after representing City Council District 12 from 2003-10, serving as Council president in 2007-08.
Davis first ran for Council at the age of 25 but lost to Doyle Carter, who currently is serving another tour in the District 12 Westside seat.
He said he and Carter came to know each other well through that campaign. "Usually opposing candidates don't become really good friends, and to this day we are dear friends," Davis said.
Davis was born in South Bend, Ind., and moved to Florida in 1979 when his father moved here in the ministry with Trinity Baptist Church and College.
He is the youngest of five children, a girl and four boys, and is six years younger than his next oldest brother. The siblings remain in Jacksonville and Davis said the family is "very, very close."
Davis, a member of Trinity Baptist and graduate of Trinity Christian Academy, earned his bachelor's degree in liberal arts from Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wis., where he played Division III football and where he met his wife, Rebekah. They now have four children.
He returned to Jacksonville and worked with Chief Judge Donald Moran, setting up the juvenile drug court program.
"It was an opportunity to meet all of the players in Jacksonville through that process," Davis said.
After losing the 1999 Council race, he was recruited to the builders' association by builder Ronnie Fussell and Tritt.
The appointment of Davis also frees interim CEO Jerry Mallot to resume full-time leadership as the JAXUSA Partnership president.
Mallot took the interim title of JAX Chamber CEO when Lee stepped aside to become an adviser.
"We all know Jerry Mallot is an expert in the economic development world and I look to be the perfect complement to Jerry Mallot," Davis said.
"With the experience I have in Tallahassee and locally, I can be helpful in that process. To be realistic, if we going to land major deals, it is going to be a partnership with Tallahassee and I look forward to assisting that process," he said.
JAXUSA Partnership, formerly known as Cornerstone, is the economic development division of the JAX Chamber, which previously was known as the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The JAXUSA Partnership comprises the seven counties of Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns as well as almost 200 private-sector investors along with the Jacksonville Office of Economic Development, JEA, Jacksonville Port Authority, Jacksonville Aviation Authority, Jacksonville Transportation Authority and the WorkSource state job agency.
"There is so much potential with the chamber to grow," Davis said.
"You are always going to have the larger Fortune 500 companies that are going to be major players in the chamber and we need to be proactive about reaching out to the small businesses, too, and making sure they feel value and that they add value to the chamber," he said.
He intends to continue what he considers the strong relationship he has cultivated with leadership of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
As CEO, Davis takes on responsibility for a list of targeted industries for recruitment, expansion and retention.
The chamber and City's targeted industries are:
• Aviation and aerospace.
• Supply chain logistics.
• Finance and insurance.
• Headquarters.
• Information technology.
• Life sciences.
• Advanced manufacturing.
"We need to hit it on all cylinders now," Davis said Monday. "We've got a bright future."
Who's next?
NEFBA has appointed a six-person committee to select the successor to Daniel Davis.
The six include the current president, Dennis Ginder of Landon Homes, incoming president Daniel Blanchard of the Blanchard Land Company and 2014 president-elect Ricardo Morales of the Morales Construction Company.
There are also three past presidents: Curtis Hart, Richard Dostie and Greg Matovina.
There is no time frame for the selection and there were indications that an interim executive diector could be named.