LJ inducts Bailey, Chiu as honorary members
Leadership Jacksonville inducted two honorary lifetime members at its annual meeting last Wednesday at the Hyatt Downtown.
Jim Bailey, publisher of the Daily Record, and Dr. Thomas T. Chiu joined more than 60 area leaders who were previously named honorary members of the 37-year-old organization, which has graduated more than 1,800 people in the flagship adult leadership program.
Leadership Jacksonville also provides Youth Leadership Jacksonville for high-school students, the Collegiate Leadership Experience for college students and the New Leadership Summit for leaders new to the area. About 120 Leadership Jacksonville graduates attended the reunion.
Also attending were Executive Director Jill Dame, former Executive Director Izzy Spence and Eleanor Ashby, who became executive director soon after the agency began and served for 20 years and now is director emeritus.
Brunell joining Pride of the Jaguars
Former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell will be inducted into the Pride of the Jaguars during halftime of the Dec. 15 game. He joins Tony Boselli, Fred Taylor and Wayne and Delores Weaver.
"Mark Brunell epitomized the Jaguars in their early years, and he was one of the main reasons for their success during that time," owner Shad Khan said. "I personally recall how the Jaguars captured the imagination of NFL fans throughout the nation in those days and Mark Brunell was always in the highlights."
Khan said since coming to town, he has "gotten to see that this great quarterback is also a great person."
Brunell joined the team on April 22, 1995, coming in a trade from the Green Bay Packers. He was the Jaguars' starting quarterback from 1995-2003, leading the team to two AFC Championship games. He also was voted to the AFC Pro Bowl team three times and was the game's MVP in 1997.
"I cherish my memories of playing here in Jacksonville because in many ways those were the best years of my career," said Brunell, who owns nearly every team passing record.
Shircliff Legacy episode airing on WJCT
The Robert T. Shircliff episode of the Jacksonville Legacy Series begins airing this week on WJCT.
Air dates are 8 p.m. Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 10, 11:30 p.m. Oct. 21 and 12:30 p.m. Oct. 27.
Shircliff is a well-known philanthropist, whose causes include The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, the Jacksonville Symphony, St. Vincent's HealthCare and the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine.
The interview with Shircliff and others in the series can also be seen at leadershipjax.org.
JU gets $870,000 grant to help veterans earn nursing degrees
Jacksonville University will receive a federal grant of $870,000 to recruit hundreds more student veterans in its College of Health Sciences to help them pursue bachelor's degrees in nursing.
The award comes from the Department of Health and Human Services. Only nine institutions received grants.
"This funding is going to help us tremendously to recruit and better support our military students as they work on their BSNs, and to educate highly qualified medical personnel for our community," said project director Lynnette Kennison, JU associate professor of nursing. "It provides more options for us to help them succeed as they continue their educations."
In the first year, projections are for a total of 90 additional veterans to be added to the three tracks of the program.
They will receive assistance such as tutoring, counseling, support group help and connecting them with veterans service organizations.
Cultural Council announces new director
Kim Bergeron is the new executive director for the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville. She'll begin her new role Nov. 1.
She served as director of cultural and public affairs for the city of Slidell, La., where she curated regional exhibitions for the city-owned gallery, established a nonprofit to raise money for city programming and forged a partnership with a local museum to bring in the works of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Andy Warhol.
Bergeron won a National League of Cities gold award and more than 15 ADDY awards from the American Advertising Federation. She was named one of Greater New Orleans' 50 Most Influential Women of 2013.
She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
An external executive search firm and a search committee of board members and community representatives conducted the selection process. She was the unanimous choice of the committee to replace Robert White, who retired on Sept. 30.
Friedman promoted to account director
Michelle Friedman has been promoted to account director at Boardroom Communications, which she joined in 2006.
She has worked with clients in several industries including law firms, insurance companies, health care and nonprofits.
Friedman is from Jacksonville and works out of Boardroom's Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale offices.
She is a graduate of the University of Florida with a bachelor of science degree in public relations.