Four days before his scheduled departure as president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corp., Colin Tarbert was selected as the next CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority on June 9.
The DIA board chose Tarbert unanimously after interviewing him and two other finalists to replace Lori Boyer as the lead executive for the DIA. Boyer is retiring effective June 30 after five years as CEO.
The other finalists were Lara L. Fritts, division director of the Frederick County Department of Economic Opportunity in Maryland, and Danny Chavez, former chief economic development officer for the city of Waco, Texas.
The quasi-independent DIA board has sole authority to choose the CEO, with Jacksonville City Council approval not required.
However, the selection is contingent on the board, DIA and Tarbert reaching a contract agreement.
Tarbert is scheduled to step down June 13 from his role with the Baltimore Development Corp. In early 2025, he said he was planning to leave his position, where he oversees a 35-member organization with a budget of $6 million.
Tarbert said he had been in Baltimore about 20 years.“It feels like the last two decades have been preparing me for this role.”
He said it was “the only position I think I’d relocate for.”
“I can kind of see the opportunity with clarity,” he told board members. “What you have done over the last 10 years, you’ve set it up for success and I think it would be awesome to get it there.”
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan issued a statement supporting Tarbert.
"In my conversation with Colin, it was clear he has the experience, vision and passion needed to build on our fast growing momentum in downtown Jacksonville," the statement read. "I look forward to working with him and all our community stakeholders to keep downtown moving forward with urgency."
Tarbert’s previous positions included serving in the Baltimore mayor’s office as deputy chief of strategic alliances and deputy mayor in the Office of Economic & Neighborhood Development.
He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from the University of Maryland.
The candidates were scored on a rubric by each of the seven board members who participated in the interviews. Tarbert scored 319 points, Fritz 258 and Chavez 240.
They were selected from a group of 173 applications to a recruiting firm, Jorgenson Pace of Greensboro, North Carolina.
Todd Jorgenson, managing partner for the firm, said he narrowed the field to nine after conducting research interviews. Those nine candidates were ranked by board members, with the five chosen for interviews conducted remotely one-on-one with board members.
From those interviews, the board selected the three candidates for in-person panel interviews.
Board members said Tarbert distinguished himself from the other finalists partly by visiting Jacksonville before the remote interviews.
Tarbert said that in conversations with board members, Deegan and others, it was clear to him that the next DIA CEO needs to maintain the momentum of Downtown’s redevelopment.
Projects under construction include the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences, the $2 billion Gateway Jax development and the Whole Foods-anchored One Riverside mixed-use development.
To that end, Tarbert said he would focus during his first 90 days on getting up to speed on projects, meeting local business and community leaders and working to optimize the DIA staff.
Next priorities would include honing the DIA’s promotional and marketing messages to show the community what it does, how to connect with the organization and why Downtown investment is a value proposition for investors.
He said the DIA’s two websites, investdtjax.com and dia.jacksonville.gov, need to be revised to make it clearer to potential investors what programs the DIA offers and how they can work with the staff.
Beyond that, Tarbert said his goal would be to fill in gaps in redevelopment between the Sports and Entertainment District near EverBank Stadium and Brooklyn, particularly in Downtown’s historic core.
He said he expected that as the eastern- and westernmost districts continue to draw development, they will increasingly attract investors who will need fewer incentives, allowing the city to concentrate its public funding for projects in the core.
In 10 years, he said, his objective was to help bring Downtown revitalization to the point where “people are saying, ‘Wow, did you see what Jacksonville did? Let’s do that.’”