AutoZone Inc. CEO Phil Daniele has spent four decades in the auto parts retailing business, and it began in Jacksonville.
According to a story on the company in the October/November issue of Forbes magazine, Daniele was working at a competing store in Jacksonville when AutoZone entered the market in 1986.
The story doesn’t say the name of the store but before Daniele became chief executive in January 2024, outgoing CEO Bill Rhodes said in a letter to shareholders that Daniele started his career as a part-time employee with Walt’s Auto Parts in Jacksonville.
“He joined AutoZone as a Manager in Training in 1993 and worked his way up the organization through many areas and roles, most recently Executive Vice President, Merchandising, Marketing, and Supply Chain,” Rhodes said in his letter.
“He has the skills, temperament, communication skills, passion and courage to lead this organization into its next many years of success,” he said.
Daniele’s corporate bio does not say if he started at AutoZone in Jacksonville and the company’s media relations department did not respond to emailed questions about that.
The Forbes story highlighted Memphis, Tennessee-based AutoZone’s commitment to developing employees, including stock option and employee stock purchase plans that have created more than 4,000 employee millionaires.
“Our officers average more than 18 years of experience with the Company! This is an amazing statistic and wonderful benefit to the organization when it comes to leading the Company,” Daniele said in his message in the fiscal 2024 annual report.
“By focusing on developing our AutoZoners’ skill, talents, and striving to always say ‘Yes’ to our customers, we are strengthening our founder’s vision and positioning ourselves well for continued success.”
AutoZone’s stock has been rising steadily since the coronavirus pandemic, quadrupling in value since the spring of 2020.
However, Forbes said the company is facing challenges with fewer do-it-yourself customers fixing their own vehicles and competition from big box retailers.
Daniele said in his letter that the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2024, “was not an easy one for us,” with sales at U.S. stores open more than one year growing only 0.4%, the lowest since 2017.
“As we were coming off very strong domestic sales the last few years, customers were challenged in FY24. Specifically, over the last few years, they’ve faced higher inflation across just about everything they buy, which negatively impacted their discretionary purchases,” he said.
AutoZone reported Sept. 23 that domestic same-store sales growth improved to 3.2% in the fiscal year ended Aug. 30.
Total sales rose 2.4% to $18.9 billion in fiscal 2025, but net income fell 6.2% to $2.5 billion, or $144.87 per share.
The company said increased operating expenses and a non-cash inventory charge reduced its profit margins.
AutoZone opened 304 stores in fiscal 2025, bringing the chain to 7,657 stores in the U.S., Mexico and Brazil.
“We expect to aggressively open stores in the new year as we continue to focus on growing our market share over time. As we continue to invest in our business, we expect that our disciplined approach of increasing earnings and cash flow will deliver strong shareholder value,” Daniele said in a news release.
Another big company chief executive with Jacksonville ties is moving on from his position.
Vulcan Materials Co. announced Oct. 13 that Chairman and CEO Tom Hill will transition to the role of executive chairman of the board Jan. 1.
The Birmingham, Alabama-based construction materials company said Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Pruitt will succeed Hill as CEO.
Hill has been CEO since 2014, after previously serving as president of Vulcan’s Florida Rock division in Jacksonville.
Vulcan acquired Jacksonville-based Florida Rock Industries Inc. for $4.2 billion in 2007.
Pruitt was promoted to CEO ahead of Vulcan President Tom Baker, who became president of the company in 2023.
Baker’s family founded Florida Rock and still owned about 25% of the stock when it was sold to Vulcan.
Vulcan’s announcement of the CEO transition did not mention Baker.
Pruitt joined Vulcan in August 2021 after it acquired U.S. Concrete, where he served as CEO, Vulcan said.
He became chief operating officer in 2023, succeeding Baker in that role.
Vulcan said Hill and Pruitt have been working together to develop and implement the company’s strategy.
“He is an experienced executive with deep expertise across the strategic, operational, and commercial areas of our business. Ronnie’s proven leadership and commitment to The Vulcan Way will ensure a seamless transition as he focuses on continuing to create value for our shareholders, customers, and employees,” Hill said in a news release.
Vulcan says it is the nation’s largest producer of construction aggregates.
The company reported revenue of $3.7 billion in the first half of 2025 and earnings of $450 million.
Jacksonville-based space technology company Redwire Corp. announced changes Oct. 7 in its chief financial officer spot and its board of directors.
Jonathan Baliff, who had served on the board since the company went public in 2021 and had been CFO for three years, is retiring from both positions.
Baliff is an operating partner at investment firm Genesis Park, which formed a special purpose acquisition company that merged with Redwire in September 2021 to take the company public.
Redwire said Chris Edmunds, senior vice president and chief accounting officer, will succeed Baliff when he retires effective Nov. 30.
Besides Baliff, Redwire director John Bolton (not the former U.S. National Security Advisor) also left the board.
They will be succeeded by retired U.S. Army Gen. James McConville and Dorothy Hayes.
McConville previously served as chief of staff of the Army and is currently an operating partner at AE Industrial Partners, which controls a majority of Redwire’s stock.
Hayes is a former financial executive at Intuit, Agilent Technologies, Hewlett-Packard and Apollo Computer.
Comerica Inc. doesn’t have any branches in the Jacksonville market, but the Dallas-based banking company recently told the Daily Record it wanted to grow its middle-market consumer banking business in North Florida.
That business was attractive to Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp, which announced a deal Oct. 6 to acquire Comerica for stock valued at $10.9 billion.
“Comerica’s middle market platform is widely recognized as a crown jewel in the regional bank group,” Fifth Third CEO Tim Spence said in a conference call with analysts, according to a transcript posted by the company.
“Their best-in-class credit discipline, experienced bankers and specialty verticals with Fifth Third’s strong middle market capabilities and capital markets offering should deliver exceptional results,” he said.
Fifth Third has been in the Jacksonville market since a 2007 acquisition of Casselberry-based R-G Crown Bank, which had nine branches in Northeast Florida.
Fifth Third currently has 14 offices in the Jacksonville metropolitan area and 192 in all of Florida, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Comerica has just five Florida branches, all in South Florida.
While it doesn’t have any North Florida offices, Christopher Clark, senior vice president of Comerica’s North Florida market, said in July the bank was seeking to hire bankers in the market to pursue that commercial business.
He said the bankers were expected to work remotely but Comerica would consider opening an office in the future.
The two companies said the merger will create the ninth-largest U.S. bank with about $288 billion in assets.
Spence said Fifth Third does not have a specific merger and acquisition strategy. But it considers deals that make strategic sense and would achieve financial returns which “are superior to organic alternatives to justify higher execution risk, and that the outcome must be a company that is better and not just bigger.”
“We believe this is one of those rare combinations” that satisfies its criteria, he said.
The companies hope to complete the deal at the end of the first quarter of 2026.
AM Best said South Korea-based DB Insurance Co. Ltd.’s acquisition of The Fortegra Group Inc. fits the company’s strategy.
DB announced the agreement to buy the Jacksonville-based specialty insurance company for $1.65 billion Sept. 26.
“Upon completion, the acquisition is expected to deliver immediate profit contributions with more than 20% of premiums generated from overseas business,” AM Best said in an Oct. 2 news release.
“AM Best expects the acquisition to support DBI’s long-term strategy for sustainable growth by accelerating business diversification across geographies and line of business from its current focus on domestic personal lines business,” it said.
Fortegra was acquired for $214 million in 2014 by investment company Tiptree Inc., that still has a majority stake in the company.
DB said it was interested in Fortegra to expand its business in the U.S. and Europe. Fortegra established a European subsidiary in 2018.
DB expects the acquisition to close in mid-2026.
Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, said Oct. 10 it proactively identified additional information it needs to provide to the U.K. Competition and Market Authority regarding its planned acquisition of Global Payment’s Issuer Solutions business.
However, the Jacksonville-based financial technology company said it does not expect the refiling of its merger notice with the U.K. agency to impact its projected closing of the deal in the first half of 2026.
FIS’ acquisition of the credit processing business is part of its agreement announced in April to sell its remaining interest in merchant payments business Worldpay to Global Payments.