West Jax Rotary

Ron Barton
Executive Director, Jacksonville Economic Development Commission
www.jaxdevelopment.org

Ron Barton joined the City of Jacksonville in 2005 as the Executive Director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC). Primary initiatives include business recruitment, administration of local and state incentives, administering programs for the Enterprise and Empowerment Zones, serving as the Community Redevelopment Agency and implementing four redevelopment areas including the Downtown Urban Core, serving as Master Developer of both the 4,300 acre Cecil Commerce Center (formerly Cecil NAS) and the 1,700 acre Downtown DRI and in general structuring of public/private development projects to achieve public policy objectives.

Prior to joining the City, Mr. Barton served as the Director of Economic Development and Property Management for the City of St. Petersburg. In that capacity, Mr. Barton administered the City’s Business Recruitment and Retention Program and was responsible for overseeing Real Estate Asset Management including all acquisition; disposition and leasing of publicly owned real estate. Mr. Barton lead the Department through a myriad of large-scale projects including; the redevelopment of an industrial park; land assemblage and structuring an agreement that brought needed retail services to a distressed area of the City; the Waterfront Redevelopment Project, which drew attention to the continued evaluation of City-owned real estate assets to ensure they were put to their highest valued use; and the structuring of the Maas Brothers Block Redevelopment Project, which included a new downtown campus for St. Petersburg College, a new Florida International Museum, a 200,000 square foot headquarters’ office for Progress Energy, a new 225 room full service hotel, 60 condominiums and ground floor retail.

Mr. Barton’s previous experience included being a Partner with KPMG, LLP and spending over 18 years as a Real Estate and Development Consultant working for organizations such as the New York State Urban Development Corporation, the City of San Antonio and the Office of Policy and Management for the State of Georgia. Mr. Barton worked for Laventhol and Horwath providing development and financial consulting to the public and private sector; the East Central Regional Planning Council as a Division Chief and Economic Planner; and with the City of Jacksonville’s Planning Department as an Urban Planner.

Mr. Barton holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of North Florida, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Real Estate from Florida State University. Mr. Barton is a member of the Jacksonville International Business Coalition, the Board of Governors for the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and is a Cornerstone Regional Partner. Active in NAIOP, the Urban Land Institute and the Florida Redevelopment Association, his projects have received numerous awards including the 2006 and 2007 Roy F. Kenzie Outstanding New Building Project and the top Redevelopment Project in the State of Florida for the Tangerine Plaza and the Progress Energy Headquarters developments.

Notes
Thanks to those who coordinated the Christmas Party. Also, thank you to Santa Claus and his lovely wife for making an appearance. A good time was had by all.

There will not be a meeting at the Holiday Inn on December 24 or December 31. Our next meeting will be January 7 at the Holiday Inn. There will be a blood drive at the January 7th meeting. If interested in participating, please contact Bill Howey.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Birthdays

December 4 — Jeanine Sasser
December 6 — Nino Parrales
December 7 — David Long
December 8 — Frank Houser
December 13 — Griff Griffin
December 17 — Brad Clark

Next Meeting - January 7, 2009
Greeters - Lorrie Dajani
Invocation — Bill Howey
Pledge — Frank Houser
Four-Way Test — Scott Houser
Speaker — TBD