2 min read March 2023 — In an interview with Invest:, Aundra Wallace, president of JAXUSA Partnership, talked about some of his organization’s recent accomplishments from the past year as well as how things have changed within the industry. Wallace also spoke about some of the challenges that his organization and businesses across the country are facing as a result of the current economy.
What have been some highlights for JAXUSA over the last 12 months?
We just returned from our second mission to the UK this year. This past summer, we attended London Fintech Week as well as the Farnborough Airshow. We will continue to focus on financial services, specifically on the financial technology side, as well as advanced manufacturing centered on aviation maintenance operations. We are seeing increased activity in refrigerated cold storage and have opened a new facility, with another on the way. That is going to be very good for us from a logistics standpoint in terms of transporting products. We are going to see a heavy increase in transportation logistics, advanced manufacturing, and financial services.
The biggest economic development news of 2022 in Northeast Florida was that London-based Paysafe, a specialized payments platform, announced plans to open their North American headquarters in Jacksonville. The company will create 600 high-wage jobs over the next three years as a result. This news solidifies Jacksonville’s standing as the preeminent fintech hub in the Southeast as we are already home to Black Knight, FIS, Dun & Bradstreet and others.
How are changes in the market influencing the conversations you are having with businesses?
We are taking it by quarters. In the first quarter, we were seeing eight to nine inquiries about projects a week, and I was considering getting new staff to keep up with the inventory. We hit a summer wall and slowed down, which was great for us as we had our UK trips and came back as soon as things started to pick up again. We have been busy in our expected categories, and I see that trend continuing into 2023.
The challenges and changes in the economy are making companies take another look at timing and decisions that have to be made abroad. We have already made 18 announcements this year, soon to be 19, and we will be well above our goal in terms of number of jobs and CapX. Overall, it has been a good year that we have worked for, and we are liking what we are seeing.
What is the significance of the Open Innovation Center?
We opened it on Oct. 21, and what it will do for us is bring the innovation ecosystem center here within Downtown Jacksonville to really work on early-stage opportunities for companies holistically. Whether it is transportation technology, logistics technology, or financial technology, we will be able to look at it from the perspective of life sciences and medical device innovation. That will give us a great opportunity to utilize the Innovation Center for those calls to action in those various sectors. We are also talking about not only working with them but also deploying capital to keep those companies here in Jacksonville and bring awareness of the company to the venture capital world. It will also allow us to be more sophisticated in terms of what VCs are looking for rather than pitching to everyone.
What are the key challenges facing the region right now?
The challenge everyone is grappling with is talent. When you have more talent, you win more battles in economic development. Many of the projects we are able to win are directly related to our talent pool, which is why developing a talent pipeline is so important right now. Getting in early and introducing the economic development ecosystem to children in elementary school is important to prepare them for the paths available to them. In addition to that, it is about retooling and upskilling those that are underemployed presently and letting those that are unemployed know what positions are out there.
What is unique about Jacksonville?
What separates us is the speed and certainty of local government. We are a consolidated government, so I only have to call Mayor Curry. We also have a direct link to the governor’s office, so you can bank on the speed and certainty of Jacksonville to make a decision quickly. I’m making sure that we utilize resources to our advantage and that we are not afraid to do so.
How have you seen Jacksonville grow and evolve?
I’m approaching ten years of being here, and there is some moxie and swag here. We know who we are, and people have really been discovering us. The only other cities that outpaced us in migration [during the pandemic] were Salt Lake City and Miami. That growth is continuing now, and no matter what region you want to showcase, it is less expensive to live here than neighboring markets and it is great for raising families. Out of 67 school districts in the entire state, the 1st, 2nd, and 10th are all within this region, those being St. Johns, Nassau and Clay County, respectively. We are going to use that to our advantage from a marketing standpoint as well as the different lifestyles available here when it comes to urban, rural and suburban, and from a traffic standpoint, you can get to wherever you want in about 25 minutes. There is a great quality of life here, and I continue to see growth in our region.
What is your outlook for the next two to three years?
We are embarking on our new strategic plan, which we delivered in the first quarter of 2023. We are taking a holistic approach and comparing it to our most recent plan, Elevate Northeast Florida, to see what we need to improve upon. Now that we have had three years of a global pandemic, we have developed a plan for the future to double down on our successes and find out how to broaden them. We are going to continue to go after fintech and data analytics, medical innovation, and advanced manufacturing companies, and have one of the fastest-growing ports in the country. With decisions being made regarding supply chain impacts and opportunities, we will be a major player in regards to that.
Our chamber here made a great effort to lobby Congress to make sure the Navy did not retire littoral combat ships. By keeping them in service, we are able to work and expand 300 jobs in order to continue repairing those ships. We know what we are doing in terms of attracting jobs. Now the focus is going to be on that innovation to grow our own local jobs and grow the economy.
Our strategic plan is going to center and focus us, allow us to keep leadership in place, and continue to do things we have been doing over the last four to five years and double down on things we know are successful. We have sat down with our city and worked on what we call our public investment policy and have definitely had a hand in crafting that public investment policy that makes us competitive against regions within the state as well as externally. I am keeping an eye on emerging cities like Charlotte, RDU, Nashville, and others.
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