Saying their goal is to support “big ideas,” Jacksonville business leaders Peter Rummell and Michael Munz have partnered in two entities — both under the RummellMunz banner — to consult and possibly invest.
They say they want “to help build companies that are thinking differently and are looking to challenge the old way of thinking.”
“It combines the best of all of our skills and capabilities, between Peter’s experience and what the Dalton Agency brings to the table,” Munz said Tuesday.
Rummell is a longtime developer and Munz is president of the Dalton Agency’s PR and Social Media Group. RummellMunz will use Dalton’s services.
Munz defined a “big idea” as one “that solves a problem,” and it could be in real estate, the medical and technical fields, in social space or elsewhere.
RummellMunz and Dalton already are working on Rummell’s Healthy Town, a wellness and lifestyle community proposed on the Southbank with developer Michael Balanky.
Munz said RummellMunz has projects in Texas and South America, but said he couldn’t disclose details.
RummellMunz also will screen projects for potential investment.
RummellMunz Partners LLC and RummellMunz Equity LLC were filed Feb. 3 with the state Division of Corporations.
Munz said the partnership evolved as Rummell, who is 69, talked about not wanting to retire but also not wanting to build another company and staff. He spent more than 40 years in the development business.
Munz said people bring real estate and development ideas to Rummell, while Dalton has experience working on advertising and marketing for such projects. The new venture could pair those situations.
“How does this benefit both us and clients? That is how the conversation got started several months ago,” Munz said.
He said RummellMunz was not a formal relationship to build a big company but to collaborate on resources.
Dalton’s services include creative designs and brand development, public relations and social media strategies, government relations, media placement, crisis communications, interactive and digital design and programming, as well as TV and radio production services.
The two men hold equity stakes in RummellMunz. In all of the projects, the common denominators will be RummellMunz and Dalton, he said.
“He said we are going to have fun at this,” Munz said.
Rummell has been talking about “big ideas” for a while and calling on business and civic leaders to define Jacksonville and develop a “personality.”
He also has been the founding funder of the One Spark crowdfunding festival, which just completed its third year of bringing inventors and creators Downtown to display their ideas in the hopes of generating financial support.
Rummell will serve as chairman of RummellMunz. He wants to draw on his experience as a former chairman of Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Development Co.’s design and creative division responsible for theme park development.
“I have been to this dance before and know that when you bring creative talent together with business development and real estate for example, great things can happen,” he said in a statement.
Rummell will debut in the new title Friday when he speaks to the Urban Land Institute 2015 Florida Summit at the Sawgrass Marriott. He will serve as a panelist at the “Peeking Around the Corner at What’s Next” session.
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