Traci Jenks is senior director with Cushman & Wakefield and was installed as the 2018-19 president of the 230-member Rotary Club of Jacksonville, the first Rotary in Florida when established in 1912.
I’ve been a commercial broker for 15 years, but I’ve been involved in real estate since I graduated from college. I’ve been involved since 1990. I was a marketing major and a developer from Atlanta spoke to our class about building and developing and making a difference. That’s when I decided that’s what I wanted to do.
I moved to Jacksonville in 1992 and got a job with Barnett Bank. I handled the sales for people who were being relocated. We purchased their homes and then sold them. In the early ’90s there was a recession, so there were a lot of foreclosures. I got moved into the department that handles foreclosures, so I started working on residential and commercial foreclosures and selling those on behalf of the bank. I did that until the merger with NationsBank. We handled the sale of excess bank branches. Then the merger with Bank of America happened and I went to look and see what other opportunities were out there.
I ended up talking to Jerry Mallot (JAXUSA Partnership president) at the chamber just to see what companies were coming to the area. He said, “We’re looking for someone in our department that has a strong real estate background,” so I ended up working there for 2½ years. I got to know so many of the business leaders and how to do public-private partnerships. Trammell Crow Company then recruited me, and that was 15 years ago when I decided to make the move into commercial brokerage.
At first, I was like, “There’s no way I want to do this. I don’t want to work straight commission.” They were able to give me a salary to start out, plus commission. It helped bridge the gap until I felt comfortable doing full commission. I enjoy working with people and it’s a business where it’s all about relationships. It took getting to know the market and the different tenants and the decision-makers. It takes a couple of years to really get where you want to be in commercial real estate.
I’ve been a member of Rotary for 10 years. They asked me to be president and I jumped at it. A lot of the leaders of our community have been president of this club, so it’s a huge honor for me.
Our motto is “Service Above Self.” Part of what I’m going to be doing as president is coming up with a service project that we can become known for in the community. My big goal is to have fun. During my presidency, we’re going to have a lot more social events and opportunities for networking.
We live on the Ortega River and we have a boat, so we love boating. I love hanging out with my friends and doing things with my family, with my 12-year-old. I work out a lot at Orangetheory Fitness. We love to travel, so we have a lot of travel plans this summer.