JAXUSA Partnership, the economic development division of JAX Chamber, has scheduled the vice president of one of the area’s largest private employers as the keynote speaker at its November meeting.
Amazon Vice President of Worldwide Economic Development Holly Sullivan is booked to speak at lunch Nov. 12 at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront.
With 8,000 area employees, Amazon.com is one of the region’s largest employers. It has 10 facilities with an 11th in development.
The Seattle-based online retailer opened its first two fulfillment centers in September 2017 in Northwest Jacksonville and October 2017 in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville, with the help of $26.7 million in city and state incentives for creating 2,700 jobs.
Since then, it opened another fulfillment center, two sortation centers, a heavy bulk freight center and several delivery stations, with at least one more planned. None of those subsequent facilities received incentives.
The Jacksonville Aviation Authority board voted to approve a ground lease agreement with Amazon Services LLC in July 2023 to build a 181,000-square-foot warehouse on 79 acres on industrial land for lease at Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport, which is in East Arlington at northeast Atlantic Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road. Occupancy is expected in October.
JAXUSA Partnership previously reported that the regional Amazon facilities employed about 16,000 people as of 2023, but has updated that to 8,000 after discovering a clerical error.
The JAXUSA list of top employers now shows that Amazon ties for No. 4 with Bank of America, also with 8,000 employees.
The largest employer is Duval County Public Schools with 13,110 employees, followed by Baptist Health with 12,000 and Mayo Clinic with 8,450.
JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace disclosed that Sullivan will be the keynote speaker during his breakfast presentation June 4 to the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association at Deerwood Country Club.
“Why I’m bringing her here? Because in the state of Florida, we have more Amazon distribution facilities in this entire Northeast Florida region than anywhere else in the entire state of Florida,” Wallace said.
“We are the gateway for them.”
JAXUSA Partnership has posted on LinkedIn that Amazon sees Jacksonville as the gateway to Florida and a strategic location to serving the Southeast.
Amazon has been expanding as online retailing grows, with a boost from pandemic buying as customers sheltered at home.
The November event is the last of JAXUSA’s three meetings a year. It previously met quarterly.
Online bio information says that in addition to leading the search for Amazon’s second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and bringing 25,000 jobs to that region, Sullivan led the development of the 5,000-employee Amazon Nashville, Tennessee, location and the expansion of Amazon’s 18 North American Tech Hubs creating more than 50,000 corporate and tech roles.
She has more than 20 years of experience in economic development, including as president and CEO of the Montgomery Business Development Corp. in Maryland. She also formerly led economic development organizations in the Nashville region.
Sullivan received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Tennessee.