Episodes

  • Jacksonville city leaders push for practical money skills in schools

    Jacksonville city leaders push for practical money skills in schools
    May 14 2026
    Florida now requires a stand-alone personal financial literacy course for high school graduation - but guests on This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition say the real question is whether it changes behavior. Host Kent Justice talks with Dr. Ronetta Wards of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) and Howard Dale of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville about what “financial literacy” should actually mean for 17- and 18-year-olds: credit, debt, taxes, budgeting, savings, investing, and even emerging currency like crypto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    19 mins
  • Former Jags linebacker helps athletes translate sports skills into business moves

    Former Jags linebacker helps athletes translate sports skills into business moves
    May 7 2026
    Kent Justice talks with former Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Akin Ayodele, now Gallagher’s market leader for North Texas, about the Gallagher Partnership Internship Program with the Jaguars—designed to help pro athletes translate what they’ve built in sports (resilience, preparation, competition, leadership) into post-playing careers, especially in consultative sales and risk management. Ayodele explains how the program works (typically in the offseason), what interns experience day-to-day inside Gallagher, and why he believes employers should value an athlete’s mindset even if the résumé doesn’t look “traditional.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • Riverfront project key in $2.5B downtown developments

    Riverfront project key in $2.5B downtown developments
    Apr 30 2026
    In this episode, Colin Tarbert, the new CEO of Jacksonville’s Downtown Investment Authority (DIA), outlines the agency’s dual role as both a community redevelopment agency and the city’s economic development arm for downtown, using tax increment financing to drive growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • What’s there to know about B2B tech companies, AI advancements

    What’s there to know about B2B tech companies, AI advancements
    Apr 23 2026
    Clayton Pritchard, a Jacksonville-based product marketer with experience at Meta, LinkedIn and Twitter, joins This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition to explain his acquisition of a B2B product marketing agency (Olivine) and why he’s choosing to run it remote-first from Jacksonville Beach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    19 mins
  • How social media and email drive small business success in 2026

    How social media and email drive small business success in 2026
    Apr 16 2026
    Small businesses are spending more on marketing in 2026, even with inflation worries—but many owners still aren’t confident they’re putting those dollars in the right places. In this episode, Constant Contact’s Dave Charest explains why the most effective “one-two punch” remains social media plus email, and why email delivers more control and more reliable engagement than algorithm-driven social feeds. We talk about the trap of chasing every new platform, how focusing on one channel and building an opt-in audience can drive real revenue, and why retaining existing customers may outperform constantly chasing new ones. Charest also shares practical ways small businesses can use AI to save time without losing authenticity, plus simple automation ideas that keep marketing working even when you’re busy running the business. Finally, he offers clear, actionable priorities for the rest of 2026—and what trends may surprise business owners in the months ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    21 mins
  • Jacksonville Children’s Chorus leader marks 20 years, sets sights on the world

    Jacksonville Children’s Chorus leader marks 20 years, sets sights on the world
    Apr 9 2026
    Kent Justice visits the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus in downtown Jacksonville and talks with Artistic Director Darren Dailey about how a youth arts nonprofit became a world-class cultural institution - and why that matters to the region’s growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    11 mins
  • How a new platform aims to cut weeks off Jacksonville's permitting process

    How a new platform aims to cut weeks off Jacksonville's permitting process
    Apr 2 2026
    Kent Justice talks with Jacksonville contractor Fabian Videla about the least glamorous construction bottleneck: permitting. Videla says projects can stall for weeks or months at multiple points - figuring out the right forms for each city/county, collecting signatures and notarizations, waiting through plan review, and then stopping work for inspections. Those delays, he argues, ripple through Northeast Florida’s economy by raising costs for contractors, slowing business openings, and frustrating homeowners. Videla’s company, Permit Rockstar, aims to streamline the process end-to-end using AI-assisted form completion, remote online notarization, private plan review to speed approvals, and same-day virtual inspections. He says Florida law already allows private providers to help, and the next big improvement would be a uniform permit application across the state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    19 mins
  • Bank of America leader shares 3 priorities for business owners

    Bank of America leader shares 3 priorities for business owners
    Mar 26 2026
    As Northeast Florida heads into Q2 2026, Bank of America Jacksonville President & Southeast Regional Executive Mark Bennett says local business confidence has shifted toward growth - if owners have the right capital in place to seize opportunities. Bennett shares three priorities he’s hearing most from Jacksonville leaders and also points to continued strength in sectors like advanced manufacturing, fintech/financial services, healthcare, and technology as companies adopt more AI solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    16 mins