Jerry Mallot and Robert Johnson

JAXUSA Partnership, a division of the JAX Chamber, welcomed American business magnate Robert L. Johnson as its featured guest speaker to the JAXUSA quarterly luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront.  Johnson is best known as the founder and former chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET).

Johnson is currently chairman and founder of the RLJ Companies and former majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, a National Basketball Association franchise.  In 2001, Johnson became the first African American billionaire when he sold BET to Viacom for $3 billion and formed RLJ Companies.  The business executive shared his perspective on business growth and his experiences as a successful entrepreneur.

The luncheon also honored the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) as the recipient of the JAXUSA Partnership Industry Leader Award for its business achievements and corporate responsibility.

Capt. Rob Caldwell and Wally Lee

FRCSE is the largest tenant command at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville and the largest industrial employer in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia.  It provides aviation maintenance solutions to meet Navy war fighters’ demands.

Established in 1940, the facilities at FRCSE have turned out almost every type of Navy aircraft – fighter and attack planes, patrol, antisubmarine, reconnaissance, transport, trainer, special configuration and helicopters. The FRCSE workforce of more than 3,000 civilian employees, 1,000 military personnel and 600 contractors maintains the most sophisticated and complex weapon systems in military inventory.

FRCSE has proactively adopted the philosophy of continuous process improvement (CPI) to reduce cost and increase productivity.  Its commitment and focus has resulted in maintaining the same production rates for the past five years.  FRCSE is an innovator with 38 active Public/Private Partnerships and incorporates numerous state-of-the-art technologies into daily production and fleet maintenance processes.  FRCSE has won numerous awards and its personnel are involved in numerous philanthropic efforts.

JAXUSA Partnership announced the upcoming retirement of John Haley, senior vice president for business development with JAXUSA Partnership, and recognized him with an award for his nearly 20 year commitment to JAXUSA and other significant accomplishments. Haley was responsible for the recruitment of dozens of companies that have resulted in more than 10,000 jobs and billions in capital investment. Some of the major company announcements he worked on include Bridgestone Firestone, FlightStar Aircraft Services, The Boeing Company and Saft America.