John Hawley
Sep 17, 2026
The Influence Network: Part 1- Who Shapes Jacksonville and How?
Jacksonville City Hall presented an unusual picture this week.
Democratic Mayor Donna Deegan stood alongside Republican City Council President Nick Howland, Jacksonville Civic Council President and CEO Dennis Whittle and JAX Chamber President and CEO Daniel Davis—the Republican who ran against Deegan for mayor in 2023.
The subject bringing them together wasn't a new ordinance, tax proposal or development agreement. It was a set of numbers produced by Oxford Economics. Jacksonville had been selected as one of five North American “Cities to Watch” in Oxford Economics' 2026 Global Cities Index. The recognition was real. But the event raises a broader question: How did Oxford Economics become one of the scoreboards Jacksonville's civic and political leadership is using to measure the city's progress?
The answer leads directly to an organization many Jacksonville residents may know little about: the Jacksonville Civic Council.
What Is the Jacksonville Civic Council?
The Jacksonville Civic Council describes itself as a nonpartisan organization composed of more than 90 CEOs and civic leaders. Its stated vision is sweeping: make Jacksonville a “world-class destination of choice for families, individuals, graduates, and businesses.”
The organization says it pursues that objective through three fundamental activities: research, advocacy and execution. Its reach extends across economic development, Downtown, education, municipal finance, infrastructure, quality of life and other areas that frequently intersect with decisions made by Jacksonville government.
The Jacksonville Civic Council Put Oxford Economics on Jacksonville's Scoreboard
Oxford Economics independently produces the Global Cities Index. Its 2026 index evaluates 1,000 cities across Economics, Human Capital, Quality of Life, Environment and Governance.
But using that international index as a benchmark for Jacksonville's own civic ambitions appears to have been a local strategic decision.
The City of Jacksonville's September 15 announcement specifically says the Civic Council identified the Oxford Economics Global Cities Index as a valuable set of metrics around which the community could align.
And the intended audience wasn't merely City Hall.
The City's announcement specifically identifies government, businesses, philanthropy and nonprofits as institutions that could align around a common goal for Jacksonville's progress.
From a Private Benchmark to a Public Goal
The Jacksonville Civic Council had already been tracking Oxford Economics before this week's announcement. Its research operation displayed Jacksonville's 2025 Oxford Economics Global Cities ranking and described research as the foundation for setting and achieving the goals necessary for Jacksonville to become “world-class.”
Its affiliated Jacksonville Civic Council Foundation goes further. The Foundation declares a specific objective:
Jacksonville: A Top 50 Global City by 2032. And Oxford Economics provides the measurement system being used to track that journey.
What Does Oxford Economics Actually Say About Jacksonville?
Oxford Economics' complete 2026 Global Cities Index ranks Jacksonville 134th overall among the world's 1,000 cities. Jacksonville's political and civic leaders are focusing on a different comparison: cities with populations below 4 million.
Within that group, Jacksonville improved from 119th in 2025 to 97th in 2026, according to the City.
The “Cities to Watch” designation is different again. It isn't a numerical ranking of Jacksonville as the fifth-best city in North America.
Oxford selected Jacksonville, Boise, Durham, San Antonio and Edmonton as five North American cities it believes warrant attention because of economic momentum, productivity and employment growth.
Jacksonville's Economics Are Only Part of the Oxford Story
Oxford gives Jacksonville an overall 2026 score of 67.4.
Its Economics score is 65.9, Human Capital 55.6, Quality of Life 62.8, Environment 75.3 and Governance 75.7.
That matters because Oxford isn't simply measuring economic development.
The index is also attempting to measure whether cities possess the human capital, quality of life, environmental conditions and governance necessary to sustain their position.
If Jacksonville intends to use Oxford as its scoreboard, those categories become part of the scoreboard too.
The September City Hall Event Shows How Far the Idea Has Traveled
Mayor Deegan described Jacksonville's progress at the September 15 news conference as “not a partisan issue.”
Standing with her was Republican City Council President Nick Howland. Also participating was Daniel Davis, president and CEO of the JAX Chamber and Deegan's Republican opponent in the 2023 mayoral election.
And representing the organization that helped establish Oxford as a Jacksonville benchmark was Civic Council President and CEO Dennis Whittle.
An Idea Crossing Jacksonville's Political Divide
The political composition of that group is noteworthy without suggesting that everyone involved agrees on how Jacksonville should reach the stated goal.
Deegan and Davis competed directly for the mayor's office only three years ago. Howland leads a City Council with its own independent governmental authority and priorities.
Yet all appeared around a common framework: Jacksonville's progress toward becoming a Top 50 global city.
That illustrates a form of influence that doesn't require winning an election.
How Does the Jacksonville Civic Council Say It Creates Change?
The Civic Council doesn't obscure its intention to influence Jacksonville's direction.
Its website says its members drive change by researching Jacksonville's challenges, advocating for public policy and powering strategic execution.
Its research operation brings together data, expertise and community voices with the stated purpose of producing actionable insights.
Its advocacy work then provides a mechanism for translating those ideas into public-policy discussions.
And execution is intended to move selected ideas from discussion toward implementation.
What Is the Jacksonville Civic Council's Broader Mission?
The Council organizes its current strategy around four themes: Inspire, Advance, Prepare and Connect.
“Inspire” involves creating a shared vision of Jacksonville as a world-class city. “Advance” encompasses economic mobility, opportunity, resilience and access. “Prepare” focuses heavily on education and developing Jacksonville's future workforce. And “Connect” includes investments intended to connect neighborhoods and improve quality of life.
Quality of Life Is Part of the Civic Council's Own Research Agenda
That final point is particularly important in understanding the Oxford initiative. The Civic Council identifies Quality of Life as one of its principal research themes. Its research examines education, health, housing, safety and environmental conditions to understand how Jacksonville residents actually experience life in the city. The stated objective is to provide information that helps leaders make decisions and develop strategies intended to improve daily life. That means the Oxford framework shouldn't be viewed solely as an economic-growth measurement.
The Civic Council Says It Has Already Influenced Major Jacksonville Policies
Perhaps the clearest evidence of the organization's reach comes from its own description of its accomplishments.
The Civic Council says it has participated in or advocated on some of Jacksonville's most consequential public-policy debates over more than a decade.
Among its claimed accomplishments is participation in the formation of the Downtown Investment Authority in 2014.
It also cites research and advocacy surrounding Jacksonville's pension reform, education initiatives, human-rights legislation, JEA privatization, the local-option gas tax and the Duval County Public Schools facilities tax.
Beginning in 2024, the organization also began producing annual research examining Jacksonville's public finances.
Why the DIA Connection Is Particularly Significant
The Downtown Investment Authority now plays a central role in Jacksonville's redevelopment strategy.
It negotiates and recommends development incentives, oversees Downtown redevelopment programs and participates in decisions involving hundreds of millions of dollars in public and private investment.
Yet the Civic Council identifies itself as having participated in the DIA's formation.
That provides useful context when evaluating the Civic Council's broader role in Jacksonville today.
It isn't simply commenting on institutions created by someone else.
By its own account, it has sometimes helped shape the institutions themselves.
The Civic Council's Influence Is Not the Same as Governmental Power
There is an important distinction. The Jacksonville Civic Council cannot levy taxes. It cannot pass ordinances, appropriate City money or approve a development agreement. Its members are not collectively elected by Jacksonville voters. Those powers remain with elected officials and governmental bodies established under Florida and local law.
Influence Can Work Differently
The Civic Council possesses something different.
It brings together executives and civic leaders with substantial business, institutional, philanthropic and professional resources.
It can research an issue, develop a proposal, bring influential organizations together, advocate its position and encourage implementation.
The Council describes this model itself as research, advocacy and execution.
That provides another way of understanding influence in Jacksonville: not simply who possesses governmental authority, but who helps determine which ideas reach government in the first place.
Who Belongs to the Jacksonville Civic Council?
That question deserves its own examination.
The organization's membership includes leaders associated with banking, development, construction, healthcare, higher education, law, engineering, transportation, philanthropy, professional sports, commercial real estate and some of Jacksonville's largest employers.
Our review of the current membership also finds substantial crossover with other influential Jacksonville institutions.
Numerous Civic Council members simultaneously hold leadership roles within the JAX Chamber or JAXUSA Partnership. Others have served on City boards, independent authorities and mayoral transition teams.
Some work professionally in government relations. Others lead companies involved in Downtown development or other projects that interact with Jacksonville government.
Is the Jacksonville Civic Council Republican or Democratic?
The organization's reach doesn't fit neatly into either political party.
The Civic Council describes itself as nonpartisan, and its membership and relationships extend across Jacksonville's political spectrum.
The September Oxford event offered a particularly visible demonstration.
A Democratic mayor, Republican City Council president and the Republican who challenged that mayor in 2023 stood alongside Civic Council leadership promoting essentially the same long-term objective.
That doesn't demonstrate agreement on the policies necessary to reach it.
It does demonstrate that the Civic Council's “world-class city” framework has gained support across Jacksonville's political divide.
The Jacksonville Civic Council Foundation Adds Another Layer
Separate from the Civic Council is the Jacksonville Civic Council Foundation.
The Foundation describes itself as providing the “rocket fuel” for Jacksonville's journey toward becoming a Top 50 global city.
It supports the same three functions: research, advocacy and execution.
Its website also uses Oxford Economics' five categories to describe Jacksonville's strengths and weaknesses.
That makes the relationship between Oxford and Jacksonville more than a one-day recognition ceremony.
The index has become integrated into a broader civic strategy.
Oxford Is Becoming More Than a Ranking
That distinction may ultimately be the most important takeaway from this week's announcement.
Oxford Economics didn't merely produce a flattering statistic that Jacksonville leaders decided to celebrate.
The Civic Council had already identified Oxford as a useful framework for measuring Jacksonville.
The Civic Council Foundation incorporated that measurement into its Top 50 ambition.
Civic Council research uses Oxford data to evaluate Jacksonville's position.
And now elected City leaders are publicly embracing progress toward that same objective.
Who Decided Jacksonville Should Become a Top 50 Global City?
That produces a question worth following.
Becoming a Top 50 global city may prove to be a broadly supported Jacksonville objective.
But achieving it could eventually involve decisions about infrastructure, Downtown development, education, parks, transportation, economic incentives and other public investments.
Those decisions ultimately involve taxpayer resources and elected government.
Understanding where the Top 50 objective originated—and which institutions are helping determine how Jacksonville pursues it—therefore matters.
Who Shapes Jacksonville — and How?
That question is the purpose of The Influence Network.
Jacksonville's elected officials exercise governmental power.
But elected government operates within a much larger ecosystem of businesses, nonprofits, developers, philanthropies, advocacy organizations, consultants, political committees and public-private partnerships.
Sometimes the same individuals appear in several of those worlds.
The Jacksonville Civic Council provides an unusually useful place to begin examining that network because the organization is remarkably open about what it is trying to accomplish.
The Civic Council Calls Its Objective “World-Class”
Its vision isn't simply to advise Jacksonville government.
It wants Jacksonville to become a world-class city.
It conducts research to help define that objective.
It advocates public policy intended to advance it.
It assembles prominent civic and business leaders behind those objectives.
And it points to a record of policy accomplishments as evidence that the model can work.
The Oxford Event Offered a Window Into That Influence
This week's City Hall announcement could easily be viewed simply as another economic-development news conference.
Jacksonville improved in an international index. Oxford noticed. City leaders celebrated.
But look one layer deeper and the event becomes more revealing.
A private organization of influential Jacksonville business and civic leaders identified an international ranking as a useful measurement of Jacksonville's future.
That ranking became part of a privately articulated Top 50 ambition.
And that ambition is now being publicly promoted by elected leaders from opposite ends of Jacksonville's political spectrum.
None of that establishes anything improper.
It does demonstrate why understanding the Jacksonville Civic Council—and the network surrounding it—is relevant to understanding how Jacksonville establishes its priorities.
Because influencing government doesn't always begin inside City Hall.
Sometimes it begins with determining which goals eventually arrive there.
The Influence Network- Part V: Who Shapes Jacksonville and How?
The Influence Network- Part IV: Who has a stake in the property tax debate?
The Influence Network- Part III: How board overlap can concentrate civic power
Who Makes Up the Jacksonville Civic Council? Inside the Network of CEOs and Civic Leaders
