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South Council Luncheon Speaker
TJ Ward

TJ Ward is the North Florida Director of Advocacy for Project Opioid, a state-wide collaborative focused on gathering top leaders across all sectors of Florida’s communities to confront the overdose crisis. TJ’s focus is helping save and transform the greatest number of lives possible in the Jacksonville area by developing a coalition, implementing a regional overdose initiative, and conducting high level advocacy for vulnerable populations.
TJ has spent over 25 years of his professional life in the nonprofit sector, where he helped start and grow two large organizations from the ground up. Having spent ten of those years in educational leadership, and another 13 years as a faith leader, TJ attributes much of his success to genuinely caring for people and learning to communicate effectively with others while pointing them to a preferred future.
TJ holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Liberal Arts from Maranatha Baptist University and a Master of Science degree in Management and Administration from Nova Southeastern University. He is also a member of the Florida ATLAS State Advisory Committee, a multi-sector convening of key stakeholders organized by Florida Blue, New Directions Behavioral Health, and Shatterproof.

SOUTH COUNCIL LUNCHEON WITH
CHRIS NACE, IKEA

Chris Nace joined IKEA at the U.S. Corporate Office in the Philadelphia area in 2001 after working in the financial field with Arthur Andersen, Prudential, SKF, and Vanguard. Since then, he has held various positions in Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Brooklyn, and Charlotte. In 2015, Chris moved into the Market Manager role and in 2019, joined the IKEA Jacksonville team two years after the store opened.
Chris and his family live in Ponte Vedra Beach and enjoy attending high school lacrosse games. In his spare time, Chris enjoys playing golf and reading.

South Council Small Business Leader of the Year

We would like to congratulate Trey Vollmer as South Council Small Business Leader of the Year!

Growing up I was blessed with close friends and family. I hated the school curriculum of 80's and 90's, but I loved playing sports and having fun in and out of class. My mother and I were very close and she gave me lots of freedom. She taught me to be myself and not be afraid of anything. She was tough.
I learned from my father that you can ditch school and still be a successful entrepreneur. This can be a terrible idea if the latter does not come through for you.
In 1994 I moved to Jacksonville, Florida with my mom, stepdad, brother, and newborn baby sister. I went from having the same friends since Kindergarten to not knowing anybody at Sandalwood High, a school of 3,000 kids. That was tough at 16. I almost moved back to Texas but after ½ a year I was making friends and I’ve loved Jacksonville ever since. In 1996 I told my mom I was not ready to graduate high school because I was really enjoying it. She said ok. Like I said mom gave me lots of freedom.
College changed everything. In 2001 my best friend, Joe Meserve, led me to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I started to value responsibility, direction, commitment, discipline, serving others and eternity. With a new mindset I was getting good grades at UNF and I was ”single” for almost 10 years! Looking back God was preparing me to be a husband and a father.
One day when I see God face to face I will be able to fully express how grateful I am to Him for all that He has done for me. Until then I will serve my family and my clients with the abilities I have while here on this earth.

South Council Small Business Leader of the Year

We would like to congratulate Gloria Vinson as South Council Small Business Leader of the Year!

After spending 23 years working for Prudential Insurance, Gloria Vinson obtained her Real Estate License and Community Association Manager’s license and worked for various companies before starting her own. LANDCO Properties was started in 2005 as a Residential Rental Management company. Her company has grown to include Real Estate Sales, Rentals and Property Management for Residential and Commercial properties. Gloria also is the managing Broker for Melrose Realty in Orlando, Florida. After losing her husband to suicide in 2013 Gloria began getting involved with Suicide Prevention organizations and started The Vinson Foundation in 2017. Her non-profit organization supports families who lost a loved one to suicide.