Junior Achievement of North Florida (JANFL) Board Member David Sillick, one of the nonprofit’s longest-serving members, has achieved the emeritus designation.
Sillick has served on the board of directors since late 1997, spending the last 29 years working to further the mission and expand the reach of JANFL, which is dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people for success.
Rob Sandlin, a JANFL Hall of Fame member, past chair, and co-chair of the JANFL Golf Classic, said, “David has been a valued member of Junior Achievement’s board of directors, and I have witnessed his positive impact on JA for many years. He always made himself available to further JA’s cause, whether by raising money and awareness or by providing guidance for future endeavors. He truly served our organization.”
Sillick was recruited to the JANFL board of directors in 1997, a few months after he came to town as the new president and publisher of the Jacksonville Business Journal. He was familiar with the service Junior Achievement provided to students and said he took his decision to join the JANFL board seriously.
“I knew because of my position, because of my role in the community, that I would get asked to serve on a lot of boards, but I didn’t want to be a part of a board in name only,” said Sillick. “Two things I had a passion for revolved around helping children. One is through economic education, which is Junior Achievement, and the other is character education, which I help with through my involvement with the Boy Scouts, which I have been part of for as long as I have been with Junior Achievement. I am honored that JA has chosen to move me to emeritus status and intend to stay engaged when and where they need me and where I can help.”
Throughout his 29 years of service, Sillick has filled many roles, including as JANFL board chair from 2002 to 2004. He has volunteered in the classroom to teach JA programming to students and has also raised funds for the organization. He has watched events grow and flourish, including the annual Hall of Fame Luncheon and the Golf Classic. He has also been part of the leadership selection that has helped shape and grow the organization into what it is today.
Recently, he had the opportunity to visit the Experiential Learning Center (ELC) at JA in Savannah, where he volunteered for the day to support the JA BizTown program. JANFL is currently raising money for its own ELC at Florida State College at Jacksonville’s Downtown Campus, which will break ground later this year. The ELC will initially offer two programs, JA BizTown and JA Finance Park.
“The ELC’s BizTown and Finance Park are models I remember studying when I was board chair back in the early 2000s, and it was a vision,” said Sillick. “This has been decades in the making, and it is exciting to see it coming to fruition. I really enjoyed volunteering at the ELC in Savannah, and it will be exciting to see the ELC move forward; to break ground, get going and serve 30,000 students annually.”
Sillick credits much of JANFL’s recent growth to President Shannon Italia and said he is proud to have been a part of the board that recruited her. He added that he is honored to have served on the JANFL board for 29 years and to have helped build the foundation for the organization’s long-term growth.
“What has inspired me most over the years is the board’s passion and commitment to this work,” said Sillick. “JA is on much stronger footing than when I first joined the board. It is encouraging to see companies making commitments at the $25,000, $50,000 and $1-million levels. JANFL has strong momentum and is on track to become the best JA chapter in the country.”
