Board of Directors
JTA Board of Directors
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority's governing body is comprised of seven members. Three members are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate, three members are appointed by Jacksonville's Mayor and confirmed by the City Council, and the seventh member is the District Two Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Members serve a four-year term with the exception of the FDOT Secretary who serves the length of his/her employment in that position and can be re-appointed for an additional four years. The board members of the JTA are not entitled to compensation but are reimbursed for travel and other expenses actually incurred in their duties as provided by law.
Debbie Buckland
Chair
Debbie Buckland is currently chair of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and serves on the board of WJCT Public Media and Baptist Beaches Medical Center. Debbie Buckland retired in 2021 as market president for Truist Bank in Jacksonville, Florida following a 40+ year career in banking and finance.
She is past chair of JAX Chamber, Downtown Vision, Inc. and the American Cancer Society. She is a member of the Truist Jacksonville Advisory Board, Wolfson Children's Hospital Women's Board, Jacksonville Women's Network, and Women's Giving Alliance.
Buckland was inducted into the First Coast Business Hall of Fame in 2019 and is a recent recipient of the DTJax Downtown Achievement Award. She was a founding member of the Jacksonville Women's Business Center and the steering committee of JAX Chamber's Elevate Women initiative.
In 2022, she was honored as Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser by Association of Fundraising Professionals for her work with United Way of Northeast Florida.
A 2009 graduate of Leadership Jacksonville, Buckland has been named a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts, Woman of Influence by the Jacksonville Business Journal and honored by the Mayor's Commission on the Status of Women as one of Jacksonville's Women Making a Difference.
Buckland is a 1979 graduate of Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia, with a B.A. in Business & Economics and Philosophy. She and her husband Jamie live in Atlantic Beach.
G. Ray Driver, Jr.
Vice-Chair
G. Ray Driver, Jr. has been practicing law for over 20 years and is a founding partner of Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow. He represents clients in business acquisitions, dispositions and mergers, and provides ongoing counseling regarding business formation, corporate governance, contract law and ancillary legal issues. Driver was added to the Florida Super Lawyer list in 2011 and his experience has led him to be recognized as Jacksonville Business Journal’s Ultimate Attorney. He was also named Lawyer of Year in 2019.
A graduate of Leadership Jacksonville, Driver is the current Chair of JAXUSA Partnership and the Chair-Elect for the JAX Chamber Board of Directors and Trustees. He also has chaired the Jacksonville Bar Association, served on its Board of Governors and served as the president and treasurer of the Young Lawyers Section.
Driver received both his Juris Doctorate and master’s degree in accounting from the University of Florida in 1994.
He was appointed to the JTA Board by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2019.
Abel Harding
Secretary
Abel Harding is the market president for IBERIABANK and First Horizon Bank, responsible for the North Florida and Southeast Georgia markets. His banking career spans more than two decades and includes senior roles with several financial institutions.
He previously served as a senior advisor to the mayor of Jacksonville and as the director of communications for the City of Jacksonville. Prior to that, Harding was an award-winning journalist for the Florida Times-Union. In this role, he worked as a columnist, covering business and politics, and worked special assignments as an investigative reporter.
Harding serves as the chair of JAX Biz, the political committee of the JAX Chamber. He is a long-time member of the Chamber’s board of directors. He is the secretary of the board of directors for the Jacksonville Humane Society and previously served as a mayoral appointee to the Jacksonville Planning Commission. Harding is a member of the Florida Banker’s Association Government Affairs Committee.
He has served on several community boards during his time in Jacksonville, including the Cultural Council of Jacksonville, where he served as chair, the Cathedral Arts Project, co-chair of United Way’s first Atlantic Circle class, and founder of Rotaract of Ponte Vedra. He is a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville (2013) and is a member of the 2020-2022 class of Leadership Florida.
A seventh-generation Floridian, Harding is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Aundra Wallace
Treasurer
Aundra Wallace is president of the JAXUSA Partnership, the private, nonprofit regional economic development arm of JAX Chamber overseeing efforts of the seven counties of Northeast Florida. He directs a staff of 14 in the areas of business development, international investment, workforce development, research and marketing. JAXUSA’s mission is to be a catalyst for economic growth and maximize the region’s unique resources to aggressively recruit jobs and capital investment. Mayor Lenny Curry appointed him in February 2022.
Prior to joining JAXUSA Partnership in October 2018, Mr. Wallace served as CEO of the City of Jacksonville’s Downtown Investment Authority (DIA). In this role, he spearheaded a diversified portfolio of infrastructure improvement projects, led economic development initiatives, invested in real estate development projects, managed the Downtown Development Design Review Board and oversaw the City’s Public Parking Division.
He holds a Master of Public Administration from Clark Atlanta University and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Georgia Southern University. He is a Certified Housing Development Finance Professional and a Certified Economic Development Finance Professional.
Stephanie Burch
Board Member
Stephanie Burch joins the JTA Board of Directors after being appointed by Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and approved by the Jacksonville City Council in October 2022.
Burch is General Counsel for Concept Companies, where she leads the legal team that supports a portfolio of companies that are vertically integrated to provide a best in class commercial real estate development experience.
Burch’s prior experience includes nearly a decade in commercial and residential real estate and more than 11 years in state and local government in various legal and administrative roles. This includes five years in the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) General Counsel’s office where she focused on public transportation, public-private partnerships, and procurement issues.
Her experience as an attorney in private practice and state government proved to be invaluable for success in her roles with the City of Jacksonville, where she led several initiatives that combined her background in real estate, finance, and administration to assist in reviving the Neighborhoods Department, creating financial assistance programs for families and individuals, and the City’s first Community Land Trust.
Burch holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University, a Juris Doctor degree from Florida Coastal School of Law, and is a member of the Florida Bar. Stephanie previously served on the Board of Directors for the City of Jacksonville’s Downtown Investment Authority, was a previous Board Member of CREW Jacksonville, member of JWLA, FAWL, and served for 2 years as a Committee Member of the Florida Bar’s Leadership Academy. She lives in Jacksonville with her husband Chris and their 11-year-old daughter.
Ari Jolly
Immediate Past Chair
Ari Jolly is a Senior Assistant General Counsel at Florida Blue and provides corporate development as well as board governance support related to the various Florida Blue subsidiary and joint venture companies. Prior to joining Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida in 1993, Jolly was an officer in the United States Navy from 1983 - 1990 and the recipient of a Navy Achievement Medal (1987).
Jolly is a member of the Florida Bar and the Jacksonville Bar Association, served as the Chairman of the Board of the Greater Jacksonville Area USO, serves on the Fleet Landing Board and previously served as the Chairman of the Veterans Network at Florida Blue, where she spoke on the topics of women veterans and the multicultural U.S. Armed Forces. In addition, Jolly is the corporate secretary to the Boards of Florida Health Care Plan, Inc., Navigy Holdings, Inc., GuideWell-Sanitas, LLC, Florida Blue Medicine, Inc., GuideWell Core Solutions, Inc., and GuideWell, Inc. and has supported several Florida Blue conferences on the topic of board governance best practices.
Jolly graduated from Jacksonville University and the Florida State University College of Law. She is also an honors graduate from the Naval Legal Justice School, Newport, Rhode Island.
Jolly was appointed to the JTA Board in 2015 by Governor Rick Scott and reappointed in 2019 by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Greg Evans, P.E.
Ex-Officio Board Member & FDOT District Two Secretary
Greg Evans was appointed as the Florida Department of Transportation District Two Secretary on February 6, 2012. Mr. Evans is responsible for the day-to-day administrative, planning, production and operations activities for District Two, which encompasses 18 counties, covers nearly 12,000 square miles in North Central Florida, and maintains 8,200 lane miles of roadway and over 1,200 bridges. The area is also served by two deep-water ports and three major rail lines.
Evans has over 21 years of experience in the management and operations of public infrastructure. He is an alumnus of Southern Institute of Technology, with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering Technology.
Evans joined the Board in 2012 as an Ex-Officio Member representing the Florida Department of Transportation, District Two.