- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

{\an1}- Surviving the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 and 2021 has been a formidable challenge for Florida businesses.

But imagine if it was your job to help businesses, not only survive during the pandemic, but to grow while bringing new businesses and jobs to the state.

Well, that's the challenge facing Florida Secretary of Commerce.

You'll find out how he's tackled that challenge next on the Suncoast Business Forum.

(upbeat music) Before the pandemic hit unemployment in Florida was less than 3%.

After it hit unemployment jumped to over 8% practically overnight.

{\an1}Believe it or not by 2022, it's projected to be close to record lows again.

That's just one of the metrics, Florida Secretary of Commerce and Enterprise Florida CEO, Jamal Sowell focuses on.

Where some see challenges, he sees opportunity.

Secretary Sowell, welcome to the Suncoast Business Forum.

- Thank you, Jeff.

I'm glad to be here.

- When you took the job in 2019 as Secretary of Commerce and CEO of Enterprise Florida, {\an1}the State's leading economic development organizations, there was no way you could have known that one year later, you'd be going from economic development to keeping businesses at intact and alive.

Discuss the organization's strategy before and then after the pandemic hit.

{\an1}- So for us, it's been exciting because in 2019, the governor hit the ground running.

We were going to business development missions to New York several times to Chicago and even to Israel.

And a lot of the leg work and success that we have seen over the past year came because of 2019.

{\an1}We would talk to companies, we'd walk in the meeting and the governor would make the sell for the State of Florida about why these companies needed to leave, high tax and high regulatory environment such as Chicago and New York.

And in 2020, we had a lot of them reach out to us saying, {\an1}we wanna come to Florida.

{\an1}You made the sell and right now the environments in Illinois, the environments and the Northeast, just really isn't conducive for our business.

And because of that, {\an1}we've had a Exodus of companies who are leaving to come to Florida.

And a lot of that happened because of the legwork {\an1}that the governor put in.

And I was able to assist them over the past few years.

And it has been exciting to see the success of that.

- Throughout the nation, how and where we work is changing rapidly.

Now, from an economic development standpoint, is Florida positioned to capitalize on these trends?

{\an1}And how do you see Florida companies adapting to these changes in how we work?

- So with the work I know, years ago, {\an1}people may not have wanted to work from home, but now that has become such a norm.

You have a lot of companies, even who are outside of the state who are having employees come to Florida, {\an1}work out of Florida, and really build our economy.

And for us, a lot of Florida companies they've really seen a major success when it comes to what their workers wanna do with the flexibility that it gives them, but also allowing them to really be home with their families while still being productive at work.

So we definitely see a shift when it comes to the telecommuting and teleworking, but for us, that has been successful because now when people wanna leave the Northeast {\an1}and leave the cold weather, leave the high tax States, for us in Florida, we have room for people {\an1}and we have room for those who wanna start businesses and grow businesses here to help diversify our economy.

- And it's a lot more affordable than a lot of urban cities up North?

- Definitely.

Just the cost of living.

{\an1}I've had a lot of my peers now who went to New York, went to Chicago and LA and San Francisco, and now they're coming back home.

{\an1}They wanna come back home because the cost of living is lower in terms of no state income tax and just the overall environment for them is more positive as they wanna buy houses and really have great schools for their kids.

So we have definitely seen that.

And that's a reason why Florida has surpassed New York population over the past few years.

- Now you're the CEO of Enterprise Florida, {\an1}the State's leading economic development organization.

What is Enterprise Florida's emphasis when it comes to attracting new businesses to relocate versus nurturing existing businesses that are already here in Florida?

- In my role, I have two titles.

We were the former department of commerce.

{\an1}Then in the mid 90s we changed to a public private model with the governor, Ronnie Desantis serving as our chairman.

And from there, we have companies who were on the board {\an1}that are from small, medium and large sized companies.

And for us we focus on business recruitment out of state to come to Florida.

So we have training missions to all around the US telling companies about why they should come to Florida and relocate.

And as we diversify our economy, but also we have a large international presence.

I have around about a dozen international offices.

And from there we have trade shows, trading missions.

So for businesses who want to export their product, we work with all the ports in Florida, {\an1}which are phenomenal, all the amazing airports.

And we really put Florida on the map of those thinking to do business in the US but also those in the US who want to expand our relocate because we are the premier place for business.

We're the corridor for the Americas.

{\an1}And as you have seen over the past year with Blackstone, {\an1}having a tech hub in Miami and other companies, we have really been able to benefit not only from the success of our environment, but also the success of a governor {\an1}who is innovative and bold, but also wants to focus on the environment in terms of our water quality or air quality, but also our education system.

So the holistic approach to economic development has changed over the past few years.

It's more than just incentives is really having a state that has the workforce, the vocation, training the talent, and also the workers for the future.

- What types of businesses do you anticipate having strong growth in Florida over the next five to 10 years?

And does Florida have the skilled workforce to meet the demands of employers, particularly the types of companies {\an1}Florida wants to attract?

- So for us, we are really have to focus {\an1}on financial services, aviation, aerospace, manufacturing.

And with that the governor has made a goal for Florida to be number one in workforce by 2030.

And he's definitely a proponent of vocational training.

And those industries have all types of skillsets, whether somebody has a GHD or PhD, those industries allow workers from a vast array of skills and even veterans as Florida as a state, we have over 20 military installations.

So when veterans wanna retire and call somewhere home, they will have the jobs for them.

And for us that is key.

For us that's key when they want to, after their years of service, whether that be Tyndall or MacDill, {\an1}we wanna know that we want them to know that Florida is the place for them to be to retire, but also to work and really have options {\an1}when it comes to the companies that they wanna work for.

- Let's discuss your formative years.

Tell us about your family and growing up.

- My parents are from a small town in Florida.

My dad's from a town called Jasper, Florida and Hamilton County is the last county right on I75 as you go into Georgia.

So I'm a sixth generation native.

And from that my mother is from, {\an1}was born in Ocala Florida.

Raised in Leesburg, but her family originally came from Jackson County, Florida, a small town called 2A in a small town called Bascom.

And my parents met, they were born in 1946.

{\an1}And then they met in college at Florida A&M University.

They got married right after that.

And then from there, my dad went to Vietnam.

Then I have two older siblings.

They waited 10 years and then had two more.

So I had two brothers, one brother born in '69, sister born in '71, then a brother born in '81, I was born in '82.

So with that, my dad after Vietnam, he then went to UF where he was one of the first {\an1}10 black graduates at the University of Florida School of Law.

And his first job out of school was in Orlando.

And he was the first black to be a public defender in Orange County.

{\an1}And from there that's kind of where I was born.

And it was just an amazing experience growing up in Orlando, {\an1}but he stayed in the reserves during that time.

{\an1}So I was born October '82, then in the spring of 83, he then got back in the army active duty during the Reagan Cold War buildup.

And we moved to Atlanta at Fort McPhearson.

We did that for about four or five years, and then we then moved to the DC area, Northern Virginia, {\an1}where my dad was stationed at the Pentagon.

So for me that was an amazing experience because as a kid, I got to go to tours at the White House.

I got to see the Smithsonian and got to see the monuments.

And that really inspired me.

{\an1}So when he retired in 1993, we came back to Florida in the late fall of '93.

And I just had a vast array of knowledge {\an1}that I was able to then bring him back home to Florida, even though I was born there.

I obviously say I hadn't been there really as a kid, but when I came back at 11 years old, {\an1}I had all these stories about the civil war sites 'cause my father was a big civil war buff and just a big history person.

But for us to see that on a regular as children going to, we went to a small Christian school {\an1}right there now Alexandria, but we would then have field trips that service products all in DC on a regular.

So that really broadened my horizon to then really come back to Florida.

And though it was a different environment because we're from Florida, it really allowed me to then bring those skills home.

And that's what I've done throughout my career.

- Now, your parents truly were trailblazers.

Your dad, as you just explained.

But tell us also about your mom.

Your mom was extraordinary too, {\an1}and both of them had a profound influence on you.

- My mother was real big on us.

{\an1}Learning different culture, letting about different backgrounds.

So she would make me read biographies, whether it was the biography of Rabbi Mendel Schneerson and others who may not have been my background or culture, but it encouraged me to read the backgrounds of those like Colin Powell, Harriet Tubman and historic figures such as Gandhi.

So she really wanted us to be well-rounded.

{\an1}She wanted us to be Renaissance men and Renaissance women.

{\an1}So even though I just wanted to play sports, football, {\an1}baseball, and basketball, she wanted to make sure that I had the intellect and the knowledge to go anywhere in the world.

So she made me take tap, dance lessons, music lessons.

And today I still play the Alto saxophone {\an1}and she made my brother, John take singing lessons.

My oldest brother plays the guitar, the piano.

My sister is a trained dancer.

So for us she really wanted us to have a holistic experience {\an1}as youth and that has helped me as I navigated my time {\an1}in the Marine Corps, time living in Massachusetts, Indiana, {\an1}Texas, Arizona, California.

But I think that their foundation for her was really one of faith.

She really pushed us to really be involved {\an1}in the christian ministry.

And because of that my two older brothers are very involved as christian ministers and they have really attended a lot of lives.

My brother, John is an evangelist and a singer and my other brother is a preacher in Kansas.

So for us it really has shaped our lives because our mother really empowered us to not only learn about ourselves and our history, but also learn about the history of others around the world.

My first three years of high school, {\an1}I went to a large high school called Dr. Phillips and 5,000 students I was just a number, but my last year I changed to a small Christian school.

And that was amazing.

The name was Hiwassee Christian Academy, but it changed names to West Oaks Academy.

My senior class had 15 students and two of those 15 were homeschoolers.

But because of that I was able to feel empowered.

I then played varsity basketball, varsity football, varsity baseball, varsity golf.

And it wasn't necessarily about winning.

It was about feeling that like someone was listening to me, I felt empowered.

I paid attention to 'cause being in a small class, having that attention really allowed me to be encouraged and empowered to then use those skills to take to the University of Florida.

- How important was University of Florida in shaping the person you were to become?

- It was so important because so they might agree with in religion.

Again, I grew up wanting to be a pastor and everything, and I took a different trajectory down later in life, but it was, my major was religion, my minor was in family, youth and community sciences, {\an1}just so just the art of dealing with people, communities, because the great passions that I had in life, {\an1}I was able to really gain from them because of their work in communities, the works with with counseling families.

All of that to me was important.

So I got to UFC the summer of 2000 and it was definitely a different environment, 50,000 students from everywhere around the world {\an1}and everywhere around the State, but I really got involved.

And I wanted to get involved in things that may not have come natural to me.

So I actually stopped by the Hillel.

My first year I met a guy named Keith DeVochic and he was the Hillel director and I joined the Jewish student union, just asking questions, {\an1}even though my background was christian.

And I really wanted to learn about different faiths and backgrounds.

I joined the Hispanic student association, the Asian student union, and other groups around campus that really allowed me {\an1}to make a lot of good friends in a genuine way.

And I could ask questions about things that I may not have been familiar with.

So that really made a difference for me as I got involved on campus.

And eventually I then became the student body treasurer, {\an1}the student body president, where I sat on the board of trustees.

And that for me was a life-changing experience 'cause when I became somebody president, I got a call from a woman named Wendy Grant who worked for Jeb Bush, our former governor.

{\an1}And she said, Jamal, come here so you can meet with the governor.

And for me that was life-changing because I'm 21 years old, not really knowing really about politics.

My family was not political.

They were civic, but definitely not in politics, but that really showed me so many things {\an1}about why education, for us as a state is so important to our workforce, our environment.

So then I got interested in really higher ed administration.

So I went to grad school over at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

{\an1}And during that time I worked at Amherst College, which is a small liberal arts college.

'Cause my experiences from undergrad to grad school was really a large research university that was public, but that opened so many doors for me to really see higher ed from a different perspective.

So I went there because the former president of UCF named Dr. John Lombardi became president there at UMass Amherst.

And that really was a different for me because what being born and raised in the South, going to the Northeast, going to Amherst Massachusetts was totally drastically different from anything that I experienced, but it grew me intellectually.

It pushed me to have the debates in class that I did really allowed me to formulate my thoughts and ideas ideology, when it came to who I was, {\an1}but also to the impact that I can make on this world.

- At the end of your first year at UMass Amherst, you joined the Marines.

{\an1}At that time the US was at war and the Persian Gulf.

Now, what led you to make that decision to actually join the Marines when the US was at war?

- Having a grandfather who served world war 2 my dad Vietnam, brother in Iraq and I had a great uncle who was in Korea.

The most important thing for me was to carry on that family legacy NFMS tradition.

{\an1}So I then joined 'cause I knew I was always going to I just didn't know when, but there's never the perfect time.

So I just did it right after my first year of grad school.

I enlisted in the Marine Corps reserves at a unit in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

I was a combat engineer with a bootcamp.

I went from grad school to boot camp for a whole summer.

I was older than most of my peers there, but that was an experience that will never trade for the world.

And being at Paris Allen over South Carolina, I then became a private first class.

From there, I didn't went back to my unit sort of back grad school again.

And it was just an experience that allowed me to see the Marine Corps and see the military from the enlisted perspective, because though my dad was an officer, my brother was enlisted.

{\an1}So then after that, I really enjoyed it so much.

{\an1}After grad school I went active duty as an officer in the Marine Corps where I was stationed at Quantico and then did some exciting work for the country.

But really that was a lesson in leadership.

It's one thing to be a leader, but to be a leader in the military is a learning experience that will push you to become the best because you are in charge of lives.

Not only was I in charge of lives, I was in charge of the wellbeing of those who I led.

So that was a choice that wasn't popular at the time.

People were saying, Jamal, why are you joining?

This is doing a war.

You have Iraq and Afghanistan.

But I knew that I had a vision and a desire to make an impact on the world, {\an1}but also to really pursue a family tradition {\an1}that many, many of my family had done for years.

And I'm very glad that I did that.

- You got out of the Marines in 2011 and you were a captain age 28.

You returned then to your Alma mater at the University of Florida.

{\an1}So what brought you back to the University of Florida and what did you do when you got back there?

And what influence did this ultimately have {\an1}on the rest of your career?

{\an1}- At UF when I was sitting by the president, I was the first full term student body president for US President, Bernie Matchin.

And he asked me to come back because he knew my desire to work in higher ed, my desire to be a university administrator one day.

And from there, he said come back here, learn directly from me.

And that experience opened my eyes to so many different things, because at that time he was the chairman of the Southeastern athletic conference.

So I was able to assist him with Texas {\an1}A and M joining the SEC, the University of Missouri joined the SEC.

So that was phenomenal for me because to learn from a CEO directly, but that time at UF being the specialist assistant to the president and the assistant corporate secretary to the board of trustees allowed me to {\an1}not only expand my network, but to meet so many leaders across the state that were instrumental in the founding of so many great institutions in the state, but also with our history of the state and the impact that UF had on the entire State of Florida in agriculture, because it's land grant, space grant, sea grant, and so many different venues that education really {\an1}makes a difference than when it comes to workforce and even recruiting businesses.

- After three and a half years at the University of Florida, you left for law school at Indiana university.

{\an1}So what led you to switch from education now and begin to pursue law?

- I knew that I wanted to be an academia, but because my dad was a lawyer, I always wanted to attend law school.

My aunt Beryl Thompson McClary was a lawyer.

So for me, I knew a JD could allow me to have flexibility work and policy, work in business, or even academia one day.

So I went to IU Bloomington.

And during that time I would tell them to be a Pat Tillman scholar, {\an1}which was an honor for me because Pat Tillman is one who made the ultimate sacrifice, left the NFL which is not something that we would see a lot of pro players ever doing now, but did that to serve his country.

And then he passed and everything, but that really inspired me.

So to have that scholarship, to have that honor really pushed me to want to do more in Indiana.

So during that time, I was then appointed to a state board by Indiana governor Mike Pence.

This is prior to him being vice-president.

I then even worked for a Congressman named Toddy Young.

And Toddy Young then became the US Senator.

So I worked in his office in Congress, which he had obviously Bloomington Indiana, but also I worked on his campaign when he ran for US Senate.

And for me with just wanting to get involved, wanting to meet people, I was involved in the center for constitutional democracy at Indiana University, {\an1}but also I then spent a summer semester in Israel.

And that was life changing because of the fact that {\an1}being in Israel every day, having gone in college, through APAC, having been involved in APAC, but having to chance to live there it was great because going there for 10 days or for a vacation is one thing.

But when you're there every single day, walking the streets of Tel Aviv walking the streets of Jerusalem, it was life-changing.

- After graduating from law school, you took a job as chief of staff at Port Tampa Bay, which is a vital economic engine for the entire West coast of Florida.

Tell us about this new challenge, which involved economic development.

- I went to the port because I had a mentor money Paul Anderson.

And I'm real big on mentorship.

{\an1}I mentor a lot of people, but Paul was a mentor of mine.

I met Paul in college through Wendy Grant and Jeb Bush our former governor.

And Paul was one who had been asking me about coming down to Tampa to work for him because he became the Tampa port director and president around 2012 and '13.

What comes out of port Tampa Bay and all the ports in Florida whether they're Jacksonville or Everglades or Canaveral really are engines for our economy.

When it comes to the cars that are brought, {\an1}the trucks, the fruit, all of the supply that you get from overseas at the stores, whether it's Walmart or Publix, a lot of that comes to the port.

And America was built around the ports.

If you go to any city, most cities historically are built around ports.

So the port world allowed me to expand my horizon {\an1}and really intersect and intertwine my experiences and what I had done overseas.

And also in the US when it comes to policy, and my time in the military.

In 2019, after two years of port Tampa Bay, you were recruited by governor Ron DeSantis to become Florida Secretary of Commerce, and then CEO also of Enterprise Florida.

- When I got back to Florida in '17, Paul let me do so many things, go to conferences, meetings on his behalf, talk to legislators, talked to reps, talked to the florida chamber of commerce who work on a regular and get to really just expand my knowledge and expand my skillset.

And from that when the governor ran in one, {\an1}he wanted a team of people who would bring new ideas, new thoughts.

And though I had never worked in politics full time, I had done, civic work, appointed board work, and volunteer work.

I had never worked in politics ever.

So that really allowed me to bring a fresh perspective to a governor who was ambitious, who was bold and who was really somehow willing to go against the norm, even the way that he became governor was exciting to me {\an1}and encouraging because he was someone who was young.

{\an1}I was high school 2000, he's high school, class of '97.

{\an1}And the first non baby boomer governor in years.

{\an1}But to have the chance to serve the great state of Florida in which I'm a native in as a sixth generation, to me was a lifetime opportunity.

And also an opportunity to work with someone who was forming a team that was gonna make a difference.

- Now, traditionally, most new jobs are created by startups {\an1}and early stage companies.

Is this also true here in Florida?

And is that an important part of your focus?

- Yes, it is.

It's still important.

I think we can surpass Austin.

We can surpass the Silicon Valley with being a tech hub for the America.

And when I say tech, I don't mean big tech.

I mean the small startups who wanna come to Miami, wanna come to Orlando, wanna come to Tampa or Jacksonville or Tallahassee.

{\an1}We can really be the place for them to start up because of our low cost of living.

{\an1}Our great work environment does the environment here that is very difficult for them in Silicone Valley.

Being that I lived in California, the cost of living there was astronomical and even in New York.

So if you are a small startup and want to begin somewhere, that is best for business, best for you, best for your cost, best for your workers, for what it is the place to be.

So I'm extremely confident that we can surpass Austin, we can surpass Silicon Valley.

We can even surpass New York because the talent here, the people who are coming to your from those areas has really been game changing.

And they're coming for a reason.

{\an1}They're coming because the areas in which I said aren't necessarily conducive for them, but Florida is such a unique state, unlike anywhere else in the country that that has been successful not only for us, but also for startups and the tech space, or really any space where businesses are coming, starting from scratch.

And we're here to make sure that they thrive and succeed.

- You've had several dynamic leadership opportunities in your career.

Tell us what you consider the essential qualities of being a great leader.

- The quality that I saw the most was the, I think that we would say in the Marine Corps, honor, courage and commitment.

Honor to really helping empower others.

Honor to do what is best for your team.

Courage to do the things that are bold against a popular belief or norms if you believe in that, to have that courage to stand out against {\an1}the rest who may think that you're odd or crazy, or really just not like everybody else, but to me those are the ones who make the biggest difference and also to have the commitment to stick through it, the commitment to then stick to what you believe in to stick to a plan, stick to a goal.

And all of that has really been three leadership traits that I have learned throughout my career, coming from a shy kid in Orlando, who was afraid to speak or interact with others, but having that honor courage and commitment to stand out, even when it wasn't popular and a stand out to learn other cultures, stand out to learn about other people and other backgrounds.

And really that's what Florida is all about.

Florida is a state of honor, courage and commitment {\an1}to a great way of life, to a great education system, but also to be the most impactful place for businesses in the entire world.

{\an1}- Well, secretary Sowell, I'd like to thank you so much {\an1}for being our guest today.

If you'd like to see this program again, {\an1}or any of the CEO profiles in our Suncoast Business Forum archive, you can find them on the web at wedu.org/sbf.

Thanks for joining us.

The Suncoast Business Forum.

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