Aundra Wallace looks at each day as a gift, and with good reason.
He views his life today with a perspective that comes with age.
“The thing that’s really, truly important is that time is a commodity that you don’t have enough of. And once it’s exhausted, you can’t get it back. You’ve got to take advantage of every second that you can, because life is fragile.”
Several years ago while living in Michigan he was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, a condition that, in his case, was hereditary.
“I didn’t think anything about it at the time. But I found out, probably five years later, that there was actually some artery blockage. So okay, that’s more than just an irregular heartbeat. So, you know, there’s something that has to be done,” he reasoned with himself.
That something in Aundra’s case was quadruple bypass surgery in April of 2018.
“I’m very fortunate for the University of Florida Health. They have some of the most leading-edge cardiologists in this country there. My second act in life would not have been possible without them. Making sure there’s a great balance of diet and exercise in my life is of the utmost importance. Because if I’m not healthy, I can’t do some of the things that I truly enjoy. I made a full recovery, and I was able to get back to CrossFit training,” he shares.
A southerner at heart, Wallace grew up in the small rural town of Wrightsville, Georgia. He graduated from Georgia Southern University, and holds a Masters in Public Administration from Clark Atlanta University.
He moved to Jacksonville for the Chief Executive Officer role with the Downtown Investment Authority. His team’s job, in short, is to make sure that Jacksonville has a thriving, bustling downtown.
Prior to making Jacksonville his home, he served as the Executive Director of the Detroit Land Bank Authority, and as Senior Vice President for Real Estate Development and Lending at the North Carolina Community Development Initiative in Raleigh. Wallace also held a number of leadership and development roles with Miami-Dade County.
His mission now is to recruit companies to relocate or set up operations in Jacksonville, and support corporations that are already in the region to expand.
“It keeps me energized to know we are one of the best places for someone to have a career, to get the job that they want, to be able to provide for their families. It’s very enriching,” he says.
At 5 a.m most mornings, fifty-seven-year old Wallace is already working up a sweat at the Brooks YMCA. “I try to work out at least four times a week, a combination of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), personal workouts, as well as cardio,” he says casually.
“I try to stay as healthy as possible. That goes for my wife as well. She’s an avid tennis player. We’ve got a very active granddaughter who will be six this summer, so trying to keep up with her forces us to make sure we maintain our health,” he explains.
Wallace and his wife Kristi Rousseau love their adopted hometown of Jacksonville since moving to the city in 2013. They live in the Southern Pines community, and daughter Kennedy also lives in Jacksonville, with her daughter Lyla.
Kristi is a career administrator and educator who works for Clay County Public Schools. In typical tech savvy GenX fashion, the couple met via online dating in Detroit. “We both had, and we still do have active careers. I was working a lot of hours, and I had never encountered online dating before. I gave it a try, found my wife, and that was it,” Wallace quips.
An avid offshore deep-sea fisherman, he enjoys fishing for Snapper, Grouper, Wahoo, and Tuna to name a few. “I lived in South Florida for twelve years, that’s where I picked up the passion for it,” he explains. He fishes locally out of St. Augustine, and on down south to the Keys.
Down-time is spent at home relaxing, and he especially loves spending time with his granddaughter. “That’s how I like to wind down. Sort of low-key family activities. They like the water, they love swimming. I like to sit back and read a book, maybe listen to music.”
His musical tastes run the gamut from reggae to smooth jazz. When he’s working out he prefers to move to the beats of “house music” to control the intensity of his training.
“As far as I know, you only get one life. You’ve got to make it count, right? So I try to make sure that I make a difference, to do something that matters, every day. That’s where I am at this stage in life,” he says.
Aundra Wallace is President of JAXUSA Partnership, the private, nonprofit regional economic development arm of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. He also serves as Vice Chairperson for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Board Chair of Goodwill Industries of NE Florida, and Local Advisory Board Member at LISC Jacksonville.
