Cuppa Jax - Sherry Magill, JaxLookout

Cost $15 -- Breakfast provided by The Fresh Fork

Wednesday, Nov. 13

8:00 - 9:00 am

Riverplace Tower Skyline Room

Sherry Magill served as President/Executive Director of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, a private grantmaking foundation located in Jacksonville, Florida, from 1993-2018. During her tenure, Magill led the Fund’s court effort to increase the number of the Fund’s trustees and spearheaded development of the Jessie Ball duPont Center, a nationally recognized retrofitting and repurposing of the defunct Haydon Burns Library into a nonprofit and philanthropic center.

Prior to joining the Fund's staff in 1991 as Program Officer for Education, Dr. Magill served as Vice President and Deputy to the President of Washington College, a small private liberal arts college located on Maryland's Eastern Shore. While at Washington College, shetaught courses in American Studies and on the American South, and in 1991 was selected by the graduating class to receive the Gold Pentagon Award for outstanding service to the college. She holds a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University of Alabama and a doctorate in American Studies from Syracuse University. She has served as a senior moderator for the Aspen Institute, and is the founding executive director of the Wye Faculty Seminar, a nationally recognized enrichment program for professors teaching in the nation's small colleges.

Dr. Magill holds an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Jacksonville University, Randolph-Macon College, Lynchburg College, Florida Southern College, and The University of the South. She is recipient of the 2016 EVE Employment Award, the 2018 OneJax Humanitarian Silver Medallion Award, the 2019 EVE of the Decade Award, and the Dorion-Burt Heart of Gold Award.

In addition to having served as chair of the Council on Foundations board, State of Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, the P.A.C.E. Center for Girls state board, and the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center for Girls and Young Women board, Dr. Magill is past president of the Jacksonville Women’s Network board, a past member of the Southeastern Council of Foundations board, the Leadership Jacksonville board, the Southern Education Foundation board, the Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies board, and the Council of Independent Colleges board. She is a founding member and past chair of the Florida Philanthropic Network. Currently, she chairs the Local Initiatives Support Corporation-Jacksonville (LISC) advisory committee and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation board, and serves as member of LOCUS Impact Investing boards. She is an alumni member of Leadership Jacksonville, Class of 1993, and Leadership Florida, Class XIV.

In fall term 2019, she held the Nannerl Keohane Visiting Professorship at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in partnership with Duke University.

JaxLookout Redux is an internet-based substack tool designed to connect Jacksonville’s citizens to the community’s most critical issues and encourage those citizens to participate in the city’s decision-making processes.

We are not journalists nor will we conduct investigative reporting. However, we will draw on published pieces by local journalists to assist interested citizens in deepening their understanding of local challenges while explaining how citizens might make their voices and concerns heard by local policy-makers.

And through our comment section and polling tool, albeit unscientific, we hope to give more people a place to express thoughtful opinions about our most pressing challenges.

We meet at Riverplace Tower, also known as the Ameris Bank building. This is a walkable location along the Southbank Riverwalk and also convenient to the First Coast Flyer and the Skyway Riverplace Station.

There is limited free street parking, and paid parking is also available in a neighboring surface lot and garage.

Entering from the Riverwalk: take the stairs or elevator next to Village Bread Company up to the Skyline Room.

Entering from Riverplace Blvd: take the escalators and walk toward the back of the building, behind the Ameris Bank offices.

Entering from the garage: make a right at the first bank of elevators and another right into the hallway between the Ameris Bank offices.

Entering from the driveway between Riverplace Tower and the Doubletree: Walk down the hallway to the left, and make another left toward Fresh Fork. Take the elevator or stairs near Fresh Fork to the meeting space.

Cuppa Jax holds gatherings for neighborhood and community leaders that are open to everyone in Jacksonville. Join us on Wednesday mornings in the Skyline Room in the Riverplace Tower on the Southbank to discuss important issues facing our city.

Scheduled speakers will talk for 10-15 minutes. The rest of the time is spent with Q&A and discussion of relevant issues brought up by participants. We also encourage attendees to make community announcements at the beginning of the program.

No membership fee. Unlike many other discussion forums in Jacksonville, there is no membership fee to attend or participate in Cuppa Jax. We do ask attendees to cover the cost of coffee and breakfast provided by Fresh Fork. If you cannot attend due to the cost of the event, please email [email protected] and we will be glad to cover your ticket.

Topical and timely. We are seeking local thought leaders who can discuss and educate about important community issues to speak at future dates. We don’t accept offers to speak about or pitch organizations. Cuppa Jax is non-partisan, and does not endorse candidates or issues. An offer to speak does not constitute an endorsement. It is simply an opportunity for the community to have a meaningful discussion.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Skyline Room, Riverplace Tower, 1301 Riverplace Boulevard, Jacksonville, United States