A Career of Service, A Future of Possibility: Boyer’s Next Journey

The last Monday of June 2025 closed the chapter on 14 years in public service for former Downtown Investment Authority CEO Lori Boyer, who retired June 30, and now she is looking forward to a time in her life that offers more free time in her schedule, more family time and more involvement in her favorite volunteer organizations.

Her retirement from DIA may not be the end of public service for her, however: Boyer may be finishing up a chapter in her life right now, but a return to public office is not out of the question in the future. She is eligible to run for City Council after six years away from an elected office.

“Is it an idea? Some people have reached out to me, but I’m not sure it’s something I want to do at this stage,” said Boyer. “Right now, things are evolving. I want to have the freedom to travel some, so if I took a position right now, it would be as a consultant or part-time because I want more control over my schedule.”

Boyer was known to put in some long hours to handle the issues of the day while serving on the city council and DIA, and she is pleased with the results.

“There are costs in terms of your own personal time, and it’s not the most lucrative thing to be spending time on, but it was just tremendously rewarding,” said Boyer. “I feel like I have been very blessed in my life and God gave me certain talents. The idea was, how can I use them to help at least a small part of the world be a better place.”

City Council

Boyer first stepped into public service after being elected to the District 5 city council seat in 2011. She had lived in San Marco since 1987 and gained knowledge of the area and its issues by volunteering with the San Marco Preservation Society, serving as its president twice. In 2015, Boyer was re-elected to the city council, and, during the first year of her second term, she was elected by her fellow council members to serve as council vice president. The following year, she was elected council president.

One of the larger projects that she took on was leading a special committee of the City Council on Capital Improvement Projects (CIP), to review outstanding CIP projects. The committee found hundreds of completed CIPs, but they had leftover funds that were never closed out. The research discovered approximately $50 million in unused funding.

“It was something a lot of people had aspired to get done, but nobody was willing to devote the time to it,” said John Crescimbeni, DIA contract and regulatory compliance manager and former city council member who worked with Boyer on the project. “It was a long, drawn-out process, but we got a lot of stuff cleaned up and off the books.”

“That’s part of her leadership, she could draw you in and you wanted to be on the team,” added Crescimbeni.

Former City Council President Bill Gulliford has always admired Boyer’s work ethic and diligence. He worked with Boyer on a special committee that reviewed Jacksonville’s consolidated form of government.

“I knew that if I was on the opposite side of an issue with her, I had better have my homework done because she was always prepared for a good debate,” said Gulliford.

Boyer’s work on the city council did not go unnoticed by those who would follow her in public office.

“Lori Boyer has always led with future generations in mind. Every project she took on wasn’t just about addressing immediate needs, but about creating lasting value for the community,” said Joe Carlucci, current District 5 City Council member. “Her vision and commitment to thoughtful, long-term improvements continue to shape San Marco today – and will for years to come. That kind of leadership inspires me, and it’s the approach I hope to carry forward in serving District 5.”

Downtown Investment Authority

After reaching the term limit for serving on the city council, Boyer stepped into her next role as DIA CEO in 2019. Looking back, she has been pleased with the changes that have occurred to create momentum downtown.

“If you would have asked me that question four years ago, I would have said Vista Brooklyn because it took our downtown rents to a new threshold and because of the construction type,” said Boyer. “Then I would have said Four Seasons, because it was a pioneer project in the Shipyards area. The City had been trying to get something in the Shipyards area for 20 years, at least.”

The recent project that she is excited to see progress is the downtown riverfront parks system.

“It is not a singular project, but an implementation of a collective vision for the riverfront that includes connection through all these public parks and public spaces along the river, interspersed with private development,” said Boyer. “Making this a linear connected system, I think, is really a vision of the future downtown Jacksonville that has allowed
a lot of other things to happen.”