{"id":149517,"date":"2026-02-10T00:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T00:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/149517\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T00:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T00:43:08","slug":"tony-jenkins-to-take-over-as-florida-blue-north-florida-market-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/149517\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Jenkins to take over as Florida Blue North Florida market president"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"h904752-p1\" class=\"permalinkable\">Tony Jenkins, Central Florida market president of Florida Blue, announced on social media Feb. 9 that he will be the company\u2019s new market president for North Florida, succeeding Darnell Smith.<\/p>\n<p id=\"h904752-p2\" class=\"permalinkable\">Smith announced on social media Feb. 4 \u00a0that he will retire this summer.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Darnell Smith, North Florida market president at Florida Blue, says he is retiring in summer 2026.\" class=\"media-element file-default fr-fic fr-dii\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Darnell_Smith_t850.jpeg\" title=\"Darnell Smith, North Florida market president at Florida Blue, says he is retiring in summer 2026.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Darnell Smith<\/p>\n<p id=\"h904752-p3\" class=\"permalinkable\">\u201cAfter 40+ years of calling Central Florida my second home, I\u2019ll soon be returning to my roots and hometown of Jacksonville, FL to take on a new role as Market President for Northeast Florida at Florida Blue. I\u2019m thrilled to be joining the team and following in the footsteps of my good friend and colleague, Darnell Smith, who recently announced his upcoming retirement,\u201d Jenkins said on his LinkedIn page.<\/p>\n<p id=\"h904752-p4\" class=\"permalinkable\">\u201cI want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone in Central Florida who has made my time here so rewarding and enjoyable. I\u2019ve had the privilege of building incredible friendships and partnerships over the years, and I\u2019m proud of the tremendous impact we\u2019ve made together in our community. While I\u2019m excited for this new chapter, it\u2019s not a goodbye &#8211; I\u2019ll still be visiting occasionally and look forward to staying connected with you all,\u201d Jenkins wrote.<\/p>\n<p id=\"h904752-p5\" class=\"permalinkable\">According to his LinkedIn profile, Jenkins was Florida Blue\u2019s Central Florida market president since 2006 after he was vice president for multicultural initiatives and diversity from 2001-06.<\/p>\n<p id=\"h904752-p6\" class=\"permalinkable\">Previously, Jenkins was director of equity and inclusion at CSX Corp. from 1998 to 2000.<\/p>\n<p id=\"h904752-p7\" class=\"permalinkable\">\u201cThe good news is that Central Florida will be in great hands. I\u2019m delighted to announce that my right-hand for over 17-years and current Market Leader Tanya Easterling, has been promoted and named as my successor to serve as the new Market President for Central Florida,\u201d Jenkins wrote.<\/p>\n<p id=\"h904752-p8\" class=\"permalinkable\">\u201cI have no doubt that Tanya has the knowledge, expertise, and passion to continue and build upon my legacy of success. I\u2019m extremely proud of her and excited to see the great things she\u2019ll accomplish. Thank you again to everyone in Central Florida for being part of my amazing journey. I\u2019m looking forward to this new chapter in Northeast Florida, and I\u2019m confident that our team will continue to thrive and make a positive impact in the many communities we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tony Jenkins, Central Florida market president of Florida Blue, announced on social media Feb. 9 that he will&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-149517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}