Ed Burr is president and CEO of GreenPointe Holdings, LLC, headquartered in Jacksonville. Prior to leading GreenPointe, Burr founded the LandMar Group LLC in 1987. He is perhaps best known, however, as a noted Northeast Florida community leader, having served on numerous business, civic and community organizations throughout the years. He was recently honored for that leadership at the Rotary Club of Ponte Vedra’s Mineral City Celebration event, where he was recognized for his dedication to child advocacy. In 1997, Burr founded the Monique Burr Foundation, a nonprofit child protection and child advocacy organization, to honor his late wife, Monique Burr. He has since remarried, and he and his wife, Billie Jo Burr, are Beaches residents. Burr has two sons from his first marriage and two stepchildren.
What are your chief responsibilities as CEO of GreenPointe Holdings?
GreenPointe Holdings oversees a couple of subsidiaries. The most significant one is GreenPointe Communities. We are primarily a master-plan community developer throughout the state of Florida. I oversee a staff of vice presidents and managers who are spread throughout the state, and I am responsible for the financial propriety, regulations and success of the company. We have 14 different communities and almost 16,000 lots throughout the state. We’re proud of the job that we do.
What do you find to be the most challenging part of your job?
This industry is a challenging industry, but every industry has its challenges. We certainly face challenges in dealing with long-term forecasting and long-term economic impacts that are out of our control. Short-term, we face challenges with permitting and entitlement issues that we have to confront.
The most rewarding?
The most rewarding part is when you ride through communities that you dreamed at one time on paper and see people living the lifestyle you dreamed. You see kids on bicycles and curtains in the windows, children on the soccer field and swimming in the swimming pool. When you see people enjoying their home, that’s a special reward. What you dreamed was possible, and they’re realizing the dream along with you.
How was the Monique Burr Foundation started?
The Monique Burr Foundation really found its roots in my wife, Monique, who was killed tragically in a car wreck in 1996. She was only 36 at the time of her death, but she had already accomplished a lot in the area of children. She was committed to children – particularly to the area of prevention and intervention of child abuse. In the sadness of her loss, as friends and loved ones gathered together, we thought of what we could do. We thought that trying to let her legacy live on would be the most important thing we could do. The foundation was formed in 1997, a year to the day that she was killed.
What are some of the foundation’s main programs?
We focus on child abuse and bullying prevention education in the elementary schools through the MBF Child Safety Matters program. We provide it free to all the elementary schools in Florida. This year, we will reach over 600,000 young students through the program, which is state-of-the-art in the country. When you read the statistics of sexual abuse and when you read the impact and statistics of bullying, you understand how vital that education is. Our program helps to train young kids who are the most vulnerable. We think we can change those children’s lives and change generations to come because when you break the cycle of abuse, you break it for generations that follow.
What do you think your late wife would think of the work the foundation is doing?
The foundation has done a lot through its history. I think today she would look proudly on what’s happened. We touch a lot of children’s lives.
Are there other civic and charitable activities in which you’re involved?
I’m the current chairman of the Jacksonville Civic Council and a current board member and past chair of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. I’m also currently vice chair of the Jacksonville Electric Authority and serve on the board of trustees of Florida State University.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I’ve got two boys ages 22 and 25, and fortunately we have a lot of hobbies in common. We love winter sports, including skiing, and my oldest son snowboards. We also love fishing – that’s my oldest son’s passion – and my youngest son’s passion is golf. So between my two boys, I’m pretty lucky. One loves fishing and the other one loves golf.
