Jeffory Blackard is an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

working primarily in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. His developments include Adriatica, in which he intends to reproduce the look and feel of an old-world southern European village (most notably, an

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

coast

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n village) in Texas. He primarily acts as

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and founder o
Blackard Companies

Early life

Jeff Blackard was born in Peoria,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

to Richard and Janice Blackard. Blackard was the state

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

champion for 3 years running while in High School at Argenta-Oreana High School. Blackard was also the all-time leading scorer for his high school team and was recognized as a notable alumnus and in the school's hall of fame. He went to

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

on a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

scholarship which turned into a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

scholarship during his sophomore year. Blackard was later recognized as one of Northwestern's 100 most notable graduates for his work in philanthropy and his theory of village evolution, Neoretroism.

Real Estate

After graduating from Northwestern University in 1981, Blackard moved south to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and worked for Cambridge Companies before being made partner at age 26 and eventually leaving to develop over 15,000 single homes through the completion of projects including Lakes on Legacy, Griffin Parc and Pirates Beach and Cove in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

. In addition to an early focus on master-planned communities, Blackard also developed projects including multi-family complexes, office parks, retail, restaurants and resorts totaling over $2 billion in asset creation. After buying an interest in properties on the coast of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, Blackard has focused much of his work on the evolution process of a village. Adriatica, a $350 million vertically integrated, mixed-use development, is located in

McKinney, Texas McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas. The U.S. Census Bureau l ...

. Adriatica takes its inspiration from the Croatian fishing village of

Supetar Supetar (, it, San Pietro della Brazza) is a town on the northern side of the Dalmatian island of Brač, in the Split-Dalmatia County, in Croatia. It became the island's official centre in 1827. The Town of Supetar includes Supetar itself and th ...

on the island of

Brač Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of , making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is wide. The island's talle ...

. In the time since the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

, in addition to advising other real estate developers on the creation of villages, Blackard has undertaken new villages like Entrada in

Westlake, Texas : Westlake is a town in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas and a suburb of Dallas/Ft Worth. The population is 1,623 as of the 2020 United States census. History The area known as Westlake was originally settled in 1847 by ...

, Barisi and the revitalization of North Beach in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...

, and Wolf Lakes in

Georgetown, Texas Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census. It is 30 miles (48 km) north of Austin. Founded in 1875 from four existing colleges, the oldest of ...

Environmentalism

Blackard received an environmental commendation from the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

in association with the Delhide Cove Protection and Restoration Project that he undertook in the early 2000s. Blackard also donated an island North of Lafitte's Cove in Galveston, renamed The Robert M. "Bob" Moore Wildlife Sanctuary, to the Galveston Bay Foundation in 2007 for conservation, protection and enhancing of the South Texas

Wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

. In 2017, Blackard founded a company
Zero Global Waste
which operationalizes technology that converts

municipal waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...

into a fuel the company calls an alternative to

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

, called Edunite. The company is primarily active in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

Political Activism

Blackard is also an independent

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

, who supported 2012 United States Presidential candidate

Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007 and was the Senate's thir ...

in response to his stalwartly Christian policy positions. Blackard worked to bring Santorum to his village in McKinney, Adriatica, shortly after a successful

Super Tuesday Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominating co ...

in 2012 with Santorum leading in the polls. The ''

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

'' quoted Bud Kennedy, longtime reporter for the Star Telegram and Dallas Morning News, saying of Blackard, "He helped plan Santorum's euphoric visit to staunchly evangelical Collin County." Santorum went on to become a business partner to Blackard in Zero Global Waste. In 2017 Blackard was awarded the Friend of Croatia Award from the Association of Croatian American Professionals. He is a notable influencer in the politics of Croatia, having arranged meetings with high-level officials in American Politics, the

president of Croatia The president of Croatia, officially the President of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Predsjednik Republike Hrvatske), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the ...

and lobbying for a double taxation avoidance treaty.

Philanthropy

In the mid 1990s Blackard started the organization Amazon Outreach, a Christian charity with whom he built a 90-foot river boat to provide medical services to underserved areas of the Amazon River Basin. Blackard has also traveled to over 50 countries with e3 Partners, a mission organization known for its "

I am Second I Am Second is a US multimedia movement and not-for-profit organization that is designed to inspire people to "put Jesus Christ first." in their lives. It was founded in 2008 by Norm Miller, the CEO and Chairman of the Interstate Battery Syste ...

" campaign, including

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Personal

Blackard resides East of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

on his ranch in

Sulphur Springs, Texas Sulphur Springs is a city in and the county seat of Hopkins County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, its population was 15,449. Sulphur Springs is located along the western edge of Northeast Texas. History ...

with his wife Donna. He has five children. He is an

Evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackard, Jeff 1959 births Living people