Join other CEOs and business leaders in Northeast Florida who are building great businesses for a greater purpose.
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It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn’t have to be.
We know leaders limit their potential when they lead from isolation. But, when surrounded by trusted advisors with a common goal and a biblical worldview, they can maximize performance and energize cultures. With faith as the foundation, this powerful group of peers meet in an exclusive, confidential forums around the Jacksonville metro, Gainesville, and Ocala to have their questions answered and their answers questioned.
Chairs
Business Forum Leaders in the Northeast Florida Area
BOB SHALLOW
Bob was blessed with a unique 28-year corporate career that touched many aspects of business leadership. This included working for…
BOB SHALLOW
BRETT KIRKLAND
Brett brings a wide range of experience to his C12 Chair role. Early in his career, he served as an…
BRETT KIRKLAND
VAUGHAN ROBISON
Vaughan Robison brings over 15 years of leadership, consulting and entrepreneurial experience to his role as a Chairman of the…
VAUGHAN ROBISON
JOSHUA SIZEMORE
I was born in Homestead Florida in 1976, the youngest of three. I would say I had a safe and…
JOSHUA SIZEMORE
I was born in Homestead Florida in 1976, the youngest of three. I would say I had a safe and fun-loving childhood growing up. Mom and Dad loved each other, and we were the “leave it to beaver” family. My family grew up lower middle class in a not so good neighborhood. My dad would tell me, “We don’t have a lot of things son, but we have love and that’s all we really need.” At the age of ten our family moved to Jacksonville Florida, and we have been living here ever since.
I married at the age of 20 and became an instant father. My marriage was extremely difficult to navigate as a young man. I married a woman that had been treated very poorly as a child. She had many unhealed wounds from her past that made our marriage a very volatile and hostile environment. As time went on, I did my best to become a better man and leader of our home by reading books, praying, seeking counsel, prayer and learning new ways to cope. But it never brought the peace and calm that I desired and experienced in my childhood home growing up. After two years into our marriage my wife become pregnant, and we had three children total in the span of four years. This also added great stress to an already stressful environment. As I was working and trying hard to stay afloat, I heard Father tell me to start an IT business. At that time, I had $1,000 in the bank, a mortgage, a decent paying job, a car payment, my wife’s student loans, some medical bills, and some credit card debt. So, I quit my good paying job and started an IT company in my garage. I found something that I was good at and poured all my energy and time into. (My little kingdom) I took something that God had blessed and started and turned $1,000 into millions of dollars. The problem was that I became completely intoxicated with work. This became my new identity. Success and pleasure were my new god. I found so much happiness in fixing other people’s problems when it came to IT and the money was, well, amazing! Before I sold WorldwideIT in 2016 I was netting almost $1,000,000 a year in profits. As a young man in his 30s with little self-control you can see how toxic this elixir is.
My marriage unraveled at the seams, and I filed for divorce in 2009. It was the most painful and difficult time of my life. I ended up getting custody of my three children at the age of 7, 8, and 9. With this new start I was able to really focus on rebuilding my broken family and business. I found though that only after a few months that the pull of the world just sucked me back in. During the week I was great being a father to my children and focused on building the IT business, but on the weekends and summers when they would go away with their mother, I would go mad searching for pleasure and “FUN”. This quickly became a problem, and I almost imploded my life. Thankfully God in all His mercy sent a new woman to me. A woman who was just as broken as I currently was but could see right through all my posturing and elaborate disguises I had created. We quickly married after 6 months of dating and blended our family. Her three children and my three children. It was a mess! I, again, had created, in my poor decision to not wait and give us more time dating, a perfect storm. Thankfully Melissa, my wife stuck with me even after asking and telling her to leave my house four times. This is what finally broke me. Seeing her love for me while I was being the most contemptible person you could imagine. It broke my heart to see her still loving me and choosing to stay with me. Her love for me changed everything. I began to open up again to love. I finally broke the walls down that I had built up of cynicism, contempt, bitterness, sadness, and distrust of anyone.
I sold my company in 2016 and in 2018 I left my position as regional VP to really get away and get my heart back. Which, because of Christ, I did. For two years and eight months I did not work and in this season, Jesus gave me wonderful gifts. One of them was Him leading me out of my addiction to alcohol which was the hardest personal battle I have ever faced. I still long for the taste of it but know it’s not good for me and will lead me to death. In this season, I found joy, peace, and life again. His name is Jesus, and His ways are amazing. In October 2020 my old company asked me to come back and run the Jacksonville office. After prayer and confirmation, I came back and ran the Jacksonville office for one year and was able to make our region more profitable, with less clients and less staff. Now we will start the new journey as a C12 Chair.
DAVE STEWART
Dave’s life has been marked by commitment, perseverance and purpose. He began working part-time in college for United Parcel Service,…
DAVE STEWART
Dave’s life has been marked by commitment, perseverance and purpose.
He began working part-time in college for United Parcel Service, loading trucks every evening. In a short time, he joined the management team and began a journey through numerous leadership positions in operations, industrial engineering and labor relations in Florida, Georgia, and Colorado.
In 2003, after 21 years and while working as the Operations Division Manager for a large segment of the state of Colorado and overseeing a workforce of over 900 employees, Dave felt led by God to leave his corporate position and pursue a calling to vocational ministry and ordination as the Executive Pastor of Outreach at Compassion Christian Church in Savannah, Georgia. His responsibilities included serving on the church’s Executive Leadership Team while leading the Outreach staff along with hundreds of volunteers to impact the world through strategic international and stateside partnerships.
Through the Lord’s blessings, he was privileged in those years to see the church grow through significant phases – from weekly attendance of 500 to over 9000 on six campuses and a multi-million dollar annual outreach budget.
In this role, Dave traveled extensively to coordinate cross-cultural, collaborative networking through multiple global partnerships in over 20 different countries with a purpose to alleviate human suffering, empower self-sustainability, and restore hope, all to the Glory of God.
In late 2021, he and his wife Lynn were led to return back to family and their hometown of Jacksonville where Dave worked with a lifelong friend as an Executive Sales Manager in a major expansion of his local business.
In August of 2022, he went all in on the vision of C12.
Throughout his life’s journey, Dave has always been a student of leadership development and team health. He strongly believes leadership is influence and consequently the balance of Christ-like leadership with sound, relevant business principles produces the best in executive teams.
In his spare time, he loves to be on his Indian motorcycle or laughing with his family.
Dave’s been married to his beautiful wife Lynn for 40 years and they have three sons, two daughters-in-love, and three grandchildren.
They worship at the Church of Eleven22 and live in the San Jose area of Jacksonville.
“C12 is everything I was looking for and more of what I didn’t know I needed. My peers challenge me in my blind spots, love me in hard times, and encourage me to glorify God in the way I lead my team. It’s a home for business leaders.”
