Jim Renninger

Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners

Commissioner Jim Renninger is the chairman of the Board of County Commissioners. He serves on the Public Safety Coordinating Council, Career Source Northeast Florida Consortium, and Clay County Value Adjustment Board. He also serves as liaison to the Clay County Economic Development Council and Chamber of Commerce and is president of the Northeast Florida League of Cities. He was appointed the first vice president of the Northeast Florida Regional Council and serves on the Council’s Executive Committee/Affordable Housing/Legislative Board/Board of Directors.

Renninger was elected in November 2020 to serve as District 3 Commissioner. He earned his Certified County Commissioner designation from the Florida Association of Counties in 2021.

He has lived in Orange Park for over 35 years, beginning when he was assigned as a U.S. Navy pilot at NAS Cecil Field. Renninger completed 26 years in the USN and attained the rank of Captain, retiring in 1998. Significant assignments included three commands and one Chief of Staff tour: Command tours consisted of Squadron Command in VS-24 - Cecil Field; Replacement Air Group (RAG) Command in VS-27 - Cecil Field; Wing Commander, Sea Strike Wing One - Cecil Field; and Chief of Staff for the USS George Washington (CVN-73) Battlegroup, serving Admiral Mike Mullen (who subsequently was assigned as the Chief of Naval Operations and finally as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). He is most noted for earning an Air Medal through superb airmanship and the first-ever barrier landing on an aircraft carrier in an S-3B, saving the $32 million aircraft and four lives from inevitable disaster.  

After retirement, he worked as a financial planner (1998-2002) and served Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ), where he was assigned as Director of the Aviation Center of Excellence at Cecil Airport (2002-2010), where his testimony to Congress on March 30, 2007, was critical to authorization and development of the Air Traffic Control education and training program at FSCJ. His last assignment was as Dean of Workforce Programs at the Downtown Campus (2010-2013).  

Commissioner Renninger has an extended community service history, elected three times to Orange Park Town Council, serving nine years as Mayor (two terms), Vice Mayor, and Councilman, terming out of office in May 2016. He also served as the President of the Northeast Florida League of Cities. He is on the Penney Farms Retirement Community board, the Portofino Condominium Association in Pensacola, and the Seasons Condominiums in Orange Park, Florida. He is a member of the Clay County Republican Executive Committee and Republican Men's Club and past President of the Navy League, Jacksonville Council. He is a Grace Anglican Church on Fleming Island member and serves in various social and professional organizations. Renninger has served honorably and collaboratively to produce results that improve the quality of life in the Northeast Florida Region.  

He is currently a businessman with various real estate assets and co-manager/co-founder of the consulting business Grant Development & Management, located in Orange Park. 

Renninger has been married to Dr. Phyllis Renninger for over 50 years and has four children and six grandchildren. All four children graduated from Orange Park High School and attended Florida universities.