OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The keynote speaker at the Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership’s monthly “exCEPtional Mornings” presentation on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2026, pulled few punches when discussing the futures of both Florida in general and Marion County in particular.

Florida Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Wilson is fond of saying that if Florida was a stock, he’d be buying as much of it as he could.

“I think our fundamentals in Florida are ridiculously strong,” he told the crowd at Ocala’s Reilly Arts Center Wednesday morning. “We’re adding almost a thousand people a day, and it’s the kind of company you would want to invest in.”

Regarding Marion County specifically, however, his outlook was a bit more of a mixed bag.

“If Florida was mutual fund, and you had 67 counties you could be investing in, would Marion County be in your mutual fund? I’m not sure it would be in mine,” Wilson said.

He went on to clarify his position, asking those in attendance, if he visited every political office, every commission meeting every nonprofit in the area, would he find everyone on the same page, pursuing the same shared vision for the future of Marion County and in agreement about how to achieve it?

“From the United Way to the chamber to the school board to the college to the county commission to the city council, are they focused on the same five to seven outcomes?” he said. “That would be something I would be looking at if you asked me if this place would be in my mutual fund.”

Where we are, and where we’re going

Wilson went on to share a wealth of data pertinent to both the goals of Florida’s 2030 Blueprint–which identifies six key “pillars” the state needs to focus on to maximize its potential as Florida swells to an estimated 26 million residents over the next five years–and the current issues Marion County needs to address in order to take advantage of the opportunities the state’s growth provides.

The six pillars of the 2030 Blueprint:

  • Talent supply and education
  • Innovation and economic development
  • Infrastructure and growth leadership
  • Business climate and competitiveness
  • Civic and governance systems
  • Quality of life and quality places

Some shortfalls and associated goals for Marion County:

  • Nearly 16,000 children live in poverty in Marion’s 21 zip codes, with half concentrated in just five of those zip codes–the county needs to raise half of those children out of poverty by 2030
  • Just 36 percent of Marion County children enter kindergarten fully prepared–the goal is 100 percent
  • Only 45 percent of Marion County third graders are reading at grade level–again, 100 percent by 2030 is the goal

Florida is already the 15th-largest economy in the world, Wilson said, and could be on track to be the 10th largest by 2030. Marion County alone will add another 55,000 people by 2030 and created fewer jobs this year than it did last year. There will be more people looking for work, in the schools, on the roads.

It’s happening, and it isn’t going to stop, Wilson said. The question is, how does Marion County deal with it, and take advantage of it, in the right way?

The thrust of his presentation was that, in order to get there, and to best benefit from it, the state–and Marion County–needs unified focus, coordination and cooperation.

“All these things have to happen in order for us to grow the right way, where every Floridian benefits from what we’re doing,” he said. “My question is, is everybody on the same page? Everything has to happen at once. You have to focus on education, you have to focus on economic development, you have to focus on infrastructure, moving people around, communication, affordable housing.

“We don’t need to spend more money, folks,” said Wilson. “We need to spend it better.”