HASKELL
THE ARCHITECT OF CHANGE
Haskell transformed his industry through design-build, a concept so radical that, at the time, 43 states had laws prohibiting it. Halverson remembers Haskell’ s response when told about those legal barriers:“ He goes,‘ I know, and we’ re going to change every one of them.’ I thought it was the most absurd thing I ever heard. And guess what? They all changed,” said Halverson.
This relentlessness, which Halverson calls one of Haskell’ s defining characteristics, extends well beyond business innovation. In 1999, when Hurricane Floyd threatened Jacksonville, businesses were closing out of an abundance of caution. When Halverson approached Haskell about closing, he pulled out handwritten calculations showing there was only a 16 % chance Jacksonville would be impacted. Haskell believed that if they stayed open, they could get ahead of the competition by a couple of days. Ultimately, Haskell sided with Halverson’ s recommendation, the company erred on the side of caution and closed. The hurricane did exactly as Haskell predicted, skating to the north of Jacksonville.“ I had to listen to‘ I told you so’ for the next two weeks,” Halverson said.
In 2000, during the presidential election, Duval County had 30,000 votes that were improperly counted. With the situation on the brink of national controversy, then-Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney asked Haskell to chair a task force. Halverson remembers being in
16 WAV E MAGAZINE | Spring 2026