Former Gov. Charlie Crist to step down from St. Joe Co. board

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will step down as a director of the St. Joe Co., a Panhandle-based real estate development and timber company. One of Florida's largest private land owners, St. Joe historically has long been considered a politically well-connected corporation in Tallahassee.

Crist informed St. Joe of his decision last month. His formal notification appears this week in the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Crist, now an attorney with the Morgan & Morgan law firm and a possible Democratic challenger to Florida Gov. Rick Scott in the 2014 election, said he will finish out his current term on St. Joe's board of directors but not seek re-election at the annual shareholders meeting on May 16.

Crist joined the St. Joe board in 2011 when activist investor Bruce Berkowitz, a mutual fund manager from Miami who owned about one-third of St. Joe's outstanding shares, won a battle for the governance of the company. He installed several prominent new directors, including Crist.