Jay Shidler is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Shidler Group. A nationally recognized expert and innovator in the fields of finance and real estate investment, Mr. Shidler has a proven ability to identify significant emerging trends and to organize and capitalize new companies to benefit from those trends. He has founded and been the initial investor in over 20 public and private companies, five of which have been listed on the NYSE.
Mr. Shidler received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Hawaii in 1968. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He completed his military service in 1971 and returned to Honolulu to form The Shidler Group.
It was in Hawaii, where much of the Land is on long-term Ground Leases, that Mr. Shidler first realized the benefit of the inherent non-debt financial leverage provided by Ground Leases. As an active owner/operator, first in Hawaii and next in Manhattan, he began to acquire buildings on Land that was Ground Leased, to reduce his equity investments and to enhance the returns on those investments.
It is ironic that now, 50 years later, as a passive investor and on behalf of his philanthropic activities, Mr. Shidler acquires the Land underlying the very type of Leasehold improvements that he purchased as part of his earliest investment strategy.
Mr. Shidler is an active supporter of numerous educational, cultural, and charitable organizations, including The Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii and The Shidler Family Foundation.