Jay H. Shidler

Jay H. Shidler
Born	(1946-04-20)April 20, 1946 Pasadena, California U.S.
Residence	Honolulu, Hawaii U.S.
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
Occupation	Managing Partner, The Shidler Group
Religion	Protestant
Spouse(s)	Wallette Sue (Amoy) Shidler
Children	Summer Lei D'Anna

Jay Harold Shidler (/ʃaɪd-lər/ SHīd-ler; born April 20, 1946) is an American investor and philanthropist.^[1] Shidler is the managing partner of The Shidler Group,^[2] a national real estate investment organization and is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Shidler Family Foundation.

Biography

Born in Pasadena, California, Jay H. Shidler, the son of a career U.S. Army officer and a homemaker, grew up on numerous military bases around the world. Shidler attended the University of Hawai‘i and graduated in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. After graduating from the University of Hawai‘i, Shidler was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Returning to Hawaii in 1971 as a First Lieutenant, Jay Shidler formed the real estate investment firm The Shidler Group.

Since forming The Shidler Group in 1971, Shidler has acquired and owned more than 2,000 commercial properties in 40 U.S. states and Canada.^[3] He founded and was the initial investor in over 30 public and private companies issuing in excess of $8.5 billion of debt and equity securities.

Shidler was co-founder and the initial Chairman of TriNet Corporate Realty Trust (TriNet), which he took public and listed on the NYSE in 1993 (NYSE: TRI).^[4] TriNet was one of the real estate industry’s first publicly traded REITs focused exclusively on net leased commercial properties. Headquartered in San Francisco, TriNet became the largest publicly-traded company specializing in sale/leaseback transactions.^[5] In 1999 TriNet merged with iStar Financial, Inc.,^[6] now iStar Inc. (NYSE: STAR).

Shidler was co-founder and the initial Chairman of First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (First Industrial), which he took public and listed on the NYSE in 1994 (NYSE: FR).^[7] Headquartered in Chicago, First Industrial was one of the industry’s first publicly-traded REITs to focus exclusively on industrial property.

Shidler was co-founder and the initial Chairman of Corporate Office Properties Trust (Corporate Office), which he took public and listed on the NYSE in 1997 (NYSE: OFC).^[8] Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, Corporate Office Properties was one of the first REITs to focus on serving the specialized requirements of United States Government agencies and defense contractors.

Shidler, one of the wealthiest people in Hawaii,^[9][10] is a major collector of abstract expression art and is a trustee of the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Shidler has been a Hawaii resident since 1964 and has been married to Wallette (Amoy) Shidler since 1970.

Philanthropy and The Shidler Family Foundation

In 2006, Shidler donated $25 million to the College of Business at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in Honolulu. The college, renamed the Shidler College of Business,^[11] used the gift to increase student scholarships and faculty research support, expand academic programs, provide matching gift opportunities, and renovate and upgrade classrooms, buildings and the surrounding environment.^[12]

Later Shidler gave an additional $6 million to further renovate the College facilities, and in 2014 made an additional $69 million commitment to the Shidler College of Business, growing his total gift to $100 million.^[13][14] Shidler’s gift is the largest individual donation in the history of the University of Hawaii.^[15]

The gifts to the University of Hawai‘i included cash, marketable securities and interests in the land (leased fee interests) underlying U.S. office buildings and hotels. The initial land gifts included the leased fee interests in the land under office buildings in the CBDs of Chicago, Illinois; Charlotte, North Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; Tampa, Florida; and Long Beach, California.^[16]

During 2015 Shidler gave the University of Hawai‘i interests in the land underlying 19 Marriott and Hilton hotels. These included the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites Midtown Penn Station in New York City as well as hotels in Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh, and Orlando.

On the 100th anniversary of its formation AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) named Shidler one of the world’s 100 most influential leaders in making an impact on business education. Other individuals honored included Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman Emaar Properties; Gary P. Brinson, The Brinson Foundation; Richard Liu, Co-Founder of JD.Com; Colin Powell, Former U.S. Secretary of State; John Stumpf, Chairman Wells Fargo; and Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart.^[17]

In addition to his personal philanthropy, Shidler is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Shidler Family Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) trust focused on education and the arts in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Shidler College of Business

The Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawai‘i is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.^[18][19] U.S. News & World Report ranks the College among the top 25 percent of business programs in the nation, ranking 15th (tied with Northeastern University) in Nation in International Business.^[20]

References

External links

• UH benefits from alum's gift of $25M : Star Bulletin article