Jay H. Shidler is the founder and managing partner of The Shidler Group. A nationally acknowledged expert in the field of real estate investment and finance, Shidler is known for his ability to identify significant emerging trends and his effectiveness in organizing and capitalizing new companies in order to benefit from those trends.

Since forming The Shidler Group in 1971, Shidler (pronounced SHY-dler) has acquired and managed over 2,000 properties in 40 states and Canada. He has founded and has been the initial investor in public and private companies issuing in excess of $8.5 billion of debt and equity securities. Of the many successful companies Shidler has founded, four are now listed on the New York Stock Exchange - TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, Inc. (now called iStar Financial, Inc. NYSE: SFI), First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FR), Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC), and Primus Guaranty, Ltd. (NYSE: PRS). In 2006, Shidler formed Pacific Office Properties Trust, which he plans to take public in 2007.

In recent years, The Shidler Group has been one of Hawaii's most active commercial investors and largest commercial property owners, with more than 1.5 million square feet of Hawaii office space in its portfolio - approximately 10 percent of the state's total. Its holdings include Davies Pacific Center, City Center, Waterfront Plaza, First Insurance Center and the Pan Am Building.

Born in Pasadena, California, Shidler was the son of an Army officer and grew up in a number of places around the world, including California, Michigan, Virginia, Maryland, Japan and Germany. His father received orders to Hawaii prior to Shidler's high school graduation in Maryland, and the young man picked the University of Hawaii at Manoa over several East Coast universities. He entered UH in the fall of 1964 and graduated in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

While at UH, Shidler became interested in real estate and worked part-time for several real estate firms. He made several successful, but minor, real estate investments while still a student and decided he wanted to pursue a career in real estate investment. During his senior year, he initiated and participated in the successful development of the 1111 Wilder condominium. He also began writing a weekly column on real estate investing for Pacific Business News, Hawaii's weekly business newspaper.

A year after graduating from UH, Shidler was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His younger - and only - brother Steve, a 1972 UH graduate, also earned a lieutenant's commission and later managed The Shidler Group's San Francisco office.

When Shidler returned from active duty in 1971, he formed The Shidler Group, housed in a small office in the Hawaii Tower of the former Amfac Center (now the Topa Financial Center). From the beginning the firm acted solely as an investor and did not work in brokerage or development. It bought existing properties and increased their value through renovation and repositioning them in the marketplace.

The Shidler Group bought its first building, the Polynesian Plaza on Kalakaua Avenue, which it still owns, in 1972. It expanded to the mainland with an acquisition in Santa Barbara, and in 1974 opened its first mainland office in Seattle. By the late 1980s, the Shidler Group had 12 offices on the mainland, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.

Shidler has been a Hawaii resident since 1964. He and Wallette, his wife of 36 years, have a 27-year-old daughter, Summer. He is an active supporter of a number educational, cultural, and charitable organizations, including The Shidler Family Foundation.