Jake GeleerdPresident, CEO, & Co-Founder at Tortoise PropertiesSpeaker
Profile
Jake Geleerd continues to build upon his 30-plus year real estate career as owner, developer and operator of residential and commercial legacy assets across the country with a focus on South Florida where he has become a dedicated leader and contributor to the Greater Palm Beach County community.
He serves as a Board Member and Chairman’s Council of the Palm Beach Country Business Development Board (BDB), Board Member of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Chief Executives Organization (CEO.org) and Boulder Investment Group. He is incoming Chairman of the Board of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) in Chicago and a member in YPO Palm Beach, as well as Chairman of the Board of the YPO Golf Network.
Jake was an owner and CEO of Rogers Centre/SkyDome in Toronto, the home of Major League Baseball’s Blue Jays and the second home to the NFL Buffalo Bills. Jake was President of Ocean Tomo, a global IP merchant banc and a director at Clark Hill. A University of Illinois Gies School of Business graduate, Jake began his career in the real investment industry Equity Group, a private firm whose founder Sam Zell was a pioneer in real estate investment trusts. While there Geleerd underwrote and acquired significant assets and portfolios and then took them public as EOP, ELP and EQR. As a Zell disciple, Jake has embraced and mastered many of Zell’s best practices including the strategic and analytical pursuit of investing in the right assets in the right markets at the right times.
An avid golfer, Jake was a golf pro at Club Med and rose to Chairman of the “Best Ball Club” that presents golf events in Chicago, Phoenix, Palm Beach and Detroit. Jake has many wins including his win at the YPO Q Cup win at Querencia, Cabo, the Walter Cup Championship at Cherry Hill, and the HAGAF CUP VI at Pine Valley.
He is the founder of the Guy Geleerd Memorial Golf Invitational, created in memory of his dad, that over its 28 years has raised over $500,000 toward lung cancer research at the University of Chicago and the V-Foundation for Cancer Research. Jake is a friend to the Jewish United Fund, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Els for Autism Foundation, and many other worthwhile causes.