Jay Strates, Principal.
Born and raised in Orlando, FL. Jay began working summers in his family business until graduating in 1992 from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business with an undergraduate degree in finance and an MBA with concentrations in human resources and decision science. Jay returned home from UF to work in his family business starting as the assistant to their Controller and eventually becoming the Director of Finance for Strates Shows, one of the largest carnival companies in the U.S.
After gaining over a decade of experience managing the family’s real estate investments, along with overseeing the day to day financial operations of the family business, Jay decided it was a natural transition to become a Licensed Broker, opening Strates Group in 2005.
Beyond brokering commercial transactions, Jay’s real estate experience includes agricultural land management, single family residential and mixed use project entitlement and permitting, as well as 1031 and 1033 tax deferred exchanges.
He has served as a director for the outdoor amusement business association since 2008 and chaired the national trade association in 2018.
Jay lives in Winter Park Florida with his wife Suzy and two children. He enjoys cycling, swimming, martial arts, and the outdoors.
Suzy Strates, Vice-President.
Suzy began her career in human resources at Help Personnel, Inc. Help Personnel focused on light industrial, warehousing and transportation related staffing. She continued on to eventually own and operate the largest independent staffing company in Central Florida with 3 offices, located in Seminole and Orange counties.
After selling Help Personnel in 2001, Suzy turned her focus toward the mortgage industry as a licensed mortgage broker. After the economic downturn in 2008, Suzy shifted her focus from conventional lending to hard equity lending. Primarily focusing on sourcing deals, Suzy also gained property management experience by assisting hard equity clients with foreclosures and repositioning of assets. In 2019, Suzy decided to join her husband in commercial real estate becoming Vice President as well as a licensed sales associate./p>
