Jeff Greene (born December 10, 1954) is an American

real estate entrepreneur Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. Some investors actively ...

. He is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and was a candidate in the 2010 Senate election primaries in Florida. He was a candidate in the 2018 Florida Gubernatorial election, but was eliminated in the primary, finishing in fourth place behind eventual nominee Tallahassee Mayor

Andrew Gillum Andrew Demetric Gillum (born July 26, 1979) is an American former politician who served as the 126th mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 to 2018. He served as a Tallahassee city commissioner from 2003 until 2014, first elected at the age of 23. He ...

, whom Greene later endorsed.

Early life

Greene was born in 1954 in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

to a working class

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family.Forbes: The Reluctant Billionaire by Susan Kitchens
September 11, 2008 He graduated from

Doherty Memorial High School Doherty Memorial High School is a public high school of commerce located in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It opened its doors in the fall of 1966, replacing two closing schools: Worcester Classical High School and Worcester Commerce Hi ...

in Worcester after his family moved to Florida in 1970 when his father lost his business, staying with his great-aunt while he finished school. In Florida, his father worked refilling vending machines and his mother worked as a waitress. Greene worked many jobs to put himself through college at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, graduating in three years with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. Later he attended Harvard Business School, where he earned his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

(MBA) degree in 1977. Greene lived in Southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in the 1980s and 1990s and ran in the 1982 Republican primary for the 23rd Congressional District race. Greene lost the primary to David Armor who then lost to incumbent Democrat Anthony C. Beilenson.

Career

Greene began investing in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

while in business school, and built a successful real estate business from being a busboy at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. In mid-2006, Greene, worried about the possible collapse of the real estate market, spoke with

John Paulson John Alfred Paulson (born December 14, 1955) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager. He leads Paulson & Co., a New York-based investment management firm he founded in 1994. He has been called "one of the most prominent names in high fina ...

, a fellow investor who discussed with Greene his investing strategy. They agreed that the real estate market was unstable and a bubble might be forming in housing. After the meeting, Greene engaged in a similar investing strategy to that of Paulson, which involved a series of unconventional investments trading

credit default swaps A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer in the event of a debt default (by the debtor) or other credit event. That is, the seller of the CDS insures the buyer against so ...

. The return on Greene's investments ultimately saved his business, and put him on ''Forbes'' 400 list.

2010 US Senate campaign

On April 30, 2010, Greene announced his intention to run as a Democrat for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

seat held by

George LeMieux George Stephen LeMieux ( ; born May 21, 1969) is an American former politician who was a United States Senator from Florida from 2009 to 2011. He is chairman of the Florida-based law firm of Gunster Yoakley & Stewart and was chief of staff to Go ...

, saying, "I am an outsider, the only candidate who isn't a career politician. I've succeeded in the real world of hard work – the others have only succeeded at running for political office after office." Greene stated he would refuse campaign contributions from

special interests Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...

, and would limit individual donations to $100. His platform focused on economic reforms and job creation. Greene introduced his story and his campaign with a . Greene's campaign was endorsed by the ''

Tallahassee Democrat The ''Tallahassee Democrat'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper. It covers the area centered on Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida, as well as adjacent Gadsden County, Jefferson County, and Wakulla County. The newspaper is owned by Gannett Co., ...

s editorial board. The board commended Greene for his "edge and an energy that make him want to push beyond the usual talking points", remarking, "we like the toughness he would bring to the office". Greene's attempt to win the Democratic nomination was, however, unsuccessful; Rep.

Kendrick Meek Kendrick Brett Meek (born September 6, 1966) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2003 to 2011. After serving in both houses of the Florida Legislature, Meek was elected to Congress in the 2002 election to s ...

won the primary election before losing to Republican Marco Rubio in the November general election.

Personal life

In 2007, Greene married

Chinese Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chines ...

real estate executive Mei Sze Chan, who is twenty years his junior in age. Chan is an ethnic

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

refugee from

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

who first fled to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

with her family before heading to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

after college. In 2009, she gave birth to their first child, Malcolm. Greene and his wife now have three sons and live in Palm Beach. Greene was quoted as saying, "I just wish I had met Mei Sze 20 years ago". In February 2011, Greene became a signatory of

The Giving Pledge The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage extremely wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. , the pledge has 236 signatories from 28 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, a ...

References

External links

*
Campaign contributions
at

OpenSecrets.org OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Jeff 1954 births American billionaires American real estate businesspeople Florida Democrats Giving Pledgers 21st-century philanthropists Harvard Business School alumni Jewish American people in Florida politics Johns Hopkins University alumni Living people People from Palm Beach, Florida Businesspeople from Worcester, Massachusetts California Republicans Candidates in the 1982 United States elections Candidates in the 2010 United States elections Candidates in the 2018 United States elections 21st-century American Jews Doherty Memorial High School alumni