David J. Adelman

David J. Adelman is an American businessman. He is currently the president and CEO of Campus Apartments LLC, based in Philadelphia, and co-founder and chairman of Franklin Square Capital Partners.^[1]

Early career and education

Born to a Jewish family,^[2] Adelman invested in his first building as a teenager, using $2000 of the money he received from his bar mitzvah to do so. Adelman spent much of his young adulthood working during the summers for Alan Horwitz, founder of Campus Apartments, a company specializing in developing and managing university housing starting. At the age of seventeen he purchased his first solely-owned investment property. He graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1994, having also studied Finance there, and deferred his admission to the Temple University Beasley School of Law in order to continue working as a property manager at Campus Apartments.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Business career

Adelman joined Campus Apartments full-time after graduating from Ohio State, and eventually became the majority owner of the company after buying out the minority stakes of the senior management team.^[8] He told The New York Times that, "While in college, I worked in accounting and was a leasing agent, and after graduation I became a property manager. When I was 25, after I paid my dues, Alan moved up to chairman and I took over as C.E.O."^[9] Adelman became the company's president and CEO in 1997. In his early tenure, Adelman helped the University of Pennsylvania reduce the crime-rate in the neighborhood of its student housing, by entering a private-public partnership with the university to improve living standards. Adelman also founded the Campus Apartments subsidiary Campus Technologies, Inc, a telecommunications provider to Campus Apartments tenants that grew out of his personal 1999 purchase of Skyway Partners.^[6][7] Between 2005 and 2010, Campus Apartments grew from $200 million in owned or managed assets to $1.8 billion.^[10][11][12]

In 2008 Adelman partnered with Michael Forman to found Franklin Square Capital Partners, "a specialty finance company that intends to provide debt and equity financing to small- and middle-market private U.S. companies", according to Jeff Blumenthal.^[13] Adelman currently serves as the firm's Chairman. In 2008 he also became a Director of FS Investment Corporation, and in 2011 he became a Vice Chairman for the firm.^[6] In 2010 Adelman joined the Board of Trustees of FS Energy and Power Fund.^[14] Adelman is also a Director of ICG Group, Vice Chair of the University City District Board of Directors, Chairman of the National Multi Housing Council’s Student Housing Council,^[6] and chair of the Jewish Federation Real Estate of Philadelphia.^[15]

He is currently on the Board of Directors for FlockU.com.

Awards

In 2009 Adelman received the Multifamily Executive Magazine Executive of the Year award.^[7] In 2010 he received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in the real estate category for the Greater Philadelphia area.^[16] In 2011 he was the recipient of The Power Shift award for leadership.^[17] He was also the 2012 Homewood Suites Developer of the Year for Hilton Worldwide.^[18]

Personal life

Adelman is married to Hallee; they have two children: Sage and Jade.^[2] His wife is a schoolteacher with a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Learning Technologies from Drexel University who has been active in various organizations including the Simon’s Fund, the Philadelphia School Partnership, the Please Touch Museum, and the Young Presidents’ Organization.^[19] The couple are members of the Conservative Judaism Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania.^[20]

References