277: Founding the Largest Farmland REIT with Paul Pittman, Founder of Farmland Partners

Paul Pittman is the founder and executive chairman of Farmland Partners, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that purchases, leases, and manages high-quality farmland throughout North America. Paul grew up in a farm family and has been buying and operating farms since the mid-1990s. Many of his farmland assets in Illinois, Nebraska, and Colorado were contributed to Farmland Partners Inc. at the time of its initial public offering in 2014. Paul has served as the company's Chairman since that time, and he remains one of its largest shareholders. He was the company's CEO until February 2023. Before devoting full attention to his farming and farmland ownership businesses, Paul was the CFO of Jazz Technologies, a publicly traded semiconductor foundry. Prior, he started TheJobsite.com, which merged into HomeSphere, an enterprise software company where Paul served as President. Paul has worked as an investment banker in London, New York, and San Francisco, specializing in mergers and acquisitions with Merrill Lynch, Wasserstein Perella & Co, and ThinkEquity. He began his career as an attorney with Sullivan & Cromwell.  Connect with Farmland Partners Website | LinkedIn