A Conversation with Jim Howard and Andrew Silsby

After 28 years and owning one of Maine’s largest commercial real estate portfolios, Jim Howard remains a name you might not know. On the latest MEREDA Matters, host Justin Laverriere and co-host Andrew Silsby, President and CEO of Kennebec Savings Bank, sit down with the founder of Priority Group to unpack the quiet playbook behind 62 property companies across Maine and New Hampshire. They trace Howard’s path from running Home Vision Video in the 1990s to building 31 Rusty Lantern Markets with John Koch and investing $90 million in the 15-year redevelopment of Brunswick Landing, where his work helped create 825 jobs and made Priority the largest private property owner on the former Naval Air Station. The conversation digs into why Howard stopped putting projects out to bid a decade ago and what kind of long-game discipline keeps the same contractors and bankers working with him for decades. Whether you’re a developer working on a first commercial deal or a banker curious about how lenders earn long-term clients, this conversation is a master class worth your time.