CRAIG SHER

FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN, BACKSTREETS CAPITAL, ST. PETERSBURG

Backstreets Capital was founded in 2014. Sher is the chairman and co-founder with Will Conroy. It develops single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums in St. Petersburg and Tampa. Its employees are all involved in the community including Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, Anti-Defamation League, the James Museum, the Dali Museum, the Arts Conservatory for Teens (ACT), Shorecrest Preparatory School and others. Sher co-founded the Ross Roeder Institute at Shorecrest. It teaches financial and entrepreneurial education to third to twelfth graders.

EDUCATION: Northwestern University (BS, MS, MBA)

FIRST JOB: My first real job was lugging 100-pound sacks of potatoes and seed at a Farmer’s Nursery in Minneapolis, Minn. I was paid $1.25 per hour, the minimum wage in 1969.

DREAM ALTERNATE CAREER: A concert and event promoter

SOMETHING SURPRISING: I have attended between 40 and 50 Bruce Springsteen concerts all over the world. Many of these shows included my children and even grandchildren.

PASSION PROJECT: My current passion project is bringing an Anti-Defamation League presence to the Tampa Bay area. We convinced the national office of ADL to open a full-time office in our area. This is vital to helping combat the alarming rise of local incidents of antisemitism. We are working to educate, advocate, investigate and if necessary, litigate antisemitic acts and issues.

INDUSTRY TREND: The in-migration of people to the Tampa Bay area has caused the need for innovative solutions for affordable housing. With a dearth of vacant land, we need to continue to create opportunities to solve this housing crisis.