James Heistand serves as Parkway’s Executive Chairman and is responsible for setting and implementing the company’s direction and strategy. Under Jim’s leadership, Parkway has built a premier portfolio of office, industrial and multifamily properties in the Sunbelt. James served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Parkway Properties, Inc., a NYSE-listed office REIT headquartered in Orlando, Florida, from 2012 to 2017, when he took the company private with CPPIB.

James joined Parkway as Chairman in 2011 through the company’s merger with Eola Capital. As Eola’s founder and Chairman since its inception in 1999, he was responsible for the acquisition of $1.3 billion of office assets backed by PSP, GE Capital, Lehman Brothers, and others that included 13.3 million square feet in Florida, Atlanta, and Virginia. James also served as Chairman of DASCO with his purchase of the company, an owner, developer, and operator of medical office buildings throughout the United States, from 1999 until its sale to CNL Assisted Living REIT in 2004. In 1989, James founded and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Associated Capital Properties, Inc. (ACP), an office and investment company focused in Florida. He directed all areas of the company’s operations, including its strategic planning, acquisitions, development, and financings, until its sale in 1997 to Highwoods Properties. ACP had grown to be the largest private owner of office properties in Florida. Jim subsequently served as a senior vice president for Highwoods from 1997 to 1999 and as a member of its board of directors. Prior to forming ACP, James was President of Major Realty 1987, a publicly traded real estate company. In addition to his current role at Parkway, James is a member of the Chairman’s Circle of the real estate advisory board for the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida and is a recipient of the UF Bergstrom Center Hall of Fame Award in 2016. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Finance from the University of Florida.