JOHN NEWTON
John Newton has been involved in commercial real estate his entire career. In the late 1980’s he worked in brokerage. In the 1990’s he managed a diverse several hundred thousand square foot portfolio for a regional development company. During that period, he also was involved with sales, leasing, land development and construction. In 2001 he started his own company, Newton Real Estate Advisors (NREA), and developed a 110-acre mixed use project spanning three municipalities and multiple zoning districts. That project exposed him to investor relations, entitlement processes, engineering, legal and all other aspects associated with land development.
In 2007 Mr. Newton created First Eastern Development Company, LLC (FEDC) as a joint venture between NREA and Florida-based Eastern Quality Foods. FEDC was formed with an emphasis on building a portfolio of commercial properties with long term stable tenants. Since that time, FEDC has acquired over $100 million of commercial real estate in southeastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Florida.
Mr. Newton graduated from The University of Virginia. In 1997 he earned the coveted CCIM designation from the CCIM Institute. The CCIM designation is earned upon completion of a graduate level curriculum, passing a comprehensive examination and achieving a qualifying level of experience. Of the estimated 125,000 commercial real estate practitioners in North America, only about 10,000 hold this prestigious designation. Mr. Newton was the 2004 – 2007 President of the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware Chapter of CCIM.
Ted Rueger
Mr. Rueger is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Eastern Quality Foods. Eastern is an international protein trading company headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida with annual revenues of over $300MM. Since Mr. Rueger assumed the role of President in 2013, Eastern has profitably grown through a strategy of diversification, acquisition and by investing in its team.
Eastern was the founding financial partner of FEDC and is a current investor in many of its deals. As an active partner in the business, Mr. Rueger serves as a strategic advisor to management and assists with investor relations and business development.
Mr. Rueger received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Duke University.
Grant Conway
Grant Conway moved from the Philadelphia area to Florida in 2011 to take on the role of Chief Operating Officer of Eastern Quality Foods. Eastern operates as an international wholesale trading and protein distribution company headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL with multiple offices located throughout the United States and Mexico. Prior to his role at Eastern, Mr. Conway enjoyed a successful banking career in the Philadelphia area holding various lending and executive banking positions including President and CEO of a community bank based out of Villanova, PA. Mr. Conway graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned an MBA from Villanova University. He presently participates as a director on various for profit and non-profit corporate boards in the Southeast.