With a career spanning more than three decades, Jay Caplin is among the industry leaders in real estate investment in the Southeast region known for his reliability, unwavering integrity, creativity, and passion for his profession.

In 2019, Jay co-founded SQUARE2 to create a dynamic investment and operating platform unique to the industry, capable of achieving transformational results.

This vision came to fruition more than a decade after Jay founded and built Steelbridge, a real estate investment firm. During his tenure, he solidified the firm’s national reputation and dramatically expanded its capabilities, portfolio, and capital partners to include prominent institutional private equity firms and lenders such as Apollo Global Real Estate, Blackstone, Square Mile Capital, CommonFund, TFO USA Limited, as well as numerous foreign and domestic high net worth investors and family offices.

Prior to this, Jay spent over two decades at Cushman & Wakefield as an Executive Director. While at Cushman & Wakefield, Jay co-founded the Florida Capital Markets Group and led the expansion and direction of the group’s growth throughout the region. Representing a diverse group of owners, Jay oversaw sales and financing of office, residential, industrial, retail, and hotel properties valued at more than $7 billion.

Jay graduated from Florida State University (FSU) with a double major in Finance and Real Estate. An active alumnus, Jay is a member of the Executive Advisory Board for the FSU Center for Real Estate Education & Research and is Chair of the FSU Real Estate Foundation. Additionally, he is an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and serves on the Advisory Board for the ULI Southeast/Caribbean region.​​

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Heather Cave, director of the FSU Research Foundation, oversees all private and foreign research grant funds to Florida State University. The Research Foundation manages eight buildings that house research labs and centers, six of which are located in Innovation Park.

Cave helps raise awareness about the creativity and innovation of research underway at FSU. She partners with the Leon County Research and Development Authority, as well as state and local economic development groups, to promote the many research assets in the area.

Those efforts are designed to attract businesses to Tallahassee and encourage new research partnerships with Florida State’s high-tech centers. The fundamental goal is to generate more funding for the FSU Research Foundation and create highly skilled jobs for FSU graduates.

Cave has a wide-ranging background in economic development, including eight years of experience at Enterprise Florida, Inc. There, she worked to recruit and retain businesses, provided guidance for seeking grants and supervised organization management.

Cave helped lead a successful plan, developed in partnership with NASA and Space Florida, that brought Space X to Brevard County. She was also instrumental in the administration of state grants to communities with major defense industry installations, many of which helped guarantee compatible land use.   

Cave earned a master of business administration that focused on economic development and a bachelor of science in social science education from Troy University. She attended Troy on a full Rodeo Team scholarship. Now as a resident of Tallahassee, Cave looks for opportunities to utilize her background for the benefit of her community. 

John Crossman is the CEO of Crossman Career Builders and CrossMarc Services. He has two great passions in his life—real estate and helping students build their careers. At CrossMarc Services, John provides consulting and investment advisory services for commercial real estate. At Crossman Career Builders, John works with students and young professionals in developing the skills that will assist them in excelling both professionally and personally. John graduated from FSU in 1993 with a B.S. in real estate. He has endowed three scholarships at FSU and raised funds for a fourth. He is a lifetime member of the FSU Alumni Association and the FSU Varsity Club. He is a former FSU National Alumni Board member and now serves on the FSU Real Estate Foundation. He is a golden chief donor with Seminole Boosters. John was a member of the FSU track team and served as the team captain from 1992-1993. In 2013, John was inducted into the FSU College of Business Hall of Fame. He is the youngest person ever to be inducted. His book, "Career Killers Career Builders," was written in honor of FSU Professor Dean Gatzlaff.

Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz, an FSU alumna, was appointed to the Florida State University Real Estate Foundation Board of Directors in Sept, 2021.

An attorney from Miami, de las Cuevas-Diaz is a partner at the Holland & Knight law firm and serves as the firmwide deputy section leader of the Real Estate Section, assisting in managing the firm's nationwide real estate practice. She received her bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and her law degree from Tulane University.

de las Cuevas-Diaz also serves on the board of the Coral Gables Community Foundation and is a past president and foundation board member of the Cuban American Bar Association. She also is a board member on the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, a public-private partnership, which is the official economic development organization for Miami-Dade County.

Frank is Chairman and CEO of REH Capital Partners, LLC, a national real estate and hospitality investment and advisory services firm headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Frank has over 43 years of diversified experience in real estate and hospitality investment, finance, and consulting and has advised on over $15 billion in real estate and hospitality transactions in his professional career. Prior to launching REH in 2001, Frank was a partner and served as the National and Global Real Estate and Hospitality Consulting Practice Leader for KPMG, LLP and KPMG Consulting, Inc. Frank is the founding Chairperson of the U.S. Lodging Industry Investment Council, and currently serves on the Executive Advisory Committee of NYU Hospitality Industry Investment Conference and the Executive Planning Board of the Americas Lodging Investment Summit. He is also active with many other industry trade associations and forums including the Urban Land Institute, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and the American Resort Development Association. Frank was recognized by Lodging Magazine in 2000 as one of the top 75 leaders of the US lodging industry and was honored by his induction into the Florida State University College of Business Hall of Fame in April 2013. He graduated from Florida State University in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in Accounting. Frank has roles at FSU as a Trustee to the FSU Foundation, Chairman of Executive Board of FSU Real Estate Center, and a lifetime member of FSU Alumni Association. Frank also endowed the “Nardozza Real Estate Scholars Program” at Florida State University and funded the Real Estate Program Conference Room for the new College of Business Building.

Kyle Riva serves as CEO and president of Alexander Investments International, Inc. Throughout his more than 40-year career, Kyle has been responsible for the financing, construction and development of high-profile commercial real estate, including apartments, office buildings, retail centers, industrial properties, hotels, resorts, single-family projects and land.

Before forming Alexander Investments, Kyle was an influential part of Epoch Properties, Inc. for more than 25 years and led the company as president for over a decade. He also served as manager of the central Florida office of Carey, Kramer, Silvester & Associates, a commercial real estate mortgage and sales company. His previous experience includes vice president/branch manager of Alliance Mortgage Company and territory manager for the Burroughs Corporation.

Representing almost 24,000 multi-family living units at a value of over $2 billion, Kyle’s projects have been recognized in national publications such as Housing, Professional Builder and Florida Trend.

Brian K. Swain received his bachelor of science in real estate from Florida State University in 1980.

Swain has more than 30 years of experience in the real estate development business. He has been involved in all phases of development from land acquisition to sales.

In addition to serving as chairman of the Seminole Boosters, Swain is the vice chairman of the Winter Haven Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees. He is also a trustee for the Polk Museum of Art and Mid Florida Medical Services.  

William “Bill” Sweeney is a special advisor to the provost at Florida State University.

He previously served as the treasurer of the Florida State University Research Foundation, the director of bond finance for the state of Florida and an investment banker with a major New York underwriting firm. During his banking career, Sweeney was integral to financing projects valued at more than $40 billion.

He has served on the boards of Innovation Park, Habitat for Humanity and the Leon County Library Foundation. Sweeney also served on the Audit Committee for the State Board of Administration, which oversees a $140 billion fund.

Sweeney is a graduate of Kenyon College, the University of Cincinnati College of Law and the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania.