If you’re here reading my blog, I’m grateful and hope you will enjoy it! I write these posts for one reason: to share what I’ve learned – personally and professionally – in hopes that those reading them can avoid some of the mistakes I made and can grow a little faster and become much wiser. I’ve spent many decades building a career from the ground up and along the way I’ve learned that knowledge is power and we have a social responsibility to pass it on.

My real estate journey began in 1972, when 20 years old. I bought my first investment while attending the University of Florida – a small duplex near the University of Florida. I lived upstairs while renting out the downstairs to cover my living and education expenses. That one duplex eventually grew into about 25 houses – which I call College Park. Money was tight in those early years but my father, Courtland A. Collier, a City of Gainesville Commissioner taught me to be responsible and resourceful. I was completely hands-on; fixing plumbing leaks, patching drywall, painting, marketing, showing and leasing apartments; anything and everything to keep costs low. 

I’ve always been a lifelong learner and avid reader. Education became the backbone of my career. I am a 3x Gator, I earned my B.S. in Finance in 1974, my MBA in 1978, my CPA certification and later my Juris Doctorate in 1982. I kept going, picking up a contractor and real estate broker licenses, as well as completing advanced study programs at Harvard Business School as part of OPM ‘23 and their YPO President’s and CEO Program. I even secured my pilot’s license, once upon a time. Every step reflected my constant appetite for growth and learning.

When I founded The Collier Companies, my vision was simple but meaningful: to create communities where residents feel at home and where team members have room to thrive. Today, we manage more than 12,000 apartment homes across Florida and Georgia and expanding into South and North Carolina.  We have an ambitious goal to double that number within the current decade.

My belief in the power of learning and sharing what I’ve learned has become a guiding presence in my life. That is why I support education, journalism and the arts. I endowed the University of Florida’s Master of Science in Real Estate program in 2006 because I saw a real need for more qualified, well-educated professionals in the real estate industry. In conjunction with the University of Florida, College of Journalism and Communications, I founded ‘The Collier Prize for State Government Accountability’ in 2019 to support transparency and combat corruption in local government and ‘The Peter F. Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism’ with New York University Ethics & Journalism Initiative in 2024 to honor my great-grand uncle and to support and celebrate ethical journalism and reporting. I also serve on the Board of Overseers for the Columbia Journalism Review, another way I hope to strengthen public trust in media. I continue to support the arts through the Dance Alive National Ballet ‘Collier Challenge’. 

Beyond business and philanthropy, I’m the co-author of Construction Funding: The Process of Real Estate Development, Appraisal and Finance and a professor at the University of Florida, Levin College of Law and Warrington College of Business. 

Through my weekly blog, I continue to share my reflections on leadership, growth and the lessons I’m still learning today — all guided by a personal credo that has shaped much of my life: “Sharing what I most want and need to learn.” So, I hope you enjoy and find it useful.