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2018's Guest Speaker
jay odomJay Odom was born into an Air Force family who was stationed in Nagoya, Japan at the time of his birth. His father was transferred to Eglin when Odom was just a baby, and Odom grew up in the Shalimar/Fort Walton Beach area of our beautiful Florida Panhandle. He attended local public schools and Okaloosa Walton Community College (now Northwest Florida State College) before going on to Florida Atlantic University, where he graduated in 1979, receiving a BS in Ocean Engineering.
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Upon graduation he spent 5 years in the oil industry before moving into real estate in 1984.
In 1988, Odom founded his real estate development company, Crystal Beach Development, and embarked on the first of many residential developments in the Destin area, including the master-planned Destiny communities.
His portfolio extends all along the gulf coast including developments in the Gulfport-Biloxi area of Mississippi and the spectacular 3000-acre master-planned lifestyle community of Hammock Bay in Freeport, FL.
1991 saw Odom’s vision and company moving into commercial real estate, and Odom created a corporate structure to plan, permit, design, construct, renovate, market, sell, lease and manage a variety of development projects.
By 2015, the Odom name had been long-synonymous with the stellar reputation he built for visionary, first-class development, and giving back to the community, and Odom’s company was rebranded from Crystal Beach Development to The Jay Odom Group.
Since its beginning, Odom’s real estate development company has planned, constructed and marketed nearly 3,000 residential lots (about 500 of these in 2018 alone), including over 3,500 linear feet of Gulf front property, with well over $100M in infrastructure and amenities. The Commercial divisions of The Jay Odom Group have purchased, constructed and managed over 1,000,000 sq. ft of commercial property exceeding $100M.
The Jay Odom Group’s current projects include: the continually growing Hammock Bay community in Freeport, Florida; the upscale Draper J office building on 30A in South Walton; the Wharf restaurant being renovated on the bayou in Niceville; the JG Plaza office/retail building in Fort Walton Beach (named after Odom’s father), The Emily Odom Institute medical office building in Fort Walton Beach (named after Odom’s mother); and many more. And Odom has many more projects slated for future development and revitalization.
Odom remains heavily committed to his local community, being a major donor to schools, children’s charities and a stalwart supporter of the Military and First Responders, just to mention a few.
Jay Odom’s companies have received several significant awards relating to community involvement and beautification.
