Entrepreneur Jay Sears is the managing partner of NewQuest, a commercial real estate firm he co-founded with Steven Alvis. He manages key partners, investors, and client relations, as well as new developments and strategic initiatives. Jay Sears first ventured into commercial real estate in 1996 when he founded Sears Realty Company. Although it was primarily a brokerage and development firm rooted in the greater Houston area, a merger with Quest Properties in 2001 to form NewQuest provided opportunities to expand within and outside Texas, resulting in a $2.3 billion portfolio and $4 billion in retail and shopping center project holdings nationwide, as well as a new international division for the Asia-Pacific region.
A Baylor University alumnus with a degree in business administration, Jay Sears holds membership in several community service and profession-affiliated associations and boards. These include the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the West Houston Association. He is also actively involved in his scholarship program, the Always Do Good Fund, which is in its fourth year. The goal is to send many graduates of Liberty High School to college. Other beneficiaries of his philanthropy and support include 8 Million Stories, the Urban Land Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation, Toys Fore Kids, and Citizens for Animal Protection. His contribution and support earned him an Emmy Award for the documentary Athlete A, which exposed sexual abuse and a cover-up in the United States Women’s Gymnastics program.