jonathon l. wolf,
founder & ceo
Jonathan L. Wolf is the Founder and CEO of Wendover Housing Partners LLC, a Florida-based, privately held real estate development, investment, and management company specializing in the creation of fully connected communities. Wolf oversees Wendover Housing Partners’ portfolio of affordable and market-rate multi-family communities, senior housing, transit-oriented communities, and student housing, as well as Wendover Management’s full-service property management.
Wolf founded Wendover Housing Partners in 1995 after a career in finance that included roles at Chase Manhattan Bank and Citigroup in New York. From a standing start, he grew Wendover into one of the Southeastern U.S.’s premier multi-family housing developers, responsible for developments worth more than $1 billion and providing significant new housing stock tailored to economically and socially diverse neighborhoods. For Jonathan, the key metric of success is an affirmative answer to the question, “Will this community improve the daily lives of its residents?”
Jonathan works to not only build communities, but also to build consensus around the need for affordable housing growth and the public-private partnerships required to make it happen. Through this work, he has become a leading authority and frequent lecturer on the use of low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) and other financing mechanisms that help address America’s affordable housing shortage. Most recently, Wendover has been the driving force behind Catchlight Crossings, a first-of-its-kind 1,000-unit affordable housing community being built with Universal Parks & Resorts.
Already described as a “landmark” that promises to reshape Orange County’s housing landscape, Catchlight is setting a new standard when it comes to affordable housing and provides a model that Jonathan hopes to be replicated – from the unique public-private partnership that made it possible to the array of services, amenities, and transit options available to residents.
Along with his wife Nancy, Jonathan supports several local, national, and global philanthropic causes. In 2021, the Wolfs helped facilitate a historic collaboration between the Orlando Museum of Art and The American University in Cairo (AUC), where Jonathan serves on the board. Featuring works by 21 U.S.-based artists of Arab and Iranian heritage, it was one of the few simultaneous art exhibitions across a Middle Eastern cultural institution and a U.S. Museum. The Wolfs also forged a partnership between the University of Central Florida and AUC in April 2018, paving the way for the Nancy and Jonathan Wolf Global Academic Initiative. This reciprocal study-abroad agreement reflects the Wolfs’ belief that the cross-cultural dialog between these universities will foster a greater understanding of the dynamics of the Middle East. In 2023, the Wolfs were recognized with the University of Central Florida’s Global Leadership Award.
Wolf also serves on several charitable, educational, and civic boards. He has helped secure state funding for Florida’s independent colleges and universities; a Special Olympics Florida headquarters and training facility and has been active in the ground-up development of an Orlando-based Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida recently recognized Jonathan and Nancy with the Tess Wise White Rose Award for their generosity and work to foster inclusive communities, free from prejudice and bigotry.
Jonathan is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He and Nancy have two children and three grandchildren (so far).