Jeffrey’s Bio

 
 

Jeffrey Small, Jr. is the author of the mystical thriller, The Breath of God, a popular blogger on Huffington Post, and an acclaimed speaker on religious and spirituality topics.


Jeffrey graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. While at Yale, he served as Publisher and Senior Editor of the Yale Herald. He then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School where he was elected to the Board of Student Advisors and taught speech, legal writing, and research. Jeffrey next earned a Masters in the Study of Religions from Oxford University in England where he was a member of Oriel College.


Jeffrey is active in the Episcopal Church, current serving as a member of the Board of Trustees at General Theological Seminary in New York, but he has also studied Yoga in India and practiced Buddhist meditation in Bhutan.


When not pursing his passion for theological discourse, Jeffrey is the CEO and founder of MDH Partners, an Atlanta-based commercial real estate investment and development company. Working with The Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo, MDH Partners has participated in over $2 billion of acquisitions and developments. Prior to founding his new company in 2005, Jeffrey was the CEO of M.D. Hodges, one of Atlanta’s largest real estate development companies. He began his professional career practicing corporate law at the Atlanta law firm King & Spalding.


Jeffrey’s eclectic hobbies include being a former US Champion amateur ballroom dancer with his wife, Alison. He also held the rank of Black Sash in Kung Fu, specializing in the the Internal Arts.


Jeffrey currently serves as a member of the Boards of Trustees at both The Westminster Schools and Trinity Schools in Atlanta, where he focuses on education in the 21st century, and he serves Board of Trustees at General Theological Seminary in New York, the first seminary of the Episcopal Church.  He is the former Vice-Chairman of the Board of IMAGE Film and Video, the organizer of the Atlanta Film Festival. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of First Century Energy, a green energy company targeted on the commercial and industrial real estate market.


His proudest accomplishments are his marriage and friendship with his wife and their smart, beautiful, and sweet daughter.

 

About Me



Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Passion: Writing, Reading, Learning, Teaching

Occupation: Commercial Real Estate Investing and Development

Hobbies: Dance (ballroom, hip hop, and jazz), travel, hiking, sailing, yoga


Quotes:

Goethe – “What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has a genius, power, and magic in it.”


Gandhi - “I am a Hindu, I am a Moslem, I am a Jew, I am a Christian, I am a Buddhist!


Clifford Geertz - “We all begin with the natural equipment to live a thousand kind of lives but end in the end having lived only one.”


Reading:

I’m usually reading five books at once. My favorite novel is Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth.  As a teen, I enjoyed LOTR and Dune.  In my twenties it was Clancy and Koontz. Now I read mostly non-fiction books on spiritual topics. My favorite authors (and theological influences) are Marcus Borg, Thich Nhat Hanh, Paul Tillich, John Macquarrie, John Hick, John Shelby Spong, John Robinson, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.


Favorite Movies:

The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Lawrence of Arabia, and a number of juvenile comedies I’m too embarrassed to list here.


Music:

I have an eclectic iPod mix of alternative, ‘90s rap, classic rock, and current pop.


Favorite Trips:

Italy, New Zealand, Botswana, Bhutan, and living in Oxford for a year.