In Good Company
Math and analysis have always been strong points for Ryan Donn. Couple that with his interest in business, specifically real estate business, and he didn’t have to look far to find a career that intrigued him. His passion and natural talent serve him well as principal for Honolulu-based Trinity Investments, which focuses its efforts on commercial real estate investing in Hawai‘i, the U.S. mainland, Mexico and Japan.
“We are global players of real estate, but international investors of real estate hubbed out of Hawaii,” says Donn. “We like to say we’re a Wall Street firm that uses Bishop Street as its home.”
It’s a rare endeavor, but one that fits a niche market that Donn has been dreaming of since his youth. He entered Cornell University School of Hotel Administration focusing his studies on hotel real estate investments, a niche market with endless opportunities.
“I looked around at what real estate investments involved—residential, warehouses, offices—and hotels have a little bit more of an intrigue, or at least to me,” Donn adds.
His knowledge of the industry is evidently unparalleled as he discusses the intricate details of the dynamics of hotel real estate.
“In other real estate investments, you have occupants paying rent or living in them full time, office tenants or residential tenants,” he explains. “In hotels, people check in and check out every night. You have to be responsive to micro- and macro-economic events, stay competitive at all times.
“It’s real estate investment, but you also have to have a good business strategy to keep people happy. Hotel real estate has those two layers.”
Donn landed a job as a real estate consultant right after graduating from college in 2000 and served in that capacity for a couple of years. But, as fate would have it, he joined Trinity Investments 16 years ago in New York and hasn’t looked back — only moved forward. When the East Coast office consolidated with the team in Hawai‘i, Donn followed suit and headed to the Aloha State in 2011 with wife Amy.
The move marked two great beginnings for the Donn — a new start with Trinity Investments in Hawai‘i and the knowledge that he and Amy would welcome daughter Livia to the world.
“I joke, ‘I’m glad I still like doing what I do. It’s what I learned, and I wouldn’t be well-qualified for anything else.’”
But in all seriousness, Donn is glad that his talents can be used for good, as he and his team are also working on building a world-class team based out of Hawai‘i. Their plan is to make a space for young local investment professionals who want to make a living where they grew up. Their strategy is a win-win, according to Donn. “We think there’s a strong competitive advantage for us, but it’s a community advantage if we can bring some of that talent back home to Hawai‘i,” he says.
But aside from recruiting local talent and finding ways to help them prosper in a career at home, Donn continues to focus his efforts on hotel real estate investing.
The East O‘ahu resident now splits his time between Hawai‘i and Mexico, where Trinity Investments has pipeline investments in the hotel industry. Despite the travel requirement that comes with the job, Donn makes it a priority to spend as much time at home as possible with his family. Honolulu is, after all, reminiscent of the small town where he grew up in Maine (Amy also grew up in a similarly small area in western Massachusetts), and he’s always loved that tight-knit atmosphere the local culture offers. .