David Gladstone

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David Gladstone
Born	David J. Gladstone 1942/1943 (age 82–83) Virginia, U.S.
🏫 Education	University of Virginia (BA) American University (MA) Harvard Business School (MBA)
💼 Occupation	Businessman, investor, author
📆 Years active	1974–present
Known for	Founder of the Gladstone Companies; former chairman and CEO of Allied Capital Corporation
👩 Spouse(s)	Lorna Gladstone
👶 Children	Laura Gladstone (among others)

David J. Gladstone is an American businessman, investor and author, best known as the founder, chairman and former chief executive officer of the Gladstone Companies, a family of McLean, Virginia-based investment funds that includes four publicly traded vehicles: Gladstone Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: GAIN), Gladstone Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: GLAD), Gladstone Commercial Corporation (NASDAQ: GOOD) and Gladstone Land Corporation (NASDAQ: LAND). Before founding his own funds, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Allied Capital Corporation from 1974 to 1997, growing it from a small venture capital fund into one of the largest publicly traded mezzanine debt finance groups in the United States.

Early life and education

Gladstone grew up on a farm in Virginia, an upbringing he has cited as the inspiration for his later interest in farmland investing. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, a Master of Arts from American University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Career

Allied Capital (1974–1997)

From 1974 to February 1997, Gladstone held various positions, including chairman and chief executive officer, with Allied Capital Corporation (NYSE: ALD), Allied Capital Corporation II, Allied Capital Lending Corporation, Allied Capital Commercial Corporation and Allied Capital Advisors, Inc., the registered investment adviser that managed the Allied companies, which collectively formed what the Gladstone Companies later described as the largest group of publicly traded mezzanine debt funds in the United States. According to a biographical note prepared for his published books, when he joined Allied the fund held approximately US$9 million of capital, and over his tenure it grew to more than US$750 million in assets.

From 1991 to 1997, Gladstone served either as chairman of the board or president of Allied Capital Commercial Corporation, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). He has been credited with growing Allied Capital Commercial from no assets at its initial public offering to US$385 million in assets by the time it merged into Allied Capital Corporation in 1997. He also served from 1992 to 1997 as director, president and chief executive of Business Mortgage Investors, a private mortgage REIT managed by Allied Capital that invested in real estate loans to small and medium-sized businesses.

American Capital Strategies (1997–2001)

From August 1997 to August 2001, Gladstone served as chairman or vice chairman of the board of directors of American Capital Strategies (later American Capital, Ltd.; Nasdaq: ACAS), a publicly traded leveraged buyout fund and mezzanine debt finance company.

Coastal Berry Company and entry into farmland

In 1997, Gladstone and a business partner bought Coastal Berry Company, a large strawberry-growing operation in Watsonville, California, from Monsanto. In 2004 he sold the operating business to Dole Food Company but retained ownership of the underlying land, which he leased back to Dole; that arrangement became the model for what would later become Gladstone Land Corporation's buy-and-lease farmland strategy.

The Gladstone Companies (2001–2026)

Gladstone founded Gladstone Capital Corporation, a business development company (BDC) focused on debt investments in U.S. small and medium-sized businesses, in 2001, and took it public on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "GLAD". He subsequently launched Gladstone Commercial Corporation (a net-lease industrial and commercial REIT, Nasdaq: GOOD) in 2003, Gladstone Investment Corporation (a buyout-focused BDC, Nasdaq: GAIN) in 2005, and Gladstone Land Corporation (a farmland REIT, Nasdaq: LAND), which completed its initial public offering in 2013. He also founded the affiliated investment adviser, Gladstone Management Corporation, and the affiliated broker-dealer, Gladstone Securities, LLC.

Across the four funds, Gladstone served as chairman and chief executive from the inception of each company until his retirement from the CEO roles. As of the 2026 announcement of his successor, the four publicly traded Gladstone funds together with the Gladstone Alternative Income Fund had grown into one of the principal lower middle market alternative-asset platforms based in the Washington metropolitan area.

2026 succession

On March 20, 2026, Gladstone stepped down as chief executive of Gladstone Investment Corporation and, on the same day, as chief executive of Gladstone Capital Corporation. He remained chairman of the board of each company and continued as chairman, chief executive and president of the affiliated adviser, Gladstone Management Corporation. David A. R. Dullum, Gladstone Investment's president since 2008, succeeded him as CEO of Gladstone Investment, while Robert Marcotte, Gladstone Capital's president since 2013, became CEO of Gladstone Capital. John Sateri was named chief investment officer of both BDCs. The companies described the moves as part of a strategic succession plan designed to separate the chairman and CEO roles.

Other board, civic and academic roles

Gladstone served as a director of Riggs Bank from 1991 to 1993 and of its parent, Riggs National Corporation, from 1993 to May 1997. He has been a trustee of George Washington University and is currently a Trustee Emeritus. He is a past member of the Listings and Hearings Committee of the National Association of Securities Dealers, a past member of the advisory committee to the Women's Growth Capital Fund (a venture capital firm financing women-owned small businesses), and was the managing member of The Capital Investors, a Washington-area angel-investor group, now a member emeritus. He is also a past director of Capital Automotive REIT.

Personal life

Gladstone is married to Lorna Gladstone, and together they sit on the board of the David & Lorna Gladstone Foundation, a private foundation. One of his daughters, Laura Gladstone, has worked at the Gladstone Companies since 2001 and serves as executive vice president of investments; she is co-author with her father of the firm's two best-known textbooks on venture capital finance.

Author

Gladstone is the co-author, with Laura Gladstone, of two widely used reference books on private-company finance:

• Venture Capital Handbook (originally Prentice Hall, 1987; revised edition Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002, ISBN 978-0130654939 Search this book on .), a guide for entrepreneurs on raising capital from venture capital firms.
• Venture Capital Investing: The Complete Handbook for Investing in Private Businesses for Outstanding Profits (Financial Times Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0131018853 Search this book on .), written from the perspective of the investor rather than the entrepreneur.

External links

• Biography at The Gladstone Companies

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