David J. Kaplan is President of the Kaplan Realty Group (KRG), a company he founded in 2001. KRG is a real estate development firm specializing in the redesign and redevelopment of vacant commercial buildings in New York and Connecticut. His last development, the Fort Edward Market 32 Grocery Store, brought fresh produce to an upstate New York food desert and also created more than 100 jobs. He is now working on the redevelopment of an office building located at 38C Grove Street in Ridgefield, Conn.

Prior to this, Kaplan had an active real estate tax law practice from 1992 to 2000 in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.

In 2010 Kaplan and his brother Mitchell founded the Kaplan Public Service Foundation (KPSF) – a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, educational, travel and charitable association providing citizen leaders, opportunities to become more involved with members of the U.S. military and their missions in an effort to bridge a widening gap between the civilian and military communities. Civilians are invited to join KPSF in visiting troops stationed around the world to better understand the challenges faced by our armed forces. Kaplan Public Service Foundation travelers return to their local communities as information ambassadors, providing insightful appreciation of our servicemen and women, and the families supporting them.

Prior to this he participated in the Department of Defense Joint Civilian Orentation Conference (JCOC) program (76), and currently is a member of the Board of Directors of the Defense Orientation Conference Associates (DOCA).

From 1996 until its dissolution in 2017, Kaplan was a member of the Board of Directors for the American Jewish Society for Service (AJSS). AJSS provided volunteer high school sophomores and juniors to three communities in the United States every summer to do housing construction. The summer experience was designed to help teenagers develop leadership skills and perform community service. Kaplan participated as an AJSS volunteer in the summer of 1983 (Des Moines, Iowa), where he built homes for six weeks for low-income families.

Kaplan is also a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, the Grand Havana Club in New York City, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, and Rockrimmon Country Club in Stamford, Conn. He has a B.S. in Political Science from The University of Michigan (1988), a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School (1991) and an M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University’s School of Architecture (1992).