The ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance Advisory Board is comprised of senior real estate professionals who work together to seek innovative solutions and advocate carbon emission reduction.
Ronald P. Weidner
Founder, ULI Greenprint Center
Weidner is the former Chief Investment Officer and a Member of the Board of Allianz Real Estate. Weidner has over 30 years of experience in real estate lending, investment management and operations, as well as corporate banking in Europe and the US. Throughout his career, Weidner has focused on building new businesses for German and US-based firms expanding into markets outside their home countries.
Prior to joining Allianz, Weidner held the position of CEO – International – for the Mills Corporation, a US-based REIT engaged in the development, leasing and management of regional shopping centers in the US, Canada and Europe.
From 1999 through 2004 Weidner was a Member of the Board of KanAm International and founding partner of WestWind Capital Partners, an affiliate of the KanAm Group. WestWind Capital was an investment advisor and asset manager focused on acquiring and managing large Class A office properties and regional shopping centers in the US and Europe.
Charles B. Leitner III
Chairman, Greenprint Foundation
Chairman, Strategic Value Partners Real Estate
Leitner is Chairman of the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance, a nonprofit organization created by a global alliance of leading real estate investors to spearhead the industry’s drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while creating value in property portfolios.
Prior to Greenprint, Mr. Leitner served as Chairman and Global Head of RREEF, the global real estate investment management business currently owned by Deutsche Bank. Leitner joined RREEF in August 1988 after seven years of investment industry experience and became a Partner in the firm in 1996. In 2001 he assumed overall responsibility for RREEF’s U.S. real estate acquisition business. Deutsche Bank acquired RREEF in 2002 and, in 2004, Leitner became the Global Head of RREEF. In that capacity, Leitner led the globalization of the real estate and infrastructure businesses of Deutsche Asset Management under the RREEF brand. Prior to joining RREEF, he was associated with TIAA and GE Capital in real estate finance. Leitner has served as a Director for a variety of real estate entities including Dexus, a listed property trust in Australia, and DB Real Estate Investment GmbH, a German based manager of Global real estate funds. He is a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, on the Board of Directors of the Pension Real Estate Association, a member of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks, and a member of the Real Estate Roundtable. Leitner graduated from the University of Pennsylvania where he currently serves as a Trustee and a member of the Athletic Board of Overseers.
Kenneth W. Hubbard
Vice Chairman, Greenprint Foundation
and Executive Vice President, Hines
Hubbard is a 30-year veteran of all phases of real estate development, management and acquisition activities. He transitioned recently from his EVP/CEO position to become an entrepreneurial partner with Hines, currently working on various initiatives for the East Coast and the firm. As a Board member of Duke University, he serves on the Facilities and Environment Committee. He is also an Honorary Life Member of the Urban Land Institute, where he co-chairs the Climate, Land Use and Energy Committee. He remains active on the National Real Estate Council of the Trust for Public Land and the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Real Estate for the World Economic Forum.
Fred A. Seigel
Treasurer, Greenprint Foundation
and President, Beacon Capital Partners
Seigel is President and COO of Beacon Capital Partners, a Boston-based real estate investment firm. Beacon has sponsored seven investment vehicles representing over $11 billion of aggregate equity capital from various endowments, foundations, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors.
Prior to joining Beacon Capital Partners, Seigel was Managing Director of Latona Associates, Inc., a private merchant bank. Seigel also spent six years as Founder, President and Director of Energy Capital Partners, which specialized in financing energy projects throughout the US. He is a member of The Real Estate Roundtable and is co-chairman of its Sustainability Advisory Committee.
Gary E. Anderson
Chief Executive Officer, Europe and Asia, Prologis
Anderson has overall responsibility for managing Prologis’ private funds, raising additional capital, and working with regional presidents to lease and manage the company’s global platform. In January 2010, Anderson was appointed as a board member for Prologis European Properties, a publicly traded fund listed on Euronext and managed by Prologis. Prior to this, Anderson was the company’s President of Europe and the Middle East, as well as Chairman of the European Operating Committee.
Anderson received his MBA in Finance and Real Estate from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and his Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from Washington State University. He is a current member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.
Tom August
President and Chief Executive Officer, Equity Office Properties
A seasoned real estate executive with more than 30 years experience in all facets of real estate investment activities, August was previously President, Chief Executive Officer and a Trustee of Prentiss Properties Trust, and had been President and Chief Operating Officer of Prentiss since Prentiss’ initial Public Offering in October 1996.
From 1992 to 1996, August served as President and Chief Operating Officer of a Prentiss affiliate, Prentiss Properties Limited, Inc. From 1987 to 1992 he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Prentiss’ predecessor company. From 1985 to 1987, he served in executive capacities with Cadillac Fairview Urban Development, Inc. In 1985, he was Senior Vice President of Finance for Oxford Properties, Inc. in Denver, Colorado, an affiliate of a privately held Canadian real estate firm. Previously he was a Vice President of Citibank responsible for real estate lending activities in the Midwest.
Albert P. Behler
President and Chief Executive Officer, Paramount Group
Behler spent the majority of his early career at Thyssen Handelsunion AG, where he held leading positions in the Middle East and the United States. Since October 1991, Behler has been president and chief executive officer of New York-based Paramount Group, Inc. Established in 1968, Paramount remains one of the largest foreign full service real estate organizations, with a solid track record in investment acumen. Behler is an active member of seven boards.
Bryce Blair
Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, AvalonBay
Blair previously held the positions at AvalonBay (NYSE: “AVB”), a multifamily Real Estate Investment Trust (“REIT”) headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, of President, Chief Operating Officer, and Senior Vice President of Development, Acquisitions and Construction. He has overseen the development, construction, acquisition and management of over $10 billion of multifamily assets. Prior to the formation of Avalon Properties in 1993, Blair was a Partner with Trammell Crow Residential from 1985 to 1993, overseeing multifamily investments in the New England area.
Blair is Chairman of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) where he is also on the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors, and the Urban Land Institute (ULI) where he serves as a Trustee and was past Chairman of the Multifamily Council.
Blair received his Masters degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He graduated magna cum laude with an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire.
Pierre Cherki
Managing Director, Global Head of RREEF
Cherki is responsible for the management and strategic direction of RREEF, the global real estate investment management business of Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management Division.
Prior to his appointment as Global Head, Cherki was responsible for managing RREEF’s investment management business in Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific with approximately €20 billion of assets under management across 10 offices. Since joining RREEF in 1997 (then Banker’s Trust, acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1998), Cherki has completed numerous transactions in France, the UK and Belgium, and was responsible for the development of RREEF’s business in Central and Eastern Europe.
Cherki graduated from Tel Aviv University with a BA in Management and Economics and holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University.
Frank Cohen
Senior Managing Director, Blackstone Group
Since joining Blackstone in 1996, Cohen has been involved in over $50 billion of real estate investments, encompassing all property types. He played a key role in the public to private acquisitions of Equity Office Properties Trust, CarrAmerica Realty Corporation and Trizec Properties. Most recently, he was responsible for Blackstone’s industrial venture investments, which include over 45 million square feet of facilities across the United States.
Prior to joining Blackstone, Cohen was in the acquisitions group at Heitman, where he was involved in numerous real estate acquisitions. He serves as a director for EOP, CarrAmerica, TRZ Holdings and Blackstone’s industrial venture affiliate, as well as on the Kellogg Real Estate Advisory Board at Northwestern University.
Cohen received a BA from Northwestern University, where he graduated from the Honors Program in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, with a double major in political science.
Colin Dyer
Chief Executive Officer, Jones Lang LaSalle
Dyer has overall responsibility for guiding Jones Lang LaSalle’s strategic direction and growth, and for chairing the firm’s Global Executive Committee. He is a member the Board of Directors for this leading integrated global real estate services and investment management firm. Under his leadership,the firm’s revenues have more than doubled through organic growth and 33 strategic acquisitions. Dyer began his career as a client manager at McKinsey & Company.
Wolfgang Egger
Chief Executive Officer, PATRIZIA Immobilien AG
Egger founded PATRIZIA Immobilien AG and has headed it since 1984. Its business focus is investments and real estate services for residential and commercial assets with a focus on German and European markets. PATRIZIA represents the entire real estate value chain with offices throughout Germany. The Company partners with international institutional investors and the public sector. It is listed in the Deutsche Börse Prime Standard and is a member of the SDAX.
Thomas Garbutt
Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Real Estate, TIAA-CREFF
Garbutt is responsible for TIAA-CREFF’s global real estate activities both equity and debt including transactions and joint ventures, portfolio and asset management and strategy and research. He joined the TIAA-CREF organization in 1982 and has 30 years of experience in the real estate finance and investment industries.
Garbutt is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the Pension Real Estate Association, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers and The Real Estate Roundtable.
He holds a B.S. in business administration from Binghamton University and an M.S. in real estate investment from New York University.
Scott M. Kelley
Chief Executive Officer, Asia and Japan, Aetos Capital
Kelley founded Aetos Capital’s real estate business. He is also Managing Director of Aetos Capital, and Chief Executive Officer of Aetos Capital Real Estate and each of its funds. Previously, Kelley was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley for 14 years where he led a number of global real estate transactions within its real estate investment banking group. He was also a member of the Investment Committees for Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund (“MSREF”) I, II and III, and the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Special Situations Fund.
Kelley is a member of the Real Estate Roundtable, McIntire School of Commerce Advisory Board, Pension Real Estate Association and Urban Land Institute. He is a former director of the National Multi-Family Housing Council and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.
Gerd Kremer
Principal, GLL Real Estate
A founding partner of GLL Real Estate Partners, Kremer has been both a Principal and Managing Director since its inception. For the 11 years prior to creating GLL, he was a senior manager with HypoVereinsbank, Germany´s then second largest bank, where he worked in international banking and finance focused on the institutional sector. He is widely credited as being one of the first to introduce international real estate funds to the German institutional market in the early 1990s, managing the structuring and formation of a range of commingled real estate funds representing approximately €2 billion in assets. He was a Board Member of one of the first funds dedicated to Central and Eastern European property investing.
Walter C. Rakowich
Chief Executive Officer, Prologis
Rakowich’s 16-year career at Prologis has led steadily to his current role as CEO. He also serves as head of the Executive Committee. He served as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2005 to 2008, and from 1998 to 2005 he was Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to that, Rakowich was Senior Vice President/Director of the company’s Mid-Atlantic region, where he was responsible for expanding the reach of Prologis to the leading logistics markets in the Midwest and Atlantic states.
Rakowich was a partner at real estate provider Trammell Crow Company for nine years. He launched his career as a senior audit and tax consultant for Price Waterhouse.
J. Allen Smith
Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Real Estate Investors
Smith is CEO of PREI, Prudential Financial Inc.’s real estate investment management and advisory business. PREI offers a broad range of investment opportunities and investment management services through specialized operating units in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Smith is a 20-year veteran with Prudential, where previously, he led its core investment activities, including its flagship equity real estate portfolio, a series of closed-end funds for German institutional investors and Prudential’s product for defined contribution plans called the Prudential Retirement Real Estate Fund (PRREF). He is also a member of PREI’s Investment and Business Management Committees. Smith is a member of PREA and Urban Land Institute. He also is on the advisory board of Cornell University’s Program in Real Estate.
Lynn Thurber
Non-Executive Chairman, LaSalle Investment Management
In her role as Chairman at LaSalle Investment Management, a global real estate money management firm investing in private real estate as well as publicly-traded real estate companies on behalf of institutional and individual investors , Thurber advises the firm’s senior management team and serves as a member of several investment committees and advisory boards. She also chairs the Jones Lang LaSalle committee for the firm’s co- investment activity.
Thurber is a member of the Board of Duke Realty Corporation (NYSE:DRE), a U.S. publicly traded REIT, an advisor to Clerestory Capital Partners, LLC, a global real estate fund of funds investment manager, a member of the Board of Investa Property Group, an Australian based real estate owner, developer and fund manager and a member of the Real Estate Information Standards Board. She is a Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of ULI-Urban Land Institute. She formerly chaired the Pension Real Estate Association, and is also a past member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate and the Board of the Toigo Foundation. She is currently a member of The Chicago Network and the Wellesley College Business Leadership Council.
Thurber earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an A.B. from Wellesley College.
Francois Trausch
Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific, GE Capital Real Estate
Francois Trausch is CEO of GE Capital Real Estate Asia Pacific. François was appointed to this role in April 2010. He leads all of GE Capital Real Estate’s activities across the Asian Markets and based in Tokyo.
Francois is a seasoned business leader with deep local Real Estate knowledge earned primarily in Europe. He joined the GE Real Estate team in July 1996 and worked on various portfolio acquisitions including the purchase of UIS and UIC. His subsequent assignments included head of the European acquisition team, European risk leader and senior investment officer. In 2008 he was appointed head of Western Europe after five years as managing director of GE Capital Real Estate France. Before he began his GE career, François worked for Goldman Sachs in London, and Tishman Speyer Properties in New York and Berlin. He spent part of his early professional career in Japan. He holds a business degree from ESCP Europe and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
