2023 Spring Issue - 41

" Of my top 10 friends in the
industry, I would say at least half of
them come from ULI. "
-Richard Peiser
Michael McNamara, former global head of
real estate investments for Manulife.
emissions similarly could have a positive
impact on climate change. She notes that
her employer, Skanska, is designing a net
zero carbon office tower in downtown L.A.
" It's important for our company, for our
culture, to have organizations like ULI that
can support the 'why' behind focusing on
zero carbon-why we're doing it-is really
important as well, " De Briere says.
Another governor, Michael McNamara,
Richard Peiser, professor at Harvard
University's Graduate School of Design.
For De Briere, making regular donations
to the ULI Foundation seemed like a natural
fit with her growing involvement. " You've
got to put your money where your mouth
is, " she says. Her most recent major contribution,
targeted at the ULI Randall Lewis
Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, also
enabled her to contribute to its efforts on
climate change, an issue that resonates
with the Los Angeles native.
" When I was growing up here, you
couldn't see the mountains most days
because the smog was so bad, " she says.
But just as California's pollution-control
laws helped improve air quality dramatically,
she is hopeful that reducing carbon
retired from his post as global head of real
estate investments for Manulife Investment
Management in 2022 but continues to
remain involved in the Institute. As a leader
of the Urban Development and MixedUse
Council, McNamara was motivated to
become a donor-both by his urge to emulate
other members who had become ULI
benefactors, and his desire to get others
to contribute as well. " I wanted to lead by
example, " he says.
But McNamara also has felt the urge to
pay it forward and contribute to an organization
that helped him in his career. " Some
of the strongest relationships businesswise-and
some of them developed into
strong personal relationships as well-have
been driven by ULI, " he says. " Of my top 10
friends in the industry, I would say at least
half of them come from ULI. "
Richard Peiser, the Michael D. Spear
Professor of Real Estate Development at
Harvard University's Graduate School of
Design, says his involvement in ULI dates
back to the 1970s, when he worked for
legendary developer Gerald Hines, and that
the organization has played an important
role in his career, publishing all but one of
his books, including the fourth edition of
Professional Real Estate Development: The
ULI Guide to the Business, cowritten with
David Hamilton, Suzanne Lanyi Charles,
Sofia Dermisi, and Nick Egelanian, which
was first released three decades ago.
" It's by far the most important organization
that I belong to for professional
contacts, " he says. Peiser fondly recalls a
ULI meeting in which Roy Drachman-one
of the inventors of the modern shopping
center-showed up in the hotel lobby and
asked whether anyone wanted to go with
him to see local examples of the concept.
" I was the only person who stood up,
and to see Boca Raton, Florida, shopping
centers through Roy's eyes was an aweinspiring
experience. "
After decades of involvement, Peiser
sees ULI as a vital organization for an
industry that is continually changing and
evolving, where practitioners need to be
exposed to the newest and latest ideas.
" The ethos is that people will share the
truth about what's happening with their
projects, " he says. " In the council meetings,
what you say in the room stays in
the room, so you can speak openly. That
candor is one of the things that's unique
about the organization, as well as the
access that younger people have to top
people in the industry. "
With such a strong connection to ULI,
Peiser also became a donor early on and
kept up his contributions over the years,
eventually rising to the level of governor.
" They had terms that made it easier
than popping out a huge amount of money
all at once, " he says, noting that the flexibility
enabled him to stagger his major gift
over a five-year period.
SPRING 2023
URBAN LAND
41
COURTESY OF MAGGIE JANIK, HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGN
MANULIFE
2023 Spring Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2023 Spring Issue
