Global Chairman

The ULI global chairman guides the Institute’s delivery of member value and mission-oriented work, with an overarching goal of positioning ULI as the leading global real estate organization that attracts and retains top industry leaders; the leading authority on real estate and the “go-to” place for industry information and expertise; and the provider of solutions to the most complex real estate and urban development problems faced by cities around the world.

OWEN D. THOMAS

Owen D. Thomas, chief executive officer of Boston Properties, was  elected as the new global chairman of the Urban Land Institute on July 1, 2019.

Owen D. Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Boston Properties.  He is a Director of Lehman Brothers Holdings and served as its first Chairman from 2012 until 2013 when he joined Boston Properties.  Prior to Lehman, Mr. Thomas was with Morgan Stanley for 24 years serving in a number of different roles, business units and locations, including Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley Asia and Chairman of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, while living in Hong Kong from 2008 until 2011. He also held the roles of President of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate and served on Morgan Stanley’s Management Committee from 2005 until 2011.

Mr. Thomas is the Global Chairman of the Urban Land Institute, a Director of the Urban Land Institute Foundation, a Director of the Real Estate Roundtable, and a member of the Executive Board of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. He is a Director of Episcopal Charities of New York and formerly Chairman of the Pension Real Estate Association and Director of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company. He attended and is a former Trustee of Woodberry Forest School, received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.