A Land Use Leader for the 21st Century: Patrick L. Phillips Named New Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Land Institute
WASHINGTON, August 3, 2009 — Patrick L. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer of ERA AECOM (formerly Economics Research Associates), has been selected as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Land Institute, a global research and education organization dedicated to responsible land use. Phillips is taking over the position being vacated by current ULI CEO Richard M. Rosan, who has led the Institute’s staff for more than 17 years.
Phillips, 52, is a ULI trustee whose career in the economic analysis of real estate and land use spans more than 20 years. Since 1993, he has coordinated all aspects of ERA’s organization, strategy, business development, and service delivery. His own consulting practice focused specifically on the intersection of private investment and public policy. To further expand ERA’s reach and impact, Phillips guided the successful sale of the company in 2007 to AECOM, a globally renowned provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of industries, including land use, transportation, environmental and energy.
“We are very fortunate to have someone of such high integrity and intellect, and who, as a longtime member, is so devoted to the fulfillment of ULI’s mission,” said ULI Chairman Jeremy Newsum, Executive Trustee of the U.K.-based Grosvenor Estate. “Patrick’s breadth of industry knowledge, interest in diverse ideas and opinions, and his belief in the synthesis of different perspectives create a perfect match for such a multidisciplined organization as ULI. He is a land use leader for the 21st century.”
Former ULI Chairman Todd W. Mansfield pointed to Phillips’s years of involvement with the Institute, both as a volunteer member since 1990 and a staff member in the policy research program during the mid-1980s. In recent years, Phillips participated on such high-profile ULI advisory service panels as the post-Katrina panel in New Orleans and the post-9/11 panel in lower Manhattan. He served as a juror on the ULI Hines Student Urban Design Competition, and as a member of the Urban Development/Mixed-Use Council, the Program Committee, and the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize Management Committee. “Patrick truly understands the importance of active member engagement and the need to encourage the information exchange that distinguishes ULI from other professional organizations,” said Mansfield, CEO of Crosland, LLC, in Charlotte, N.C. “The various perspectives he has gained from his experience in the industry and with ULI will serve Patrick well as the new CEO.”
Phillips will start at ULI on September 14, 2009. The opportunity to guide ULI staff presents a unique chance to help boost the influence the Institute has on land use both globally and locally, Phillips said. “ULI is clearly the premier research and education organization involving land use. I am thrilled to take on the responsibility for leading an organization that provides such an unbeatable combination of intellectual content and member service.”
The global recession, he noted, has presented a challenging environment in which ULI must stay relevant and provide high member value. “While ULI has traditionally been viewed through the lens of development and growth, we are facing lower prospects for growth in a number of the established markets we serve worldwide. At the same time, we are starting to have a larger presence in emerging markets. We need to take a fresh look at the entire portfolio of products and services ULI provides to make sure that what we offer reflects member needs, both in times of changing market conditions and for the long term,” Phillips said.
He stressed that ULI’s core priority areas -- 1) sustainability, including environmentally and economically viable investment and development; 2) connecting infrastructure and land use planning; 3) workforce housing; and 4) capital markets – continue to be relevant in the current economic environment. In fact, positioning ULI in the dialogs on sustainability and restoring capital flows are two areas of particular urgency, Phillips said. Given the worldwide scope of the discussions and public policy changes related to these issues, “ULI has a profound role to play,” he said.
Phillips foresees reinforcing ULI’s value to members not just through the improvement of the Institute’s traditional programs and business development tools – aimed at providing immediate take-home value – but also through the development of research designed to have an impact on various policy debates. “ULI is hugely influential in how urban areas are developed around the world. I look forward to exploring new ways and new partnerships to build on ULI’s previous success and move the Institute forward in the decades to come,” he said.
Rosan, Phillips’s predecessor, will be transitioning fulltime into the role of president of the ULI Foundation, the philanthropic branch of ULI that funds much of its program of work. It is a position he has held simultaneously while serving as ULI’s CEO.
ULI Chairman Newsum pointed out that “it will be no small task” to build on Rosan’s legacy at the Institute. “Among Rick’s many accomplishments are vastly increased membership, extraordinary global outreach and new funding sources. He has broadened ULI’s intellectual content through the creation of the endowed Senior Resident Fellows program and the funded Centers,” Newsum said. “After so many years of outstanding leadership from Rick, we are excited to appoint someone who can start a new chapter for ULI. I am confident that Patrick will be an outstanding success.”
“I am delighted with the selection of Patrick,” Rosan said. “He is a dedicated and very capable leader who will bring a fresh perspective on how ULI can best evolve in the years ahead.”
About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has nearly 35,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.
