Patrick L. Phillips

From 2009 to early 2018, Patrick L. Phillips served as the Global Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). ULI, which currently has more than 200 employees and a budget of nearly $75 million, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has offices throughout the world. As Global CEO, Phillips worked with ULI’s member leaders to lead all aspects of ULI’s strategy, mission delivery, resource allocation, and fiscal performance. Phillips, a longtime member of ULI, has had a career in the economic analysis of real estate and land use that spans more than 30 years. Prior to taking the position as the top staff executive at ULI, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of ERA AECOM (formerly Economics Research Associates). In that role, he 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. His work at ERA AECOM focused on development strategy, development economics and feasibility analysis, and transaction-related services for real estate investors and developers, public agencies, financial institutions, universities, and non-profit organizations. This involved all major categories of urban land use, with an emphasis on the market, economic, and financial aspects of a new generation of downtown and suburban mixed-use projects. Under Phillip’s direction, ERA provided consulting services for such notable development projects as Mockingbird Station in Dallas, Atlantic Station in Atlanta, and the repositioning of Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza; as well as public planning projects for the Hudson Yards in New York City and Houston’s Buffalo Bayou. Phillips has often advised public agencies and non-profit organizations on issues related to public-private partnerships for economic development. He is a frequent speaker on urban development issues, and is the author or co-author of eight books and numerous articles. In 2005, Phillips led a nationally prominent economic development team as part of the ULI advisory services panel making recommendations on post-Katrina rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. Patrick teaches at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design Executive Education Program and at the Carey Business School of Johns Hopkins University. His academic training includes a graduate degree in public management and finance from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Several years ago, while I was with ERA, I participated in the preparation of a redevelopment plan for the beautiful harbor front in Hamilton, Bermuda. When our work was completed, someone raised the question: what about rising sea levels?
Over the past year, an overarching theme at ULI events has been rethinking urban development for the 21st century to better meet the needs of cities grappling with myriad challenges resulting from rapid urbanization, population and demographic shifts, new economic drivers, and increasing environmental concerns. One of the most engaging and provocative discussions on this topic occurred at our Global Metropolitan Summit, cohosted this summer by ULI with the Citistates Group—a network of journalists, speakers, and civic leaders focused on building sustainable cities and metropolitan regions.
Several partnerships ULI has established over the past several months—including those with the World Economic Forum (WEF), Aspen Institute, and Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore—are presenting new opportunities for the Institute to think big, think ahead, and think beyond the norm.
May was a busy month for the Urban Land Institute. Our global reach was showcased at high-profile, back-to-back meetings in the United States, Asia, and Europe—each with a different focus, but all addressing the Institute’s core goal of creating vibrant communities for the 21st century.
In anticipation of the 2012 ULI Spring Meeting, “The Power to Lead, the Energy to Thrive,” being hosted by Charlotte, North Carolina, May 8-10, ULI CEO Patrick Phillips discusses how market demand is driving the trend of making buildings’ energy-performance data more visible. Phillips outlines how ULI is repositioning itself to be a smarter, more influential, and more effective organization through the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance.
Patrick Phillips, chief executive officer of ULI, comments on the transporation legislation approved by the U.S. Senate on March 14 by a 74-22 vote, entitled “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century,” or MAP-21. Phillips states that, while Senate bill 1813 proposes no significant additional funding, ULI is encouraged at the bi-partisan support for this bill, because it signals the importance of a strong transportation policy for America.
Against the backdrop of a relatively glum economic outlook for 2012, ULI is continuing to expand, offering its “multilocal” approach to create value for members and magnify the Institute’s beneficial impact.
This year’s Fall Meeting in Los Angeles—which kicked off the institute’s 75th anniversary celebration—was particularly focused on the long-term future of the industry and ULI.
Did 9/11 change the way we live? With the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks upon us, Patrick Phillips considers the answer to this question as he remembers ULI’s 2001 Fall Meeting, which was scheduled for Boston during the first week of October that year. Read what the Institute’s CEO has to say about that fateful meeting vis-à-vis Americans’ continuing migration back to downtowns.
Under past chairman Jeremy Newsum’s leadership, ULI has rallied together, and, through the process of asking some tough questions, members have raised their collective view about what the Institute can accomplish. Read about three significant advances made at ULI during Newsum’s two-year tenure.
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