Emile Haddad, CEO of FivePoint Holdings, has been named chairman of USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. Bill Witte, the CEO of Related California, has been named vice-chair.
The appointments come as the longtime head of the center, Chairman Stan Ross, announces his retirement. Ross has headed Lusk since 1999, when he stepped down as vice chairman of E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group.
Both Haddad and Witte previously served on Lusk’s advisory board and will begin their new roles July 1.
Haddad, who recently completed a term as chairman of the board of trustees at UC Irvine, said his goal is to help the center take on a greater role in addressing the industry’s most pressing issues, such as the turmoil currently facing the retail industry.
“I think the world is going through a major transformation,” Haddad told TRD. “I want to be involved in an institution like Lusk to have the resources and research to start digging deep and finding the answers.”