Bill Witte to Step Down as CEO of Related California

After more than 35 years at the helm, William “Bill” Witte is stepping down as chairman and CEO of Related California, The Real Deal has learned.

Effective Jan. 1, Witte, 74, will become chairman emeritus of the Irvine-based firm.

Gino Canori, the company’s president, will become president and CEO of Related California’s market-rate and mixed-income development group. Ann Silverberg, who leads affordable-housing development in Related California’s Northern California and Northwest divisions, will become president and CEO of the firm’s entire affordable division.

Related's Gino Canori and Ann Silverberg — Related’s Gino Canori and Ann Silverberg (Related)

Canori is currently based in San Francisco and is expected to keep his office there for the immediate future.

Since its inception Related California has developed more than 21,000 residential units, totaling more than $11.7 billion in assets.

Projects include the 1.2-million-square-foot The Grand LA, designed by Frank Gehry in downtown Los Angeles, a two-tower development with 436 residences and a 314-room Conrad Los Angeles hotel. Most recently, Related California launched rental tower 700 Broadway in Santa Monica, with 280 apartments, a Von’s and an Equinox.

The company has also been prolific on affordable projects, ranging from a recent deal with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles for the redevelopment of Rose Hills Court complex in the Montecito Heights district to several projects at FivePoint Holdings Great Park Neighborhoods master-planned community in Irvine.

Witte earned a bachelor’s in urban studies and a master’s in city planning at the University of Pennsylvania. He held housing roles in Philadelphia before serving eight years as San Francisco’s director of housing and economic development under then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein, and later as deputy mayor for housing and neighborhoods under her successor, Art Agnos.

Following more than a decade in public service, Witte formed a financial partnership with Steve Ross’ Related Companies to develop affordable housing, creating Related California in 1989.

Related Companies is the financial partner and guarantor for Related California and its other affiliates on market-rate developments, The Real Deal has reported. For affordable housing, the bulk of the predevelopment capital is provided by various lines of credit obtained in California with Related Companies acting as a guarantor of those lines of credit.

Canori leads Related California’s mixed-use, multifamily and mixed-income residential development and strategy throughout California, overseeing a $10 billion pipeline of more than 7,000 multifamily and senior units, and over 5 million square feet of commercial space, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Canori has a bachelor’s in real estate finance and development from University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. The Orange County native spent a year as an acquisitions manager at Carmel Partners before starting at Related Companies in 2001 as an executive vice president. He was promoted to president in March 2022.

Silverberg has been the CEO of Related California Northern California Affordable and Northwest Divisions for seven-plus years. Her new title will be president and CEO of Related California/Northwest Affordable. She is a faculty lecturer at UC Berkeley College, and spent nearly 28 years working at Bridge Housing Corporation as an executive vice president and CIO of Northern California real estate development and capital markets.

Silverberg is a faculty lecturer at University of California-Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, where she teaches a graduate-level methods class in affordable housing finance and development. She has a master’s degree in city and regional planning from UC Berkeley, and a bachelor’s in political science from the University of California-Los Angeles.

Reporting provided by Jerry Sullivan.