Matthew Rieger

Rieger helped build thousands of apartments across the country, but he is perhaps best known for the unfortunate minutes he spent trapped in an elevator with Ben Carson. More on that in a moment. 

Rieger is the president and CEO of Coconut Grove–based Housing Trust Group, a multifamily development firm that has built more than 6,000 residential units across the United States, with a primary focus on affordable and workforce housing projects in Florida and Arizona. 

The firm was founded in 1997 by Rieger’s father, Randy Rieger, who sits as executive chairman. The younger Rieger began at the company in 2004, after starting his career as an associate at the law firm Broad & Cassel. He ascended to CEO in 2011, guiding the firm through a period of significant expansion while maintaining its core emphasis on accessible housing and urban redevelopment. He frequently deals in public-private partnerships, such as the Flagler Station in West Palm Beach and University Station in Hollywood.

In 2017, he was briefly trapped in an elevator with then-U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson during a tour of an HTG-owned apartment project in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood. The two discussed their taste in movies before being freed by firefighters. “There was no panicking. Everyone was cool,” Rieger told the Miami Herald at the time. 

–– Kate Hinsche