RICHARD B. PEISER
Richard B. Peiser, PhD, is the first Michael D. Spear Professor of Real Estate Development in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and director of the university-wide Real Estate Academic Initiative. Before coming to Harvard in 1998, he was associate professor of urban planning and development at the University of Southern California where he founded and directed the Lusk Center for Real Estate Development, and the Master of Real Estate Development Program.
At Harvard, he founded and directs the Advanced Management Development Program and coordinates the other executive education programs in real estate at GSD, as well as joint real estate programs with Harvard Business School. He directs the Master of Urban Planning Concentration in Real Estate and cochairs the Master of Design Studies Program in Real Estate and Project Management at GSD.
Peiser has published over 100 articles in academic and professional journals. His primary research focuses on developing an understanding of the response of real estate developers to the marketplace and to the institutional environment in which they operate, particularly in the areas of urban redevelopment, affordable housing, and suburban sprawl. His current research is on urban modeling using Los Angeles as a test case, and nonperforming loan resolution. His other books in progress are on high-end luxury retail development and on the economics of new towns around the world. He teaches real estate development and finance as well as field studies on complex urban development problems.
Professionally, he has developed affordable housing in Texas and California as well as land and industrial properties. From 2004 to 2007, he served as a founding partner of the China Real Estate Investment Company and its Shanghai-based subsidiary KaiLong REI Project Investment, investing institutional capital in real estate projects in China’s major cities. He is also a valuation and economic-damage expert for litigation with respect to apartments, land, office, and retail development projects and portfolios.
Peiser was born in Houston and grew up in Dallas. He received his BA from Yale University, his MBA from Harvard University, and his PhD in land economy from Cambridge University. His first teaching appointment was at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He has held visiting appointments at Stanford and Cambridge universities, Seoul National University, the University of Ulster, and the University of Regensburg. He is a former trustee of the Urban Land Institute and former coeditor of the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management and currently serves on the board of Berkshire Income Realty, Inc., a publicly traded company based in Boston, and on the Board of Overseers for the New England Wildflower Society.
DAVID HAMILTON
Trained as an architect, David Hamilton has managed innovative real estate development projects on a variety of scales, ranging from medical and university campuses to award-winning high-tech office and R&D spaces. As a codirector of the Cambridge Innovation Center, he managed the design and construction of a widely acclaimed private sector incubator for technology-related business. As a principal of Qroe Farm Preservation Development, Hamilton led project design, entitlement, and construction efforts for Bundoran Farm in Charlottesville, Virginia, widely regarded as a model for sustainable development. He speaks and writes on the role of private sector development in the management and preservation of large-scale working landscapes, and the implications of exurban development on agricultural land uses. As chief operating officer of Qroe’s affiliate Geobarns, he has been recognized as a leader in the development of new models of sustainable, affordable homebuilding and light commercial construction.
Hamilton has contributed to various ULI publications on topics ranging from inner-ring suburban regeneration to conservation development strategies. He teaches introductory real estate finance and development courses and advises design students on project economics at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He is a graduate of Middlebury College and Harvard University, where he cowrote The Harvard Project on the City: Lagos. Hamilton lives in Middlebury, Vermont.