Victor MacFarlane is executive chairman of MacFarlane Partners, a real estate investment management and development firm he founded in 1987 that acquires, develops and manages properties on behalf of institutional investors and its own account. He has primary responsibility for the firm’s investment management and development activities, chairs its investment committee and serves on its senior management committee.
Career Overview
Victor has more than 40 years of real estate experience, during which he has worked extensively in property development, acquisitions, asset management and portfolio management on behalf of some of the world’s largest pension plans and institutions.
Under his leadership, MacFarlane Partners pioneered the urban investment concept among institutional real estate managers in the 1990s and today is an industry leader in urban/smart-growth development.
Past Experience
Victor began his real estate career in 1979 with Aetna Life & Casualty Company, where he helped acquire and manage more than $1 billion in real estate assets. He later developed and managed, for his own account, an award-winning apartment community in Denver.
In 1996, he sold the core separate-account investment management business of MacFarlane Partners to GE Capital and then served for three years as chief executive officer of GE Capital Investment Advisors. During that period, he also spearheaded initiatives in Asia, Mexico and Eastern Europe for GE Capital Real Estate, an affiliate with $20 billion in real estate assets worldwide.
At the end of his contractual commitment in April 1999, he resigned from GE Capital and began rebuilding MacFarlane Partners as an entrepreneurial firm that invested in properties promoting smart growth, urban revitalization and sustainability. The firm in recent years has refocused itself as a real estate operating and development company, while maintaining its urban investment management business.
Honors
- Lifetime Achievement Award, San Francisco Business Times
- Distinguished Business Leadership Award, USC School of Architecture
- Lifetime Achievement Award, Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce
- National Inner City Economic Leadership Award, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
- Trailblazer Achievement Award, Global Diversity Summit
- Executive of the Year Award (2008), Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce
- Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Pittsburgh, Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business
- Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of the District of Columbia
Professional Affiliations/Board Service
- Co-Founder and Emeritus Board Member, Real Estate Executive Council
- Board of Directors, Veris Residential, Inc.
- Board of Directors, SITE Centers Corp.
- Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate
- International Council of Shopping Centers
- Pension Real Estate Association (Member and former Director)
- Urban Land Institute (Member and former Trustee)
- World Presidents Organization
Education
- Bachelor of University Studies, University of New Mexico
- Juris Doctor, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law
- Master of Business Administration, University of Pittsburgh