Leonard W. Wood has committed $4 million to the Center for Real Estate Development (CRED) at the Kenan-Flagler Business School of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Wood, formerly a principal of Trammell Crow Residential, is a founding member of Wood Partners LLC, an Atlanta company that develops, constructs and acquires multifamily rental communities.
Wood’s gift will allow for enhancement of the school’s MBA real estate program and expansion of CRED, which is part of the school’s Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. Launched in 2001, CRED focuses on education, research and outreach in real estate development to help business leaders create and manage property in ways that ensure positive impact and sustainable results.
The $4 million gift, which includes a matching $1 million from Wood’s business partners, will establish The Leonard W. Wood Foundation for Excellence in Real Estate. The gift will support the recruitment of faculty and enable the hire of a new executive director for the center. UNC Kenan-Flagler will recognize Wood’s gift by renaming CRED the Leonard W. Wood Center for Real Estate Development.
UNC Kenan-Flagler Dean Steve Jones said the gift will be transformative. “What Leonard and his partners are doing will enable the real estate program to rise to its full potential. It will transform a great program into a national leader. Its contribution to our school and students will be immense.”
“The school has proven it can attract people who want careers in real estate, and those people have gone on to have a tremendous impact in the real estate industry,” said Wood, who earned his MBA from Kenan-Flagler in 1972. “My gift is aimed at building on that momentum.”
“The generosity of Leonard Wood will enable a wide range of activities that will continue to expand the school’s national reputation in real estate,” said David J. Hartzell, the Steven D. Bell and Leonard W. Wood Distinguished Professor in Real Estate at UNC Kenan-Flagler. “It will enhance the education of our real estate students, improve their job prospects and further the real estate research of our faculty.”
In 2001, Wood, along with Carolina alumnus Steven D. Bell, endowed a real estate professorship with a $2 million gift. Hartzell was named the first Steven D. Bell and Leonard W. Wood Distinguished Professor in Real Estate in January.
Wood’s gift is a capstone to the business school’s achievement of its $180 million goal within the university’s $2 billion Carolina First Campaign. Carolina First is a comprehensive, multiyear, private fund-raising campaign to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university.
UNC Kenan-Flagler has offered a concentration in real estate development for MBA students since 1999. It is the only program from a top-ranked business school that is focused on development. The long-standing real estate program began with its first course in 1976, followed by an interdisciplinary curriculum in 1984, and a Joint MBA/Master of Regional Planning (MRP) degree program in 1986. Today MBAs’ strong interest in real estate is evidenced by the active Real Estate Club and the UNC Real Estate Development Challenge, in which 15 top business schools competed in February.
UNC Kenan-Flagler contact: Allison Reid, (919) 962-8951 or allison_reid@unc.edu
UNC News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415 or susan_houston@unc.edu