James Connor, chairman and chief executive officer of Duke Realty Corporation, has been named vice chair of the board of trustee’s of Chicago’s Roosevelt University.
Connor has been a longtime supporter of the university as a trustee and member of the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate advisory board.
Duke Realty is one of the largest owners, developers and managers of industrial properties in the United States and a NYSE-listed company with a total enterprise value of more than $20 billion. Duke Realty, which specializes in modern, bulk warehouse and logistics facilities in the top 20 distribution markets in the United States, has a portfolio in excess of 160 million square feet.
Under Connor’s leadership, the company was repositioned from a diversified REIT with holdings in the industrial, office, retail, medical and mixed-use sectors to the largest domestic U.S. industrial REIT. The repositioning, which was completed over a seven-year period, included rebuilding the company’s balance sheet, which culminated in ratings upgrades to BBB+ and being added to the S&P 500.
Connor’s three-year term will begin Sept. 1. Maurice Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Health Care Service Corporation, was elected to serve as Board of Trustees chair.
