Todd W. Mansfield named Chairman of the Urban Land Institute

WASHINGTON (July 9, 2007) – Todd W. Mansfield, chairman and chief executive officer of Crosland LLC, is the new chairman of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). Crosland, headquartered in Charlotte, is recognized as a leading community builder and is one of the Southeast’s leading real estate development companies. As ULI chairman, Mansfield will serve a two-year term that expires on July 1, 2009.

The common factor uniting Mansfield’s priorities for ULI is sustainability – promoting land use design and development practices that keep urban regions sustainable on an economic, social and environmental basis. Of particular interest to Mansfield is the long-term viability of the outlying areas, widely considered by industry experts as targets for much future growth.
“As chairman, I want to continue our focus on identifying best practices and on promoting better growth patterns throughout our urban regions. This is not about downtown versus the exurbs. It’s about pursuing more effective land use models and achieving better connectivity within these areas so entire regions can function more efficiently,” Mansfield says.

He views this focus on outer-ring areas as an extension of his long-standing commitment to community building. “As our cities have grown outward, our employment centers have become more dispersed. These outer areas tend to have very little access to transit, leaving people with no choice but to constantly drive between suburbs for work and errands. Often, housing is still far too isolated from retail and commercial uses,” Mansfield says. “This is not conducive to fostering a strong sense of community, nor is it sustainable, in terms of preserving quality of life, energy or land. I want to strengthen ULI’s role in the efficient development of entire urban regions.”

Mansfield, 49, was most recently chairman of ULI’s policy and practice committee, which guides the Institute’s research and publishing agenda. He views ULI’s emphasis on sustainable urban areas as being concentrated in three priority areas: 1) environmentally conscious investment and development; 2) connecting infrastructure and land use planning; and 3) workforce housing.

Mansfield’s interest in environmentally conscious development stems from his long-standing involvement in land conservation – he has collaborated with The Nature Conservancy for 15 years, and is completing his second term as chair of the North Carolina chapter of that organization. “Green is here to stay,” Mansfield says. “And, it means far more than just energy-efficient buildings. I view green building as building for people and nature, not cars. It means determining more sustainable land use patterns, renovating existing structures and building in a way that reduces carbon dioxide emissions. The land use industry has much at stake as public policy addresses climate change, quality of life, and public investment issues.”

In the area of infrastructure, Mansfield noted a recent report from ULI and Ernst & Young, which showed the United States lagging far behind Asia and Europe in virtually all aspects of mobility-related infrastructure – airports, public transit, railway systems, roads and bridges. He sees infrastructure investment and development as having stronger-than-ever implications for urban growth patterns; and, as a result, he wants to strengthen ULI’s involvement in infrastructure-related issues, including financing and construction. “Revamping our infrastructure calls for long-term solutions that include rethinking land planning models. This is where ULI’s role in this issue really crystallizes. We can promote models that are less auto-dependent and offer plenty of options for getting from on place to another,” Mansfield says.

In terms of workforce housing, Mansfield is anxious to step up ULI’s work on this issue through the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing (The center was created last year with a $5 million commitment from former ULI Chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger.) The center will expand ULI’s existing research and educational tools on workforce housing to include the development of plans to build mixed-income housing targeted to moderate-income workers. “The housing-jobs gap many communities face is troubling from a social, economic and environmental aspect,” Mansfield says. “As community builders, we all have a stake in workforce housing. I see the ULI Terwilliger Center as a great way to ramp up ULI’s grassroots activity in this area.”

The three priorities – environmentally conscious investment and development, connecting infrastructure and land use, and workforce housing -- are all areas of emphasis at Crosland, where Mansfield has served as chief executive since 1999 and was recently named chairman. Company founder John Crosland Sr., who started the business in 1937, left a legacy of “treating development as the business of building for people,” Mansfield says. The community building values of Crosland are evident in much of ULI’s program of work, he notes. Since joining the company, Mansfield has led the establishment of four new regional offices and growth into five new states. Under his leadership, Crosland’s fair market value has more than doubled and annual capital deployment has increased sixfold.

Mansfield has far-reaching expertise in property investment, development and place making. From 1997 to 1999, he was managing director of Security Capital Group in London, where he launched and operated a private equity investment fund. The fund acquired seven real estate operating companies in the parking, self-storage, office and residential sectors in Europe and Australia.

From 1986 to 1997, Mansfield was executive vice president of The Walt Disney Company, where he had operating responsibility for Disney’s resort development and corporate real estate activities worldwide, including more than $3 billion in commercial and residential development. He served as president of Disney's Celebration Company and oversaw the planning and initial development of the 5,000-acre Town of Celebration (a ULI Award of Excellence winner). Mansfield played a leadership role in the planning and execution of Val d'Europe, a new transit-oriented town (a Congress of New Urbanism Charter Award winner) outside of Paris. Mansfield was also president of The Disney Vacation Club, a vacation ownership company.

Prior to joining Disney, Mansfield was a project manager with Hines. He was also a consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc. in New York City. He obtained a masters degree in business administration from Harvard University and a bachelor of arts degree from Claremont McKenna College.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 37,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. Currently, there are more than 60 ULI district councils located in North America, Europe, and Asia.