Hamid Moghadam (born August 26, 1956) is an
Iranian-American
Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship.
Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busine ...
business executive and philanthropist.
In 2011 Moghadam orchestrated the combination between AMB,[ a firm he co-founded in 1983,][ and ProLogis to create ]Prologis
Prologis, Inc. is a real estate investment trust headquartered in San Francisco, California that invests in logistics facilities. The company was formed through the merger of AMB Property Corporation and Prologis in June 2011, which made Prologis ...
, the largest logistics real estate company in the world. Moghadam currently serves as Prologis Chairman and CEO, with Prologis operating as a multinational logistics real estate investment trust
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...
(REIT) and S&P 100
The S&P 100 Index is a stock market index of United States stocks maintained by Standard & Poor's.
Index options on the S&P 100 are traded with the ticker symbol "OEX". Because of the popularity of these options, investors often refer to the ind ...
company.
Early life and education
Born in 1956[ in ]Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Hamid Moghadam grew up in Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
,[ where his father was a businessman.][ In 1969][ he attended ]Aiglon College
Aiglon College is a private co-educational boarding school in Switzerland, broadly modelled on British boarding school lines. It is an independent, non-profit school located in the Swiss Alps. It is located 60 km from Lausanne in the alpine vil ...
in Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
.[
In 1973, Moghadam entered the ]Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, where he received Bachelor
A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". ().
Etymo ...
and Master of Science
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
degrees in engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
. In 1980 Moghadam received an MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
from the Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...
in California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
Career
Founding Abbey, Moghadam & Company
After business school, Moghadam started his career at Homestake Mining Company. He later joined John McMahan & Associates. In 1983, he and Douglas Abbey founded Abbey, Moghadam & Company.[ They used a $50,000 line of credit to start][ the firm] in San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, with the partners initially taking no salary.[
Although they planned to provide investment advisory services, according to ''Forbes,'' they soon became known for instead "helping investors revive underperforming assets."]
They were joined by T. Robert Burke in 1984 and established AMB Institutional Realty Advisors, later named AMB Property Corp. AMB initially invested in office, industrial and community shopping centers
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known collec ...
on behalf of large institutional investor
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...
s.
Going public with AMB
In the late 1980s, Moghadam and his partners changed AMB's investment strategy to focus on industrial park
An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...
s and shopping center
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known collec ...
s in infill trade areas,[ with the company beginning to exit the office market in 1987.][ During the collapse of the office building market in the late 1980s, this shift in assets helped the company avoid significant financial repercussions.][ AMB launched its first private equity fund in 1989, which focused on industrial and retail properties.][ AMB consolidated several of its investment funds in 1997][ and went public as an ]REIT
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping ce ...
. In late 1997,[ AMB closed its IPO with more than US $2.8 billion under management.][
Throughout 1999, Moghadam "made a series of moves that pared the company of most of its retail holdings, following the notion that ]e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...
would become the high-margin road of the future."[ Selling its retail business around 1999 to focus solely on the industrial sector,][ starting that year AMB sold nearly $1 billion in retail assets to ]institutional investor
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...
s and reallocated funds into warehouse
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...
s in and around major consumption areas. By the end of 1999, AMB was the second-largest industrially focused REIT in the United States, with a total market capitalization of $3.5 billion.[ President and CEO of AMB Property Corporation,][ he became AMB chairman in 2000.][ AMB made its first overseas investment in 2002, developing a facility for ]Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
in Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
.[ In 2002, AMB initiated an international expansion program] focused on buying and developing distribution facilities near global trade hubs,[ particularly in growth markets such as ]Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,[ and Europe.] AMB added an internal development division in 2004.[
]
Creation of Prologis
In 2011[ Moghadam announced a "merger of equals" between AMB and ProLogis to create ]Prologis
Prologis, Inc. is a real estate investment trust headquartered in San Francisco, California that invests in logistics facilities. The company was formed through the merger of AMB Property Corporation and Prologis in June 2011, which made Prologis ...
, the largest logistics real estate company in the world.[ With market value at approximately $24 billion][ and corporate headquarters remaining in California,][ the new Prologis had around $46 billion in assets under management][ and clients such as ]DHL
DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DHL ...
, Home Depot Inc., Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...
,[ and ]FedEx
FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...
.[ ProLogis CEO Walter Rakowich and Moghadam were appointed as the new company's co-CEOs, with Moghadam becoming the sole CEO][ at the start of 2013.][ He oversaw IPOs in ]Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in 2013 and Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in 2014.
Prologis continues to operate as a publicly traded
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (list ...
real estate investment trust (REIT) on the S&P 100
The S&P 100 Index is a stock market index of United States stocks maintained by Standard & Poor's.
Index options on the S&P 100 are traded with the ticker symbol "OEX". Because of the popularity of these options, investors often refer to the ind ...
, operating around 4,715 logistics and distribution facilities for customers in various industries[ in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.] The company's platform totals 995 million square feet that is owned, managed or under development in 19 countries, with around $169 billion in assets under management.[ In 2018 he oversaw its acquisition of DCT Industrial Trust for $8.4 billion.] Moghadam frequently appears on major television networks to talk about the real estate industry, including CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
, Bloomberg TV
Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is head ...
, and Fox Business Network
Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue ...
, as a real estate industry expert.
Industry boards and committees
In the 1990s, he joined the MIT Center for Real Estate's advisory committee,[ and became a founding member of ]The Real Estate Roundtable
The Real Estate Roundtable is a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. that represents the interests of real estate. It focuses on policy areas governing tax, capital and credit, environment and energy, and homeland sec ...
. He was also vice chairman of the National Realty Committee. He served as a trustee of the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as s ...
,[ and joined the executive committee of its board of directors.] He was also the chairman of National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts
Nareit is a Washington, D.C.-based association representing a large and diverse industry that includes equity real estate investment trusts (REITs), mortgage REITs (mREITs), REITs traded on major stock exchanges, public non-listed REITs, and pri ...
(NAREIT) in 2004.[
]
Philanthropy
Moghadam has served on various philanthropic and community boards in the San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
. He served on the boards of Town School for Boys, the California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 1853 ...
, and the Bay Area Discovery Museum,[ and he was chairman of the Young Presidents Organization's Northern California chapter.]
Previously a trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
of Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
,[ Moghadam is currently a board member of the Stanford Management Company,][ and was its former chairman.][ Moghadam and his wife also established the Moghadam Family Professorship in the ]Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...
,[ and the Stanford Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies focuses on undergraduate courses related to Iran.]
Awards and recognition
Moghadam was named EY's 1998 Real Estate Award Winner for the Northern California Region. In 2005, Moghadam was presented with an Industry Leadership Award from the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts
Nareit is a Washington, D.C.-based association representing a large and diverse industry that includes equity real estate investment trusts (REITs), mortgage REITs (mREITs), REITs traded on major stock exchanges, public non-listed REITs, and pri ...
(NAREIT). He received a Lifetime of Building Award from the Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP) in 2007, and also that year he received the Wisconsin Alumni Center's Vision Setter Award. Moghadam received the EY National Entrepreneur of the Year Overall Award in 2013, as well as the Ellis Island Medal of Honor
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...
from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations Foundations, Inc. (NECO). ''Harvard Business Review
''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...
'' named him one of the 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World three times, and a number of industry publications have named him their CEO of the Year.[
]
Personal life
Moghadam and his wife Christina[ have a son together.][ Moghadam, a lifelong Republican, endorsed former Secretary of State ]Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
for president in 2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
.
References
External links
Hamid R. Moghadam - Prologis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moghadam, Hamid R.
American chief executives
21st-century American businesspeople
American real estate businesspeople
California Republicans
Living people
People from Tehran
Stanford University alumni
Stanford University trustees
Philanthropists from California
Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area
1956 births
American company founders
Real estate and property developers
Exiles of the Iranian Revolution in the United States
Iranian emigrants to the United States
Alumni of Aiglon College