Named in collective honor of the 15 individuals who have served as ULI Foundation Chairman since our founding in 1970, the Chairman’s Circle serves as the entry point for those who wish to increase their engagement with ULI through expanded philanthropic support.

The Walter Schmidt Society, named for ULI’s first president, honors the man whose vision for quality urban planning laid the groundwork for ULI’s transformative work in building thriving communities around the globe.

The Trammell Crow Society recognizes this Dallas-based real estate developer who led major real estate projects, including the Dallas Market Center, Peachtree Center in Atlanta, and the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. Crow inspired a generation of developers who have left their mark on the landscape of every city in America.

The Frederick Law Olmsted Society is named in honor of the landscape architect and conservationist whose passion for thoughtfully planned public spaces improved cities and communities across the country. Best remembered as the visionary behind New York City’s Central Park and Asheville, North Carolina’s Biltmore Estate, Olmsted’s projects include park systems, communities, government grounds, and scenic reservations.

The Susan Hudson-Wilson Society recognizes a pioneer in introducing the real estate industry to modern portfolio theory, thereby enabling developers and investors to access the vast pool of institutional capital. Hudson-Wilson was a brilliant student and teacher of finance, demographics, urban economics, risk management, and real estate research. She was fearless and willing to take on all comers in thoughtful discussion and debate. She delighted in describing something as “wicked” in her Boston accent.

The Governors Society is named in collective honor of the original 17 ULI Foundation Governors who demonstrated their commitment to ULI’s future with significant gifts to establish the ULI Foundation and its permanent source of unrestricted funding to support ULI’s research- and mission-driven programs.

The Governors Society is named in collective honor of the original 17 ULI Foundation Governors who demonstrated their commitment to ULI’s future with significant gifts to establish the ULI Foundation and its permanent source of unrestricted funding to support ULI’s research- and mission-driven programs.

The Julia Morgan Society honors this prolific and pioneering architect. She was active in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, designing nearly 800 public and private projects in California and Hawaii alone. One of her most famous projects was the lavish Hearst Castle at San Simeon, now a National Historical Landmark. She was the first woman admitted to the architecture program of the École des Beaux-Arts.

The U.S. senator, Harvard professor, presidential advisor, U.S. ambassador, and United Nations representative after whom the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Society is named was a community visionary and advocate. Committed to effective solutions to concerns from mass transportation to urban revitalization and preservation, he was the recipient of the second annual Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.

The Charles Fraser Society recognizes the man whose environmentally conscious, thoughtfully planned, energy efficient real estate development vision transformed Hilton Head from a sparsely populated barrier island to the ninth-largest city in South Carolina. His master-planned development Sea Pines Plantation was awarded the ULI Heritage Award in honor of its lasting significance. Four of his former employees became ULI chairmen: James J. Chaffin, J. Ronald Terwilliger, Harry H. Frampton III, and Peter S. Rummell.

The socially conscious developer acknowledged with the James Rouse Society pioneered the indoor shopping mall; created the successful planned new community of Columbia, Maryland, consistently ranked a “best place to live;” and restored and revitalized urban districts with well-planned mixed-use marketplaces. He sought to rehabilitate the existing assets in cities rather than demolish them. Rouse was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom for his lifetime achievements, the highest civilian honor.

The Marcus Vitruvius Society honors the author of the centuries-old De Architectura, a vital source of knowledge on classical Greek and Roman design and architecture. Marcus Vitruvius was an engineer and architect to Emperor Augustus in first century Rome, B.C. His work introduced design “rules” across the spectrum of uses, from the emphatically functional to the purely pleasing. From his legacy, the industry has been bequeathed The Vitruvian Triad—that the elements of the built environment should have longevity, serve a human need, and be beautiful.