The late James Rouse didn't follow the rules when it came to leading a business.
The visionary developer often gave a speech in which he talked about putting the bottom line at the bottom. “If it was at the top, you've lost your way,” he'd say.
He believed that if you did well, you should use your success to create the same opportunities for others.
Rouse and his wife, Patricia, put that idea into action and founded the Enterprise Foundation in 1982 to work with low-income people. Now called Enterprise Community Partners, the organization has grown into a leading provider of capital for the affordable housing industry.
The Rouses lead this year's group of inductees into AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE's Hall of Fame.
“He was more interested in how things ought to be than how they were,” says Bart Harvey, Enterprise's former president and CEO, of Jim Rouse. The same can be said for all of this year's honorees.
Robert Greer, president of Michaels Development Co.; David Reznick, founder of the Reznick Group; and Julia Stasch, vice president of the human and community development program at the MacArthur Foundation and a former Chicago housing commissioner, are also being inducted this year for their significant contributions to the industry.
All have worked to advance the cause of affordable housing.
This year's group will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at a Nov. 5 luncheon concluding AHF Live: The 2010 Affordable Housing Developers' Summit at the Fairmont Millennium Park in Chicago.