2024 Ones to Watch Industry Leaders: Tom Ortinau, GFP Real Estate

“Tom spearheads GFP’s new project acquisitions while playing a major role in the development and eventual recapitalization of those projects. Recent projects include over $3 billion invested across a life science project, office redevelopments, dorm developments and more than 2,000 units in office to residential conversions.” - Brian Steinwurtzel, co-CEO and Principal, GFP Real Estate.

In the last 12 months what accomplishment are you most proud of? We are fortunate to be active on new projects and growing our team at a time when most development firms are burdened with workouts and finding it difficult to raise capital. 

Best books, podcasts, or apps for aspiring leaders: Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard

In the last 12 months what was one of the biggest challenges you faced as a leader and how did you overcome it? The equity markets were slow in 2023, so we explored a variety of new strategies for raising capital. While we considered pursuing new options, the long road and uncertainty was not ideal for us. We ultimately found appetite from some of our existing relationships, which have been critical to keeping our investment and development process active.

Best advice for new leaders: Strive for quality and be fair with others.