USC Names Industry Veteran to Head Lusk Center

USC has selected real estate industry veteran Stan Ross to serve as chairman of the Lusk Center for Real Estate as part of a reorganization of the school’s real estate education and research programs.

Ross--who will be retiring as vice chairman and managing partner of E&Y; Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group--said he plans to expand Lusk’s focus beyond real estate development. Ross will run the center with its new executive director, Stuart Gabriel, a professor of finance and a former deputy dean.

“The industry has gone through a transformation and we need to respond to it,” said Ross, 63. Lusk will pursue “an integrated approach. It’s going to be responsive to real estate’s needs.”

The university will also aggressively seek to expand the center’s $7-million endowment.

Ross’ appointment and the center’s new strategy won praise from industry officials, who said Lusk has failed to live up to expectations of becoming a major research institution and industry think tank. The center was formed in 1988 with a $4-million grant from legendary home builder John D. Lusk, who died in March.

“I don’t think it has played much of a role,” said one real estate industry observer. “It had a high- profile name, but I never saw anything [major] come out of there.”

The Lusk Center will benefit from Ross’ credibility and clout in the real estate community, said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “There’s a lot of things that need to be examined regarding Southern California real estate,” Kyser said. “I think he will bring a new focus to the program.”

The center--which has been without a director for about a year--will be reorganized July 1 as a partnership between the USC Marshall School of Business and the university’s new School of Policy, Planning and Development. The university’s real estate education and research programs--which had been located in different departments and schools--will now be based at Lusk, Gabriel said.

“We will have one coherent structure for the study of real estate at USC,” he said. “It’s going to allow the Lusk Center to take a leadership role” in real estate.

The changes in structure and approach will make the center better able to address the broad range of economic, legal, technological, social and regulatory issues facing people and companies involved in real estate, Gabriel said. The center’s more comprehensive strategy also recognizes the important role real estate plays in the broader economy, he said.

“The mission of Lusk has been broadened and deepened and made to reflect the . . . multidisciplinary nature of the real estate industry itself,” Gabriel said.

Ross, who has worked in real estate and accounting fields for nearly 40 years, said the center’s new path will generate research and graduates more in tune with industrywide changes. Once a business dominated by entrepreneurs, real estate is increasingly the realm of major corporations that require sophisticated executives to run them.

“We can capture the disciplines of public policy, planning, engineering, business and law and bring them all underneath the real estate umbrella,” Ross said. “It’s an important step forward into the new world of real estate.”

Ross’ replacement at E&Y; Kenneth Leventhal is expected to be announced in September, according to a company spokesman.