Robert A. Wislow

Robert A. Wislow and Camille Julmy founded U.S. Equities Realty in 1978 as a Chicago-based commercial real estate firm providing a full range of services to property owners, government entities, lenders, and tenants.  The company has grown to now include offices in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Santiago, Chile. As chairman, Wislow spearheads U.S. Equities' ongoing expansion and oversees strategic planning for continued growth.  He has participated in real estate transactions valued at more than $4.0 billion, including more than 5 million square feet of office leases and 7 million square feet of developments. 

U.S. Equities developed the Harold Washington Library Center, the largest municipal library in the United States, and the 1.2 million square foot John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, rehabbed and repositioned the John Hancock Center, and is currently overseeing the Millennium Park Donor Enhancement projects.  The firm also recently completed the development of new headquarter buildings for Bank Boston in Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, and is currently developing a 1.6 million square foot headquarters for Compuware Corporation in Detroit.  U.S. Equities won unprecedented back-to-back ULI Awards for Excellence in 1998 and 1999 for the Harold Washington Library Center and the John Hancock Center projects, and in 2005 for Millennium Park. 

In addition to his business interests, Wislow is a community and civic leader.  He is the first real estate entrepreneur to serve as the Chairman of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce where he chaired the Chamber's Economic Development Committee for the past four years.  As co-chairman of the Chicago Development Council, he helped repeal the 1987 lease tax on office tenants and introduced a progressive new income tax formula to the Illinois legislature in 1988.  

Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed him to serve on the Mayors Fellow Program, FRAC (Financial Research and Advisory Committee),Civic Consulting Alliance, and the board of Metra.  He is a director of the Arts Club of Chicago and of the Marwen Foundation, which supports arts education for inner-city students.  and He also serves on the board of directors for The Chicago Public Library Foundation; the board of overseers for Rush Medical College; and the board of trustees for Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, and North Central College. 

Wislow, a lifelong Chicagoan, joined Columbia College Chicago's board in 1993.  He and his wife, Susan, have two daughters and live in Lincoln Park.