Dean Adler

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Dean S. Adler is CEO and Co-Founder of Lubert-Adler Partners, L.P., a real estate equity firm with over $4 billion in equity and $15 billion of assets under management.  Dean is Head of the Investment Committee, and is responsible for leading the strategic direction of the team.

Lubert-Adler invests on behalf of, among others, 30 major university endowments.  It is headquartered in Philadelphia, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and London.

Over the past ten years, Lubert-Adler has focused its activities in the following areas:

• Urban Multifamily Redevelopment – Lubert-Adler has teamed up with key operating partners in acquiring vacant office buildings in major urban markets and converting them to modern multifamily.  To date, Lubert-Adler has been involved in 85 properties totaling 28,000 units in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Baltimore.
• Real Estate Controlled by Retailers – Lubert-Adler has invested in the acquisition of major retailers to unlock the value of their real estate.  To date, Lubert-Adler and its partners have acquired 1,371 stores totaling 90 million sf, involving Mervyn's Department Stores (257 stores), Albertsons (700 stores), Shopko (146 stores), Service Merchandise (206 stores) and Levitz Furniture (57 stores).
• Residential Resort – Lubert-Adler is joint-venturing the development of major resorts in Vail, Aspen, Naples, Orlando, North Carolina, Bahamas, St. Thomas, Anguilla and Mayan Riviera.
• Large Mixed Use Urban Sites - Lubert-Adler is involved in the master-planning and redevelopment of large, urban brownfield sites into vibrant 24/7 mixed use communities.  To date, over 10,000 units are planned for Stamford, Charleston and Chicago.

Dean is also a partner in Independence Capital Partners, a family of funds totaling $7 billion in equity invested in real estate, private equity, corporate restructurings, venture capital and asset-based lending.

Prior to Lubert-Adler, Dean graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He also holds a J.D. degree with honors from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and was an instructor at the Wharton School between 1981 and 1983. Subsequently, he worked at Ernst & Young, Baker and Hostetler and CMS. 

Currently, he is an Executive Committee Member and Research Sponsor for the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center of The Wharton School and currently serves on the board of directors of Chrysler Financial Board Managers, Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY), Developers Diversified (NYSE: DDR), and Cerberus affiliates, LNR and Abelco.  He has been a keynote speaker for national real estate organizations such as the Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Dean has served on numerous community boards including the UJA National Young Leadership Cabinet.  He has served on the City of Philadelphia's Economic Development Summit.  He lives in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania with his wife of twenty years, Susanna Lachs, and their daughters Anna and Sara.  They are both involved with various philanthropic causes locally, nationally, and in Israel.