Hines, who resides in Europe, will share insights and anecdotes from a fabled career as founder and leader of a company that began in 1957 and now owns 500 properties worth more than $9 billion and manages in excess of 80 million sf with a $13 billion-plus value. The firm's track record includes developing more than 700 projects worldwide.

Hines, credited with building most of Houston's landmark footprint, has worked side by side with the world's most influential architects, including Philip Johnson, Cesar Pelli, IM Pei and Frank Gehry. "Houston was the canvas for many of Hines' masterworks," Ralph Bivens, a Houston journalist, past NAREE president and co-chairman of the Houston 2004 NAREE conference, tells GlobeSt.com.

It was Hines who delivered the Galleria, debuting the first phase in 1970. The mixed-use retail center was designed by Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum and modeled after Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle. About five years later, Hines commissioned Johnson and architect John Burgee to design another Houston landmark, the 1.4-million-sf Pennzoil Place in the CBD, later honored as the top building of the year by the New York Times architectural critic, Ada Louise Huxtable. Hines' other notable Houston developments are One Shell Plaza, 1100 Louisiana, Williams Tower, Bank of America Center and Calpine Center.