Bob Faith, Chairman and CEO, Greystar Real Estate Partners .

In 1993, two years after founding Starwood Capital Partners with Barry Sternlicht, Bob Faith founded Greystar Real Estate Partners. His intention was to create a fully integrated institutional-quality services firm for the rental housing business. Recognizing that real estate is ultimately cyclical, his vision was to create an evergreen business model that combines investment management and development with a property management services platform to provide a stable presence throughout the business cycle. His vision and business savvy have allowed him to construct a recession-resistant business by diversifying Greystar into a management, development and investment juggernaut.

Faith, who serves as chairman and CEO of the Charleston, SC-based firm, is a trailblazer who has helped the rental housing industry evolve in highly progressive ways, raised the bar for the rental housing sector and compelled industry peers to sharpen their collective focus. During the past 25 years, the business model Faith created has led Greystar to become one of the industry's largest operators of apartments—and more lately, student housing, with its recent $4.6-billion purchase of Education Realty Trust.