Leo Ma, PRINCIPAL

As a principal of Century | Urban, Leo leads real estate advisory engagements with public and private clients, such as the Port of San Francisco and the City and County of San Francisco with regard to the 3-million-square-foot Pier 70 Waterfront Site development project in San Francisco.

Leo Ma has over 21 years of real estate experience, during which he has been involved in acquiring, developing, and managing billions of dollars in properties.  Prior to Century | Urban, Leo served as Chief Financial Officer for Waypoint Homes, a leader in the emerging industry of single-family rental housing that invested over $400 million in acquiring, renovating, leasing and managing more than 2,500 homes in Arizona, California, Georgia, and Illinois during his tenure with the firm.

Earlier, Leo was Executive Vice President, Investments of Kenwood Investments, where he worked on projects such as the master-planned redevelopment of a 400-acre former naval base on San Francisco’s Treasure Island.  Prior to Kenwood, Leo was Vice President, Investments in the urban investment group of MacFarlane Partners, where he underwrote and managed investments in more than $3 billion in development projects as well as helped launch a program for investing in real estate operating companies.  He also served as Associate Vice President, Finance with Catellus Development, working on large-scale, master-planned projects such as the 303-acre Mission Bay project in San Francisco.

Leo began his career as an architect for several architectural and planning firms.  He has also previously served as Project Director for Classic Residence by Hyatt, a nationwide developer, owner, and manager of luxury senior-living communities, where he worked on the design and delivery of a senior-housing project in Palo Alto, California.

Leo holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Yale School of Management, and both a Master of Architecture and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.  He is a licensed architect in California, and a member of the ULI San Francisco Commercial Local Product Council.  He also serves on the Board of Trustees for Presidio Knolls School in San Francisco.