# Owen Thomas

> Owen D. Thomas is chairman and CEO of BXP, which he joined in April 2013 after 24 years at Morgan Stanley and a chairmanship at Lehman Brothers’ successor company. Raised on a Virginia dairy farm, he earned a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Virginia and an MBA at Harvard. His work combines property investment, development and operations; he became chair of the Real Estate Roundtable in July 2026.

- **Role:** Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at BXP, Inc.
- **Organizations:** BXP, Inc., The Real Estate Roundtable, Urban Land Institute, Nareit, Economic Club of New York, Woodberry Forest School, The Doe Fund, Carnegie Hall, University of Virginia Center for Real Estate, Morgan Stanley (former), Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former)
- **Education:** B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Virginia, MBA, Harvard Business School, Woodberry Forest School
- **Known for:** Helped oversee the $15 billion sale of Archstone Enterprise to Equity Residential and AvalonBay during his Lehman chairmanship., Led BXP as CEO since April 2013 and as chairman since May 2022., Served as ULI global chair from 2019 to 2021.

## Career timeline

- **Age 18** — Earned a Virginia real estate license.
- **1983** — Graduated from the University of Virginia engineering school.
- **Before 1987** — Worked in engineering at Texas Instruments before his finance career.
- **1987** — Joined Morgan Stanley.
- **2005-2011** — Served on Morgan Stanley’s Management Committee.
- **2008-2011** — Lived in Hong Kong while leading Morgan Stanley Asia and chairing Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
- **2012-2013** — Chairman of Lehman Brothers Holdings, its post-bankruptcy successor company.
- **2013-04** — Became CEO and a director of Boston Properties, now BXP.
- **2019-2021** — Global chairman of the Urban Land Institute.
- **2022-05** — Appointed BXP board chairman.
- **2025-12** — BXP extended his CEO agreement through December 31, 2029; Lehman board service ended in December 2025.
- **2026-07** — Began a three-year term as chair of the Real Estate Roundtable.

## Achievements

- Helped oversee the $15 billion sale of Archstone Enterprise to Equity Residential and AvalonBay during his Lehman chairmanship.
- Led BXP as CEO since April 2013 and as chairman since May 2022.
- Served as ULI global chair from 2019 to 2021.
- A personal donation helped launch ULI’s Net Zero Imperative.
- Honored by All Stars Project at its 2025 National Gala.
- Elected to chair the Real Estate Roundtable for a three-year term beginning July 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — On October 14 BXP sold a 10.6% equity interest in 343 Madison Avenue to AVRS Partners, retaining decision-making authority and management roles. The project was approximately 56% pre-leased.
- **2026-09** — BXP announced third-quarter results would be released October 27, with an October 28 webcast; these were still upcoming as of October 23.
- **2026-07** — Began his three-year term as Real Estate Roundtable chair on July 1; announced July 6.
- **2026-07** — BXP reported approximately 1.8 million square feet of second-quarter leasing on July 28.
- **2025-12** — CEO employment agreement extended through December 31, 2029.

## Links

- Website: https://www.bxp.com/team-members/owen-d-thomas
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-d-thomas-4012a640

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/owen-thomas
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23