
A philosophy graduate became a corporate lawyer, then traded documents for distressed apartments. Two decades later, his operating lesson is still the same: the deal only works when somebody owns the untidy middle.

A $3 drawing prize, an orange Volkswagen Rabbit and a nearly 10-foot easel all belong to the same career. The founder of Provident has spent four decades turning patient land bets into places - and treating every plan like a composition still in progress.
Gino A. Canori is President and CEO of Related California's market-rate division, overseeing a $10 billion development pipeline of more than 7,000 multifamily and senior housing units and over 5 million square feet of commercial space across California. A 25-year veteran of the firm, he shepherded landmark projects like Frank Gehry's $1 billion The Grand LA and Coterie Cathedral Hill into the skylines of Los Angeles and San Francisco.