Ep. 42: Demystifying the Office Market - Owen Thomas - Chairman & CEO of BXP

Owen Thomas is the Chairman and CEO of BXP. He served as the first Chairman at Lehman from 2012 until 2013 when he joined BXP. Before Lehman, Mr. Thomas was with Morgan Stanley for 24 years serving in several different roles, business units, and locations, including Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley Asia and Chairman of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, while living in Hong Kong from 2008 until 2011. He also held the roles of President of Morgan Stanley Investment Management and head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate and served on Morgan Stanley’s Management Committee from 2005 until 2011.

Links:

BXP - https://www.bxp.com/

Owen on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-thomas-4012a640/

Brandon on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsedloff/

Juniper Square - https://www.junipersquare.com/

Topics:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:31) - Owen’s background and career

(00:24:00) - Where are we today in the office market?

(00:29:52) - What do WFH/WFO policy talks look like with tenants?

(00:37:05) - What makes something a “premiere” asset?

(00:43:43) - What is your role in the economic health of a city?

(00:48:01) - What’s your involvement with affordable housing? 

(00:50:17) - What’s your take on the overall health of the innovation sector as it rebounds?

(00:53:39) - How do you think about sustainability in the office environment?