Lyneir Richardson

CEO, Chicago TREND Corporation

Lyneir Richardson is CEO of The Chicago TREND Corporation (TREND), a commercial real estate investment firm that owns shopping centers and provides economic advisory services to corporations, government agencies and large philanthropic organizations. Lyneir is also Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers Business School and serves as the Executive Director of the university’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.

As CEO of TREND, Lyneir is responsible for investment and operating decision making, and has successfully acquired five open-air shopping centers and one industrial site while raising significant equity and debt capital. Lyneir has also been a substantial fundraiser for Rutgers Business School programs and investment funds that have assisted 800+ entrepreneurs.

Previously, Lyneir was the CEO of the primary economic development corporation in Newark, NJ attracting investment and jobs to the city during two mayoral administrations. Prior to that he also served as Vice President of General Growth Properties Inc. and led a national initiative to develop shopping centers in urban underserved areas. Early in his career, Lyneir founded LakeShore Development and Construction Company and was named a U.S. Small Business Administration "Young Entrepreneur of the Year." Lyneir began his career as a corporate attorney at the First National Bank of Chicago.

Lyneir has provided strategic and risk management counsel as Board Member, Co-Chair, Treasurer and Audit Committee Chair for eight non-profit, trade and civic organizations. He was recently appointed to board or advisory positions with the International Council of Shopping Centers, New Jersey Community Capital and M&T Bank. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution, the country’s first independent public-policy research organization. He has held two government appointments as Vice Chairman of the Illinois Housing Development Authority Trust Fund Board and as a Commissioner on the City of Chicago Planning Commission.

Lyneir graduated from Bradley University and the University of Chicago Law School.