Stephen M. Ross is the Chairman and Founder of Related Companies. Related is one of the largest owners of affordable housing, and has over $50 billion in real estate assets owned or under development including mixed-use, residential, retail and office properties in premier high-barrier-to-entry markets. Mr. Ross is also the owner of the Miami Dolphins.
Mr. Ross is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Equinox Holdings, Inc., serves on the Executive Committee and is a trustee of Lincoln Center, and is a trustee of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He is a director on the board of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, and The Shed. Mr. Ross is also a director on the board of the World Resources Institute (WRI) and established both the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, an innovative new initiative to integrate urban planning, sustainable transport, energy and climate change, water resources, and governance and the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) to harness the unifying power of sports to improve race relations and drive social progress.
Over the years, Mr. Ross has received numerous honors for his business, civic, and philanthropic activities. Most recently, he was a New York Power Player by the New York Times, the Most Powerful Person in New York Real Estate by the New York Observer, Multi-Family Property Executive of the Year by Commercial Property News, and Housing Person of the Year by the National Housing Conference. He also received The National Building Museum Honor Award, REBNY’s Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award and the Jack D. Weiler Award from UJA. Crain’s New York named Mr. Ross one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Business. RISE was recognized in 2017 by ESPN’s Humanitarian Awards for the Stuart Scott Enspire Award. The award celebrates people who have taken risk and used an innovative approach to helping the disadvantaged through the power of sports.
Mr. Ross is also committed to supporting the community that supports the Dolphins. He has strengthened the reach of the Miami Dolphins Foundation, offering tremendous support in the areas of education, health, volunteerism and youth programs. In 2013, Mr. Ross pledged to give more than half of his estate to philanthropic causes and charitable organizations through the Giving Pledge, a long-term global initiative created by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates that aims to inspire deeper engagement in philanthropy and increase charitable giving globally.
Mr. Ross graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, from Wayne State University Law School with a Juris Doctor degree and from New York University School of Law with a Master of Laws in Taxation. In 2004, the University of Michigan renamed its business school the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and in 2011 the University of Michigan awarded Mr. Ross an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws.
