Donald Bren
For more than 35 years, Donald Bren, chairman of the board of directors of The Irvine Company, has been deeply involved in California real estate as a master builder and a long-term investor.
Mr. Bren is known as a leader and innovator within the real estate industry, one of the first to combine well-designed homes with such amenities as parks and substantial open space, schools, employment centers and shopping centers to create balanced master-planned communities.
Through his accomplishments, he has achieved a reputation as a national expert in the interrelated fields of planning, design, construction, marketing and finance.
Mr. Bren's vision and expertise are guiding the creation of the nation's premier planned community on The Irvine Ranch in central Orange County -- 93,000 acres stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the inland mountains of the Cleveland National Forest.
Under Mr. Bren's leadership, The Irvine Company steadily has evolved from a nationally recognized community developer to a real estate investment company of significant size and diversity.
Most of The Irvine Company's land and property holdings are in Orange County, but the company also owns property in Los Angeles, San Diego and Silicon Valley.
The company's portfolio includes approximately 400 office buildings, 35 retail centers, 80 apartment communities, two hotels, four marinas and three golf clubs.
Mr. Bren has been at the forefront of efforts to preserve environmentally sensitive land in Southern California. In 1990, he announced the creation of an "uncommon alliance" with The Nature Conservancy to manage the company's wilderness land and improve habitat for a variety of sensitive species.
In 1996, under a creative, voluntary agreement with the federal, state and county governments, The Irvine Company agreed to set aside more than 21,000 acres of precious open space habitat for endangered and threatened species of plants and animals.
In 2001, he donated 11,000 acres of environmentally diverse land in the north portion of The Irvine Ranch to be protected forever as permanent open space. That donation brought to 50,000 acres the total amount of land permanently protected for open space and recreation on The Irvine Ranch – more than half of the entire 93,000-acre ranch.
Mr. Bren also has committed $30 million for the long-term management, preservation and restoration of the natural resources on the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve, as well as increased public access to the lands.
"We want to produce a great urban culture that balances high-quality development and environmental sensitivity to yield a quality of life unmatched anywhere," he has told Fortune magazine.
Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Bren was raised in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California. He earned a degree in business administration and economics from the University of Washington where he also pursued business school graduate studies. Following school, he served for three years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Mr. Bren began his business career in 1958 by founding the Bren Company, which built homes in Orange County. In 1963, he formed the Mission Viejo Company and, as president, began the master planning and development of the 11,000-acre new community of Mission Viejo in Orange County.
In 1967, Mr. Bren sold his interest in the Mission Viejo Company to focus his attention on the Bren Company (subsequently renamed California Pacific Homes), which has built residential communities in Orange County, San Diego and Northern California.
In 1977, Mr. Bren joined a group of investors to purchase The Irvine Company from the Irvine Foundation. His 34 percent share of the company made him the largest shareholder.
He became a member of the company’s executive committee and vice chairman. In April 1983, Mr. Bren purchased additional outstanding shares from his partners to secure ownership of 92 percent of the company, and was elected chairman of the board. He became the company’s sole shareholder in July 1996.
Describing his mission for The Irvine Company, he says, "As master builders, we are blending architectural and planning skills, plus business and financial disciplines, to produce superbly balanced communities. I consider The Irvine Company land a quintessential opportunity and challenge for anyone in real estate."
Mr. Bren's personal commitment to improving education has led to significant support for local K-12 schools on The Irvine Ranch. Over the last 20 years, The Irvine Company and the Donald Bren Foundation collectively have committed approximately $67 million to enhance local K-12 education.
These charitable gifts have supported a diverse group of initiatives, such as elementary school science enrichment programs in local schools and the Educational Excellence Program, which recognizes and rewards outstanding students, teachers and principals.
At the University of California, Mr. Bren has endowed more research chairs than any other single donor in the university’s history. At UC Irvine, he has made major gifts in support of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, Bren Events Center, Graduate School of Management and the Beckman Laser Institute.
He endowed the Bren Professors Program to provide an ongoing forum for Bren Professors and other scholars to encourage academic and community dialogue on a wide range of issues.
In 1997, Mr. Bren's $15 million gift helped establish the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, a major graduate studies program based at UC Santa Barbara dedicated to the prevention and solution of environmental problems.
"This is an exciting concept that will bring greater talent and resources to the study of our worldwide environmental problems, and more sophistication and discipline as solutions are proposed and implemented by government and business," Mr. Bren said at the time his gift was announced.
In addition to UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, he also has funded Bren Professors at Chapman University and at Caltech, where he serves on the board of trustees.
Mr. Bren also has a long-standing interest in art, history and architecture. He has been a generous supporter in the Orange County community, donating millions in charitable contributions, both personally and on behalf of The Irvine Company.
Major beneficiaries include the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the Orange County Museum of Art, and a wide range of local charities.
He is on the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Orange County Museum of Art.
Mr. Bren is an Olympic-class skier, an avid tennis player, a longtime sailor and an accomplished windsurfer.
