board

Herman Bulls
(USMA 1978)
Vice Chairman, USMA Association of Graduates; CEO, Public Institutions, Jones Lang LaSalle

Experience:
Herman Bulls is an International Director and the founder and Chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle’s highly acclaimed Public Institutions Business Unit, which specializes in delivering comprehensive real estate solutions to federal, state and local governments, economic development & nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions. As a member of the Solutions Development team, he also works with the firm’s largest corporate clients to devise and implement integrated real estate strategies to lower occupancy costs and increase productivity. Additionally he reviews merger and acquisition opportunities for all services provided by Jones Lang LaSalle.

During over 24 years at Jones Lang LaSalle he has worked in the areas of development, investment management, asset management, facilities operations and business development/retention. He has developed relationships with many of the firms leading clients, including the General Services Administration, Department of Veteran Affairs, Department of the Army, Department of State, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Ohio State University, Georgia Tech, the Port of Oakland and the State of Tennessee by providing thought leadership and strategic guidance and direction for real estate issues. Mr. Bulls has also served as an expert witness on real estate matters in court as well as testified before Congressional committees on real estate issues.

Mr. Bulls also co-founded and served as President and CEO of Bulls Capital Partners, a multi-family financing company under the Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS) program. His partners successively included SunTrust and Goldman Sachs. He sold the firm in 2010 and continues to have a non executive interest in the successor firm. Additionally, he founded Bulls Advisory Group, LCC, a management and real estate advisory firm.

Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr. Bulls completed almost 12 years of active duty service with the United States Army. His last active duty assignments were working in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management at the Pentagon and as an Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at West Point. He has completed the Army’s Airborne, Ranger and Command and General Staff College courses and served overseas in the Republic of Korea. He retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves in 2008.

Education and Affiliations:
Mr. Bulls received a BS degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a MBA in finance from Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, an organization of senior African American business executives from Fortune 500 companies, Leadership Washington and the Real Estate Executive Council (REEC). Mr. Bulls is a founding member and served as the inaugural President of the African American Real Estate Professionals (AAREP) of Washington, D.C.

Public corporate board activities include Comfort Systems, USA (NYSE:FIX), a HVAC mechanical contractor and Exelis (NYSE:XLS), a Fortune 500 leading Aerospace and Defense firm. He is also a board member for USAA, a Fortune 200 firm which is the leading provider of banking, insurance and investment management services to military members and their families and Rasmussen College, a private for profit post-secondary educational services organization. Additionally he is a member of the Real Estate Advisory Committee for New York State Teachers’ Retirement System, one of the nation’s largest pension funds.

His community board service has included serving on the Friends and Family Board for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Chair of the Fannie Mae National Housing Advisory Council and Chairman of the Executive Leadership Foundation. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Thayer Leadership, the Military Bowl, a NCAA sanctioned football bowl game played in the nation’s capital each December and is Vice Chairman of the West Point Associate of Graduates Board of Directors.

Awards and Recognition:
Passing the Torch Legacy Award 2007 African American Real Estate Professionals (AAREP)
2007 National Minority Leader of the Year Commercial Real Estate News (Commercial Property News)
Top 100 Blacks in Corporate America, Savoy magazine, 2008 & 2012
Trail Blazer Award 2008 Global Real Estate Diversity Conference, Atlanta, GA
Minority Business Leader Award 2009, Washington Business Journal (WBJ)