Lacy Rice – Real Estate Private Equity Leader (#47)

Lacy Rice and John Coe Bio Lacy Rice, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of FCP, manages the company’s for-sale and for-rent residential acquisitions. Mr. Rice has 34 years of experience in real estate investment and corporate finance and serves on FCP’s Investment Committee. Prior to founding FCP, Mr. Rice was a Principal at The Carlyle Group. He served on the company’s real estate fund’s Investment Committee. Prior to Carlyle, Mr. Rice worked at companies including Alex. Brown, Haas & Haynie Corporation and Chemical Bank.  Mr. Rice is an NMHC Board Member and member of the NMHC Affordable Housing Council and is a member of the Urban Land Institute. He serves on the Board of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington and is a former member of the Board of Shepherd University, the BB&T Advisory Board, and the Mercersburg Academy Alumni Council. Rice was Board Chairperson of American Community Properties Trust (NYSE: APO), a public real estate company FCP purchased and took private. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and BA from Princeton University. Show Notes Current Role Founding Partner spending time with strategic direction and residential development and debt team. Breadth of strategies within office and multifamily sectors. (6:20) Origins & Education Origins- Grew up in Martinsburg, WV. Great grandfathers miners and farmers and their sons were lawyers (8:00)Realized that law wasn’t a good choice (8:30)Gateway to Shenandoah Valley (9:00)B&O Railroad- textile and limestone mining (9:10)Dad was a labor lawyer representing the companies where miners were striking (9:50)Interested in law going to college (10:45)Mother was a teacher and took care of family (11:00)Grandfather lived with them (11:20)Attended Mercersburg Academy– Coach from Martinsburg recommended him (11:50)Life changing experiences there (12:15)Incremental decision to go to Mercersburg (13:15)Recruited at Princeton for lacrosse and football (13:40)Attended Princeton University (14:00)Assumed he was the dumbest person that went to Princeton, but locker room in football he realized he wasn’t alone (14:45)Division 1 athletics and academically challenging (15:30)History major (16:20) Career Trajectory Career- Chemical Bank training program (17:00)Credit training from a banker’s perspective (17:20)Opportunity to go to regional office- went to San Francisco (18:00)Two years there (18:30)Pursued an MBA at Harvard Business School (19:20) Wait listed at Stanford (19:30)While in China on a backpacking trip he heard he’d gotten into Stanford (had a long chat with his Dad about attending Harvard) (19:45)Out of HBS he had offers from investment banks, but his girlfriend wanted to out west again (21:40)Joined a classmate (Tad Buchanan) to look at land opportunities in the Bay Area to b...