About Jorge M. Pérez
BACKGROUND
Jorge M. Pérez was born on October 17, 1949, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is the founder, chairman, and CEO of the Related Group, a global real estate and lifestyle company. Mr. Pérez earned his undergraduate degree at C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University (LIU) and a master’s in urban planning from the University of Michigan in 1976. After working for the City of Miami and Landauer Associates, Mr. Pérez founded the Related Group in 1979, partnering early with Stephen Ross of NYC’s Related Companies to focus on affordable housing before expanding into luxury developments like Icon Brickell and One Miami. The firm entered the international market in 2007 with Icon Vallarta and survived the 2010 Florida real estate crash through restructuring. In 2022, the Miami and NYC Related entities split. Mr. Pérez has introduced his sons, Jon Paul and Nicholas, into the family business, with Jon now serving as president.
Mr. Pérez has served on boards such as Regions Financial, Florida East Coast Industries, the Miami Dolphins, and Grupo Hotelero Santa Fe. A contemporary art enthusiast, Mr. Pérez is a trustee of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, named in recognition of his significant donations. Mr. Pérez served on the FIU Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences (NWCNHS) Dean’s Leadership Council in 2019. Darlene Boytell-Pérez is a founding member of the FIU Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences (NWCNHS) Dean’s Leadership Council.
Through the Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation, founded in 2015, Mr. Pérez and his wife, Darlene Boytell-Pérez, support arts, education, and community development in South Florida. In 2021, Mr. and Mrs. Pérez donated $33 million to the foundation from the sale of their Coconut Grove home. Pérez and Boytell-Pérez joined the Giving Pledge in 2012.
FIU Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center
In June 2019, Florida International University received a $1 million endowment gift from developer and philanthropist Jorge M. Pérez through the Related Philanthropic Foundation. In recognition of this transformative transformational naming gift, the university officially renamed the center as The Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center. The landmark donation was designed to bolster the center's capacity to deliver data-driven urban policy research, community assessments, and economic development solutions throughout South Florida, aligning with Pérez’s commitment to empowering local communities and addressing critical regional issues such as affordable housing and urban growth.
This contribution has provided funding for undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of majors, with a focus on urban policy, consistent with the Related Group's roots in affordable housing and community development.