Chaim Katzman

A leading real-estate entrepreneur active in the Israeli and international arenas, Chaim Katzman founded and led some of the most prominent companies in this field, and most notably Gazit-Globe. His desire to contribute to, and promote this field and his belief in the mission of Reichman University motivated him to foundthe Gazit-Globe Real Estate Institute at Reichman University.

Chaim Katzman directs global operations, and oversees more than $20 billion in assets in over 20 countries. He is also the founder and chairman of the parent company of Gazit-Globe, Norstar Holdings, as well as the chairman of Gazit Globe’s affiliates and subsidiaries: Equity One, a U.S. Real-Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that he founded in 1992, First Capital Realty, a Canadian Real-Estate company, Atrium European Real Estate that operates in Central and Eastern Europe, and Citycon that operates in the Nordic and Baltic, all of which are a leading owner, developer and operator of supermarket anchored shopping centers in their respective regions.

Chaim Katzman, who earned an LL.B. from the law faculty of Tel Aviv University, is active in a variety of professional organizations. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and the Real Estate Roundtable and the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE).

Mr. Katzman actively supports various educational and community outreach organizations and believes that the elimination of gaps in society can be achieved through education. Therefore, Mr. Katzman devotes most of philanthropic activities for this cause. As part of this framework, he supports and personally involves in the promotion of education at all levels from high school grade level, to granting scholarships to hundreds of higher education students, to personally dedicating and investing in educational projects in dozens of schools in outer cities, and contributing greatly to the benefit of population with special needs.

In 2011, he founded the Gazit-Globe Real Estate Institute at Reichman University in order to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the real-estate sector by increasing knowledge and educating the next generation of real-estate executives and entrepreneurs.