Sandy Apgar
Professional affiliation
Wilson Center Projects
Project on Privatization and Partnerships
Full Biography
THE HONORABLE MAHLON (SANDY) APGAR, IV, CRE, FRICS, FIOD, FRSASandy Apgar is an international authority on housing, infrastructure and real estate. During a 40-year career, he has consulted with senior executives of more than 150 companies, financial institutions, governments and not-for-profits on strategy and operations issues, and advised on some 500 real estate portfolios and projects in 12 countries. He was responsible for the US Army's global infrastructure and real estate, and established the Army's military housing privatization program. In professional practice, public service, teaching, research and writings, he has combined urban policy and public interests with business know-how and analytical methods. Mr. Apgar is a senior advisor on real estate to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He established and led BCG's Infrastructure and Real Estate practice, working with multi-functional teams across industries on competitive strategy, M&A, due diligence, restructuring, organization, cost reduction, operations, outsourcing and process improvements. He is a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, and convenor of the non-partisan Forum on Privatization and Partnerships. From 1998-2001, Mr. Apgar served as assistant secretary of the army for installations and environment. In that office, he led the design and launch of the Army's Residential Communities Initiative (RCI), the Defense Department's largest asset privatization and public-private partnership program. He also instituted reforms in housing procurement, contracting and military base redevelopment; sponsored an environmental remediation fund; established an historic properties program; and organized a conference on military asset privatization with the UK Ministry of Defence.In 1980, Mr. Apgar founded Apgar & Company, a boutique consulting firm. He and his colleagues design and manage transformation projects for major business and financial services firms, and pioneered new management concepts, systems, and analytical methods for large, complex real estate and urban development programs. In 1997, he patented a corporate real estate evaluation method. From 1968-1981, Mr. Apgar was a consultant and partner of McKinsey & Company where he developed an international practice, based in London, focused on real estate, urban development and local government. From 1975-1979, he established and built McKinsey's operations in Saudi Arabia, where he led planning teams for ARAMCO's large-scale infrastructure expansion and the Saudi government's national urbanization strategy, and was principal author of the Blueprint for Urban Management. In 1967, Mr. Apgar was a summer intern with James Rouse, the eminent community builder and urban visionary, and he assisted in the launch of Rouse's new city in Columbia, Maryland. In 2008, Mr. Apgar was a distinguished faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management where he co-taught the MBA Real Property course. In 2007, he was a visiting fellow at Oxford's Said Business School where he taught the first MBA course in Real Estate. Mr. Apgar also founded and chairs the Oxford Real Estate Summit. He was a visiting professor at Princeton in 2001, where he taught "The Changing Roles of Private and Public Enterprise". In 1968-1969, he co-taught community development at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Mr. Apgar has edited two books, including New Perspectives on Community Development, and authored more than 60 journal articles, including six in the Harvard Business Review. He is a counselor of real estate and a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He is a governor of the Urban Land Institute Foundation, a former chairman of ULI's Corporate Real Estate and Commercial-Retail Councils, and a former ULI trustee. He and his wife, Anne, established a teaching excellence awards program in 1982.Mr. Apgar earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1968, where he was a National Fellow and Executive Editor of The MBA. At Oxford, he researched British housing and urban development policy in 1965-1966. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1962, where he was a Rufus Choate Scholar, a member of the MIT-Dartmouth Urban Studies Program, and a Distinguished Military Graduate of Army ROTC. From 1962-1965, he was an Army intelligence officer stationed in Germany. Mr. Apgar received the Army's Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service and the first Chairman's Award of the President's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the James Felt Award for Creative Counseling and the William S. Ballard Award from the Counselors of Real Estate, and the Arthur May Award of the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers.
Major Publications
REAL ESTATE
"What Leaders Should Learn About Real Estate", Harvard Business Review (forthcoming 2008).
"Building Flexibility into Corporate Real Estate" (with Orin Herskowitz), Opportunities for Action in Infrastructure and Real Estate, The Boston Consulting Group, May 2006.
"A Seat at the Table: Corporate Real Estate as a Value Center" (with Raymond Nomizu), Opportunities for Action in Infrastructure and Real Estate, The Boston Consulting Group, April 2005.
"Masters of Property", RICS Business, November 2003, pp. 20-22.
"Deconcentration: A Strategic Imperative in Corporate Real Estate", Real Estate Issues, Fall-Winter 2002, Vol. 27, Nos. 3-4, pp. 50-60 (joint issue with Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management). Received the William S. Ballard Award, Counselors of Real Estate.
"After the 11th . . . . Enduring Effects on Real Estate", Real Estate Issues, The Counselors of Real Estate, Summer 2002, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 6-12.
"The Alternative Workplace: Changing Where and How People Work", Harvard Business Review, May-June 1998, Vol. 76, No. 3, pp. 121-136.
"Chairman's Summary: Improving the Management of Real Estate Assets", Report to the Governor, Real Estate Advisory Group, September 5, 1996.
"James W. Rouse: A Personal Remembrance", Urban Land, September 1996, Vol. 55, No. 9.
"Use Your Facilities for Strategic Advantage", Corporate Real Estate Executive, February 1996, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 18-19.
"Managing Real Estate to Leverage Change" (with Michael A. Bell), Site Selection, December 1995, Vol. 40, No. 6, pp. 935-938.
"Managing Real Estate to Build Value", Harvard Business Review, November-December 1995,
Vol. 73, No. 6, pp. 162-179.
"The Strategic Role of Real Estate", Corporate Real Estate Executive, May 1995, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 20-23.
"Models for Real Estate Decisions" (with J. Porter Bellew, Jr.), Corporate Real Estate Executive, March-April 1995, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 37-41.
"Reinventing Real Estate Information" (with David C. Nelson), Corporate Real Estate Executive, February 1995, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 37-39.
"Reducing Your Hidden Occupancy Costs", Corporate Real Estate Executive, January 1995,
Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 24-27.
"Understanding Occupancy Costs", Relocation Toronto, Winter 1995, Number 7, pp. 28-32.
"Uncovering Your Hidden Occupancy Costs", Harvard Business Review, May-June 1993, Vol. 71, No. 3, pp. 124-136. Letters to the Editor, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1994, Vol. 72, No. 1.
"Reducing Corporate Occupancy Costs", Urban Land, September 1991, Vol. 50, No. 9.
"A Strategic View of Real Estate", Real Estate Issues, Fall/Winter 1986, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 6-11.
"Pension Funds and Developers: Forging a New Partnership", Urban Land, June 1986, Vol. 45,
No. 6, pp. 6-9.
"The Changing Realities of Foreign Investment", Development Review and Outlook 1984-1985, pp. 381-400 (including tables). Reprinted with revisions, under the same title, in Urban Land, December 1983, Vol. 42, No. 12, pp. 27-29.
"The New Environment for U.S. Real Estate", Urban Land, December 1983, Vol. 42, No. 12,
pp. 27-29.
"International Investment in U.S. Real Estate", Urban Land, May 1982, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 3-14.
"Commitment Planning: An Approach to Reducing Real Estate Risks", The Appraisal Journal, July 1976, Vol. XLIV, No. 3, pp. 412-427.
New Perspectives on Community Development, London/New York: McGraw Hill, 1976. Editor. Author of Introduction; Chapter 4, "Guiding the Development Enterprise", pp. 77-98; Chapter 5, "Developing the Project Strategy", pp. 99-128; Chapter 6, "Planning for Community Management", pp. 129-156; Chapter 7, "Mastering Development Economics", pp. 157-187.
"Controlling the Risks in Real Estate", Business Horizons, April 1976. Reprinted, with revisions, under the title "Managing the Risks in Real Estate", in the McKinsey Quarterly, Spring 1976.
"Property People", interview by Alan Bailey, Estates Gazette, Vol. 239, August 28, 1976.
"Big Business Finds Those Real Estate Profits Elusive", Real Estate Review, Winter 1973.
"Do Big Corporations Belong in Real Estate?", Corporate Financing, May-June 1972, Vol. 4, No. 3. Reprinted, with revisions, under the title "Real Estate Development: Diversification with a Difference" in the McKinsey Quarterly, Summer 1972.
Original Case Studies Co-Authored or Supervised for MBA Real Estate Course at Said Business School, University of Oxford, April-June 2007:
"Grosvenor Group Limited" (with Leslie Bell)
"IBM Corporation" (with Colin Lim)
"State Street Corporation" (with Karen F. Bretagne)
"Value Retail - Bicester Village" (with Leslie Bell)
STRATEGY
"The Promise of Privatization: Lessons from Military Housing" (Interview by Barry Scribner), Urban Land, July 2008, Vol. 67, No. 7, pp. 120-123.
"New Business with the New Military", Harvard Business Review Research Report, November 2004.
"New Business with the New Military" (with John M. Keane), Harvard Business Review, September 2004, Vol. 82, No. 9, pp. 45-56.
"Fort Meade Part of Army's Housing Revolution", Baltimore Sun, April 17, 2001.
"Privatization through Partnership", Proceedings of the US-UK Conference on Privatizing Military Installation Assets, Operations and Services, RAND Corporation, January 2001.
"Partnering with Private Enterprise on Army Posts", Army AL&T (Acquisitions, Logistics and Technology), Department of the Army, January-February 2001, PB 70-01-1, pp. 13-15.
"Dartmouth's Competitive Niche", Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, May 1989, Vol. 81, No. 8.
"Succeeding in Saudi Arabia", Harvard Business Review, January-February 1977, Vol. 55, No. 1. Reprinted in Harvard Series on International Business, 1980, and the McKinsey Quarterly, Spring 1977.
"Combining Action and Research" (with M. Dean), Social Innovation in the City, Rosenbloom and Marris, Eds., Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1969.
"Coalition for Crisis", Interview with Andrew Heiskell, Board Chairman of Time, Inc., The MBA, October 1968, Vol. 3, No. 1.
"Business and the Cities: An Editorial", The MBA, February 1968, Vol. 2, No. 5.
"Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates", Case EA-R 506, Boston, Harvard Business School, 1968.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Original Case Studies Developed for Princeton University Course, "Entrepreneurship in America: The Changing Roles of Private and Public Enterprise", September-December 2001:
"The Start-up: Attracting People and Capital" (RFID Inc.)
"Catching the Wave: Pressures and Priorities in Managing Growth" (Gale River Designs, Ltd.)
"Managing Change in an Entrepreneurial Company" (CarrAmerica Realty Corporation)
"Public Enterprise I: Non-profit Organizations" (The Enterprise Foundation)
"Public Enterprise II: Public-Private Partnerships" (The Army's Residential Communities Initiative)
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
Mastering Urban Growth: A Blueprint for Management, McKinsey International, Inc. for the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1978.
"Planning for Uncertainty: An Approach for Decision Makers", The Environment of Human Settlements, Vol. 1. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1976.
"Corporate Planning in British Local Government" (with J. Griffith-Jones), Papers and Proceedings of the 1975 World Congress, International Federation of Housing and Planning, The Hague, 1976.
"A Framework for Exploring the Role of Models in Community Planning and Development", Modeling Techniques for Community Development, National Academy of Sciences,
Washington, D.C., 1975.
General Review of Local Authority Information Systems, Department of the Environment, London, 1975.
"Local Authorities Can Cut Costs", Local Government Chronicle, August 8, 1975.
"Using Social Indicators: Guidelines for Urban Decision Makers", Papers and Proceedings of the 1974 World Congress, International Federation of Housing and Planning, The Hague, 1975.
The Sunderland Study: Tackling Urban Problems (Volume 1) and A Working Guide (Volume 2), Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1973.
"Policy Analysis: A Challenge for Urban Planning", Journal of the Royal Town Planning Institute, February 1973, Vol. 59, No. 2.
"From Structure to Strategy" (with J. Griffith-Jones), Municipal and Public Services Journal, October 6, 1972. Expanded views in panel discussion published in issues of November 24, December 1 and 8, 1972.
"Reforming the Management of Local Government", Programme Budgeting in 1984, Institute of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants, September 1972.
Review of Handbook for Managers in Municipal and Public Services Journal, August 11, 1972.
Review of Planned Urban Environments by Anne Louise Strong in Science, May 12, 1972, Vol. 176, No. 4035.
"Managing Urban Development", Local Government Chronicle, July 17, 1971.
"Multiple Chief Executive", The Municipal and Public Services Journal, June 11, 1971.
"Portrait of a Problem City: Newark, New Jersey", McKinsey & Company, Inc., and Harvard
Program on Technology and Society, 1970.
"Associations and the Urban Crisis", Association Management, January 1969, Vol. 21, No. 1.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
"Managing a New Town", International Congress on New Towns, Tehran, December 1977.
"Problems and Opportunities in Community Development", Proceedings of the Premier Congress International des Villes Nouvelles, District de la Region Parisienne, 1976.
"Statement", Oversight Hearings on the New Communities Program, House of Representatives (94th Congress), Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development of the Committee on Banking, Currency and Housing, Washington, DC, September 23, 29, 30, 1975, pp. 47-50.
"Statement on Selected New Towns Financial Issues" (supplemented by oral evidence), Minutes of Evidence, House of Commons, Select Committee on Expenditure (Environment Subcommittee), London, June 18, 1975.
"New Directions for New Towns", Minutes of Evidence, House of Commons, Select Committee on Expenditure (Environment Sub-committee), London, July 24, 1974.
"Lessons From (and for) the New Towns", The Director, August 1973, Vol. 26, No. 2.
"A New Role for New Towns", Town and Country Planning, January 1973.
Review of Innovation in New Communities by Miller, Piney, Saslow (MIT Press). Real Estate Review, Fall 1972.
"New Business From New Towns?", Harvard Business Review, January-February 1971, Vol. 49, No. 1. Reprinted in Real Estate Review, The Appraisal Journal, 4 other journals, 3 books. Received the Arthur A. May Award, American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers.
Managing Community Development, New York: McKinsey & Company, Inc., 1971.
"Systems Management in the New City: Columbia, Maryland", in New Tools for Urban Management, Rosenbloom and Russell, Eds., Boston, Harvard Business School Division of Research, 1971.
"New Towns in an Urban Society", The MBA, January 1967, Vol. 1, No. 4.
"The Role of Private Enterprise in Developing New Towns", Case PR 8A, Harvard Business School, 1968.
"New Towns: The American Experience", Case PR 8C, Harvard Business School, 1968.
"New Towns: The British Experience", Case PR 8B, Harvard Business School, 1968.