Laura Hines-Pierce, granddaughter of Hines founder, joins her father as firm's co-CEO

Hines, the real estate development firm that began in Houston 65 years ago, enters a new era as Laura Hines-Pierce joins her father, Jeffrey Hines, as the firm’s new co-CEO. Hines has nearly $84 billion in assets and nearly 1,500 buildings in 255 cities in 27 countries. Hines-Pierce is 38 and pregnant with her second child, due in April. In addition to being a third generation Hines, she brings a different perspective to the C-Suite. “I’m glad that we’re able to take a moment to show that someone in leadership can take the time to prioritize her family at the same time she’s prioritizing her career at this important milestone,” Hines-Pierce said of the upcoming birth of her daughter in April, followed by four months of maternity leave.

The timing of her promotion was intentional for Hines, whose Houston workforce of 848 is nearly 50 percent female. Some 40 percent of its employees are under the age of 35, Hines-Pierce said. Hines' global workforce of 4,800 is 40 percent female. “Laura is going to do everything she can to move the industry in that direction,” Jeffrey Hines said. “She’ll be a great example people can look to.” Jeffrey Hines became president of Hines in 1990, while his father, company founder Gerald D. Hines, continued to work as chairman and CEO. Gerald Hines, who worked well into his 90s, died in August 2020, just days after turning 95. Gerald Hines came to Houston in the 1940s, with a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and a job with American Blower Corp. He later became a partner at Texas Engineering, learning commercial/industrial buildings from the inside out before starting his own firm, Gerald D. Hines Interests, in 1957. Jeffrey Hines, 66, has spent the past three decades expanding his father’s company globally, and said that sharing the CEO title with his daughter is more about acknowledging the role she’s played for a while — not a sign he’s planning his own retirement.