Lewis N. Wolff

Lew Wolff, one of the nation's leading real estate developers and hotel owners, enters his 12th season as Owner and Managing Partner of the Oakland Athletics. Heading a limited partnership group that purchased the A's on April 1, 2005, Wolff wasted little time in emblazoning his stamp on one of baseball's most successful and storied franchises. The very next season, the A's made their fifth postseason appearance in seven years in 2006, advancing to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1992. Wolff's impact on the Bay Area sports landscape is not limited to baseball. In May of 2006, he reached an agreement with Major League Soccer in an attempt to bring professional soccer back to the Bay Area. The expansion San Jose Earthquakes returned to action in 2008, playing their home games at Santa Clara University's Buck Shaw Stadium. Wolff and the Earthquakes ownership group have since successfully built an exclusive soccer stadium in San Jose, Calif., which opened in March of 2015. The San Jose Mercury-News ranked Wolff first in its annual listing of the Bay Area's 25 Most Powerful Sports Figures in both 2006 and 2007. Wolff is the founder of Wolff Urban Development and co-founder of Maritz-Wolff, entities that are involved in the development, acquisition and management of a wide range of commercial, office, parking and hotel properties in a number of California cities including San Jose, Los Angeles, Pasadena and Burbank to name a few. Wolff's ownership interests in representative hotels and resorts have included properties such as The Carlyle in New York City; Four Season Hotels in Houston; the Park Hyatt in Carlsbad; The Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis; Fairmont Hotels in San Jose and San Francisco; Rosewood managed hotels including The Mansion in Dallas, Little Dix Bay, Virgin Gorda, Inn of the Anasazi, Sante Fe plus other brands such as Marriott. In addition, Maritz-Wolff had a 50 percent interest in the Dallas-based Rosewood Management Company, which owns and operates luxury hotels and resorts throughout the world. Wolff began his career in real estate economics and appraisal in his hometown of St. Louis, Mo. Before relocating to Los Angeles. In addition to his real estate analysis work, he also served as the President of the 20th Century Fox Realty & Development Company where he managed Fox's worldwide real estate activities. Wolff is a former minority owner of the St. Louis Blues, the Golden State Warriors and the San Jose Missions, a now-defunct minor league baseball team. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a master's degree in business administration from Washington University in St. Louis and is also a member of the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers (MAI). In 2009, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the new MLB Television Network, which launched in January 2009 with an unprecedented 50 million subscribers, and he continues to serve on the board of Major League Baseball's Enterprises, which oversees national television and radio contract negotiations, national sponsorship and licensing programs as well as the overall marketing of the industry. Wolff is a director of the NYSE Company, Sunstone REIT and a member of the Board of Directors of Century Bank, Los Angeles. Lew resides in the Westwood section of Los Angeles with his wife, Jean. The Wolffs have three children and four grandchildren.