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Gordon Merklein

Gordon Merklein is the associate vice chancellor of University Real Estate Operations at UNC-Chapel Hill. Merklein joined the University in 2009 with more than 20 years of experience in all facets of commercial real estate. He oversees real estate management, investment and development activities for direct real estate holdings by various entities of the University, including The Carolina Inn, Granville Towers and the redevelopment of University Square, a 500,000-square-foot, mixed-use development project adjacent to campus. In addition, he manages the University’s 400,000-square-feet of off-campus office leases through the UNC Property Office.

Previously, Merklein was the senior director of investments for Highwoods Properties, where he managed investment transactions and capital market activities for a portfolio of office, retail and industrial properties with a market value exceeding $2 billion. He has also worked at Cushman & Wakefield and EDAW (now AECOM). He is active in the Chapel Hill community, serving on the boards of Downtown Chapel Hill Partnership and Community Home Trust, as co-chair of the Interfaith Council Community House Capital Campaign, and as former board member of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority. He was the 2014 recipient of the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen and Service Award. Gordon holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University and a Master of City Planning from the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.