>> I attended Villanova between 1971 and 1975.
I know that seems like a thousand years ago.
It doesn't to me.
And I was a Political Science major.
And I was fortunate to have gotten very good grades at Villanova and done reasonably well
in my law school admissions test.
And I was accepted at the Catholic University of America in Washington,
D.C. And I received my juris doctorate degree in June of 1978.
So I went on to receive a Master's Degree in Tax Law from Georgetown University.
And while I was attending Georgetown to get my tax degree, at night I was practicing law
at a law firm in Northern Virginia.
But, ironically, my office had a window that overlooked Tysons Corner Center.
And I would actually look at that building-and I still have the picture out my window
in my office today-and wonder what it was like to build that shopping center.
What would it take?
How did somebody put it together?
That was the pinnacle of real estate development for me.
And then in May of 1981 an opportunity presented itself, really through an ad in the paper,
ironically, for Lerner Corporation.
And I came in as a general counsel into Lerner Corporation
and I spent literally probably the next five or six years in concentrated study
of lease negotiation and document preparation.
Focused on real estate development through the portal of the law and then in the side
of it that was the documents work.
The heavy, legal work.
The negotiation of the business deal.
On or about 1985 or 1986 opportunities presented themselves
in a local county called Loudoun County.
I worked very hard on a particular zoning case and was able to zone a regional mall
out by Dulles Airport which has become Loudoun County's regional mall called Dulles
Town Center.
It's about a 1.4 million square foot regional shopping center.
And I zoned that in November of 1987.
I remember that because, as you recall, I used to look out my window and wonder what it took
to put together a regional mall and that was a dream that was coming true for me.
Fortunately I was with a very strong company and we were able
to begin that project in April of 1998.
Opened up in August of 1999.
And it still operates today.
Since then we're working on a theater deal now.
I've added Cheesecake Factory, Chang's.
I continue to grow the company.
Lord and Taylor.
I continue to grow the mall over time.
Now recently the family bought the Washington Nationals baseball team.
I was given the opportunity to participate as an owner in that.
I've invested in that for my family.
That's been a thrill to be part of that.
I go to a lot games.
I go to spring training.
You know, sit with Mike Rizzo, and occasionally with others, and talk about it.
And occasionally I'm asked what I think of a particular ballplayer and how we should go
about doing something and I provide my best baseball advice.