MARTIN “Hap” STEIN

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, REGENCY CENTERS, JACKSONVILLE

Stein boasts of climbing 18, 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado with his wife, Brooke.

Professionally, he’s transformed his father’s local development company into one of the nation’s pre-eminent owners, operators and developers of community and neighborhood shopping centers. The company, a member of the S&P 500, owns more than 400 centers with over 50 million square feet in 22 of the top markets in the U.S.

After earning his bachelor’s from Washington and Lee and his MBA from Dartmouth, Stein started working in the plants that provided electricity and water and sewer to a regional shopping mall. He then worked in property management and leasing.

Education, “followed closely by the economy and sea-level rise,” top Stein’s list of challenges facing the state.