Lawson Companies Norfolk, Virginia

A third-generation builder, Steve is Chairman of Lawson, a real estate firm specializing in the financing, development, construction, and management of multifamily and single-family homes in Virginia. The company has been an industry leader in the development of LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit) affordable and market-rate housing for more than fifty years. Steve oversees a team managing approximately five thousand apartments and $50 million in annual construction and development. He earned an undergraduate degree in engineering from Duke University and worked in that field for several years, later returning to Duke for a master’s degree in business prior to joining the company in 1993. Steve is a longtime advocate of equitable and affordable housing, having served on multiple non-profit industry boards, and through his involvement in the National Association of Homebuilders has provided expert testimony to the United States Congress on three occasions and briefed the last three Chairs of the Federal Reserve concerning ongoing challenges the industry faces.