Joseph C. Canizaro
He is founder, president and CEO of Columbus Properties, LP, a commercial real estate development company that has acquired, developed and/or managed office buildings, mixed-use projects, and land and residential projects throughout the southeastern and southwestern United States. In the New Orleans area, the company developed highly visible projects such as Canal Place, the First Bank and Trust Tower and Texaco Center.
In 1991, Canizaro purchased First Bank and Trust and subsequently formed First Trust Corporation, parent of First Bank and Trust and its FBT Mortgage subsidiary, FBT Investments, FBT Advisors, and First Insurance Agency. He also founded Corporate Capital, LLC, a venture capital company that invests in traditional American businesses such as Innovus, Inc., an operator of more than 32,000 U.S. ATM locations and Cooperative Retirement Systems of America, a developer and manager of more than 200 continuing-care retirement communities nationwide.
Raised in Biloxi, Mississippi until moving to New Orleans in 1964, Canizaro is a trustee and former chairman of the Urban Land Institute and has served on the Advisory Committee on Real Estate Development of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In addition, he is a member of the Business Council of New Orleans and the Tulane University President’s Council and founder and co-chairman of the Committee for a Better New Orleans.
Canizaro also founded and is president of the New Orleans chapter of Legatus, an international organization of practicing Catholic CEOs. Additionally, he serves the archbishop of New Orleans as a member of the Archdiocese Finance Council.
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