Joseph J. Sitt is Chairman of Thor Equities Group, a global leader in urban real estate development, leasing and management of commercial, residential, retail, hotel and mixed-use assets. Founded in 1986 by Mr. Sitt, the company owns prime property in the United States, Europe and Latin America, with portfolio transactions and a development pipeline in excess of $10 billion and totaling more than 20 million square feet.
Mr. Sitt is also CEO of Thor Retail Advisors, a premier leasing agent and exclusive representative of global retailers in their search for prime locations; Chairman of Thor Urbana, which develops and acquires retail, office and mixed-use properties in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Mérida and other Mexican cities; and Chairman and Managing Principal of Thor Urban Property Funds, an investment vehicle serving pension funds, investment banks, college endowments and foundations.
Mr. Sitt was awarded the 2014 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, and has been named by political magazine City & State as one of the Most Powerful People in New York. Harvard professor Michael Porter and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) have also honored him for his commitment to fostering healthy competitive business conditions and new opportunities in inner city neighborhoods.
He has served on the board of the Real Estate Roundtable in Washington, D.C., the Department of Real Estate at Baruch College, and is a member of the Partnership for New York City. Mr. Sitt also serves on the board of the Bedford Stuyvesant Corporation, founded by Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob Javits.
Mr. Sitt is Chairman and Founder of Global Gateway Alliance, a non-profit organization established to address the major challenges facing the New York-New Jersey region’s aging airport system and related infrastructure.
He has served on the boards of the Downtown Brooklyn Council economic development advocacy group, REBNY’s Board of Governors, and as Chairman of the Brooklyn Fulton Street Business Improvement District. He has spent much of his career focusing on youth development and education, serving on the Boards of Brooklyn’s Flatbush High School and TAB High School, leading a teen program and acting as an ongoing mentor and guidance counselor to Brooklyn youth.
Mr. Sitt founded women’s clothing retailer Ashley Stewart, expanding the company to 380 stores in over 100 cities. Its phenomenal growth prompted many national retailers to take notice of opportunities in the urban marketplace. A key to his success at Ashley Stewart was identifying and leveraging the best real estate opportunities for its stores. In 2000, he decided to divest his interest in Ashley Stewart and focus exclusively on Thor Equities. Mr. Sitt is a graduate of New York University's Stern School of Business.