Debra A. Cafaro
Ventas, Inc.
Debra A. Cafaro is Chairman and CEO of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR), an S&P 500 company. Ventas is the nation’s leading health care real estate investment trust. Upon closing of two recently announced acquisitions, Ventas will be a US$23 billion enterprise and the largest owner of seniors housing in the US, with a diversified portfolio of over 1,300 health care and senior housing assets located in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Ventas was the top-performing publicly traded financial company for the first decade of this century, with total shareholder return exceeding 2,000 percent.
In 2011, Ms. Cafaro was named one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare and voted to Institutional Investor’s “2011 All-American Executive Team.” The prior year, she was named one of the ten “Best CEOs” by Forbes. She was also a recipient of the Aiming High Award from Legal Momentum, which recognizes remarkable women whose personal leadership has broken new ground for women in business (2009). She has been named an Outstanding Woman by National Real Estate Investor magazine (2008); a Woman of Influence by Real Estate Forum (2008); Female Leader of the Year by Commercial Property News (2007); one of “50 Women to Watch” by The Wall Street Journal (2004); and one of the “Best of the Best” REIT CEOs (2003).
Ms. Cafaro is the immediate past Chair of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the worldwide representative voice for REITs. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY), where she chairs its Finance Committee and is a member of its Compensation Committee; World Business Chicago, Chicago’s nonprofit economic development corporation chaired by Mayor Richard M. Daley; and the Real Estate Roundtable.
Following her 1982-83 service as a judicial clerk to the Hon. J. Dickson Phillips, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Ms. Cafaro practiced real estate, corporate and finance law. She also taught real estate transactions and finance from 1988 to 1992 as an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University Law School. Prior to joining Ventas, Ms. Cafaro was President and a Director of Ambassador Apartments, Inc. (NYSE: AAH), a multifamily REIT.
Ms. Cafaro received her J.D. cum laude in 1982 from the University of Chicago Law School, where she currently serves on its Business Advisory Council, and her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1979. She is married to Terrance K. Livingston and has two children.
