Rick Liu

Biography: Rick Liu is a Senior Economic Officer at the DC Office of the CFO, where he manages a small team performing financial analyses, and manages and underwrites debt issuances for master developed projects financed through public/private partnerships, such as TIFs and PILOTs. Separately, Rick serves as the Principal and founder of RYL Economic Strategies, a national advisory firm specializing in economic development, real estate, and infrastructure projects, and has counseled several public agencies and nonprofits in Miami, Philadelphia, and Sacramento on development advisory, master developer negotiations, and pipeline and capacity building through real estate. Previously, Rick led and managed joint development and lease execution for Metro, the Washington region’s transit agency, and led the team that closed a $50M transaction that would create the largest community solar project in Washington region. He has also served as the Director of Economic Analysis to the Montgomery County Planning Department, where he provided real estate subject matter expertise to elected officials to obtain plan approvals representing potentially $500M+ in economic development. He possesses Federal knowledge from managing housing assets under the U.S. Army’s Privatized Housing Initiative (MHPI) – the largest public-private partnership in the U.S. Government. Rick has deep knowledge of government’s methods of engaging the private real estate industry, and navigating the complexities of project and policy execution from beginning to end. Rick has a Masters of City Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts from Tufts University, and is an active member of ULI Washington, having previously served on various local product councils such as Sustainability, Regionalism, TOD, and the Prince George's Local Product Council.