Ann Taylor

Biography: Ann founded Wide Ranging + Co., a creative business consultancy providing Brand, Story, and Experience expertise to the real estate and land use industry. Ann brings 30 years of innovation and leadership in building brands, engaging audiences, and creating consumer preference. She was Senior Vice President of Midway, a privately owned, fully integrated real estate development and investment firm with more than 45 million square feet of properties completed or underway, including mixed-used destinations, office, industrial facilities, and master-planned residential communities. During her tenure with Midway, two mixed-use development projects earned the Urban land Institute’s highest global and local honors: the global ULI Urban Open Space Award for Levy Park, a first-of-its-kind public + private partnership including mixed-use development and a refurbished public park; and the ULI Houston Development of Distinction Award for The Jones on Main, two downtown historic landmark properties on the MetroRail Red Line, revived for contemporary use. She was an expert panelist for ULI and the National League of Cities Daniel Rose Land Use Fellowship in Tucson, Arizona. Before joining Midway, Ann was Executive Director, ULI Houston and San Antonio. She was local liaison for two ULI national advisory panels: Harris County Domed Stadium (the Astrodome), and Galveston disaster recovery following Hurricane Ike. She directed ULI technical assistance panels on transit-oriented development, redevelopment of underinvested historic communities, and reviving underperforming commercial corridors. She also directed and authored the report on a statewide collaboration of the ULI Building Healthy Places Initiative. Prior to joining ULI staff, Ann built one of Houston’s top PR/Marketing Communications firms with numerous real estate and architecture firm clients. With her husband, Mark D. Smith, AIA, LEED AP, Ann is cofounder of Truly Home, a non-profit organization whose mission is to create environmentally sustainable, storm-resilient, secure, and neighborhood-friendly single-family workforce housing. Ann's civic and philanthropic board service includes the Downtown Management District and East End Management District, the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corp., SEARCH Homeless Services, the Astrodome Conservancy, and Scenic Texas. A graduate of Rice University, Ann was on the President’s Honor Roll and was a Governor’s Scholarship recipient.