Cross & Crescent

From a very early age, John Goff (Texas 1977) possessed an “entrepreneurial spirit.”

As a young teenager, he landed his first job maintaining an apartment complex in his hometown of Lake Jackson, Texas.

“Ultimately, I essentially ran the apartment complex,” Goff says. “I collected rent. I kept the books. I cleaned the pool and maintained the grounds. I moved people in and out. I painted apartments. It was a great job. It was a lot of money for me at the time and I learned a great deal…particularly hard work.”

Texas Longhorn

A few years later, when Goff was deciding what college to attend, he never looked beyond the Texas borders.

“We grew up in a small town and we didn’t have the opportunity to search outside of Texas for schools,” he says. “We were very influenced by people we were close to at the time as to where to go to school.”

He also was influenced by his older brother, Charlie Goff Jr. (Texas 1963), who had graduated from the University of Texas and was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha.

When Goff made the decision to attend Texas, he planned to become an engineer and was both excited and nervous about attending such a large university.

“I couldn’t wait to go,” he says. “I was very excited to get away from home. Having the freedom that college offered. I just remember it being an exciting yet somewhat scary experience.”

While in college, Goff spent two summers working as an intern for Dow Chemical, which earned him almost enough money to pay for college. One summer, he worked on the design of a chemical plant Dow was building in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“In the process of working on the design, I was exposed to the business side of the development and was able to interact with some of the business people…I realized I was more energized by the business aspect of it than the engineering side,” he says.

As a result, Goff decided to switch from electrical engineering to the business school at Texas. Within the business school, he chose to major in accounting because there was a shortage of accountants at the time and a chance for a higher starting salary.

Fraternity Support

Like his brother, Goff also chose to join Lambda Chi at Texas, and he says the Fraternity members gave him the support system that was particularly beneficial at such a large school.

“The Fraternity provided me with many friendships and a head start in terms of insights into classes, professors,” he says. “At the time, we didn’t have the benefit of internet and all the class selection capabilities available today. It was basically word of mouth. It was a group of close friends that would share their experiences and enable me to avoid some of their own mistakes.”

Not surprisingly, Goff also found the ritual to be an important part of his journey with the Fraternity.

“The ritual process was trying, difficult, and I learned a lot about myself as well as other people,” he says. “It was a very emotional and stressful process having to juggle the schedule with classwork. I certainly have never been through anything like that. It was a unique experience that I will not forget.”

In addition to the undergraduate support, the local alumni network also helped Goff in many ways.

“At the time, we had a very strong and involved alumni group,” he says. “The alumni were often present and interacted routinely with us. We learned about leadership through their example and they provided helpful advice and contacts for life after college.”

Many of the values Goff learned from the Fraternity are ones he carried forward and applied to the companies he later created.

“I think that many of the attributes of a fraternity are applicable to business,” he says. “There is a tight-knit culture composed of individuals with common interests working toward a common cause. I’m a big believer in a deep-rooted culture of integrity, honesty…everyone understanding what the mission of the organization is. I learned clearly the importance of teamwork in the Fraternity and applied that to growing a business.”

During his Fraternity days, Goff says one charitable project involving a school for disabled children also had a profound impact on him.

“We, in essence, rebuilt the school,” he says. “We painted it. We redid a lot of the furniture, and played with kids. We had all kinds of projects that went on at the school.”

Many of the children would grab hold of Goff and the other brothers because the children didn’t want them to leave.

“It was a very moving experience for me,” he says. “I remember feeling really good about what we accomplished. That’s something that is embedded in my memory. And I would have never on my own found that opportunity otherwise.”

Fate Meets Opportunity

After graduating from Texas, Goff began his career in public accounting for a national accounting firm with a focus on energy and real estate companies in Houston, Texas. He soon realized he wanted to expand his aptitudes beyond accounting.

“Accounting for me was too historical,” he says. “I found it a terrific way to learn about business and to see the impact of business decisions — both good and bad. I recognized that I needed more experience, but ultimately wanted to be the one making the decisions, not evaluating them.”

With his long-term goal intact, and newly married, Goff moved from Houston, Texas, to Ft. Worth, Texas, and took a job with KPMG Peat Marwick in 1981. In this new role, he soon met legendary investor Richard Rainwater, who became one of Goff’s primary clients.

“I was committed to staying with Peat Marwick until just the right opportunity came along,” he says. Then, in 1987, that opportunity presented itself when Rainwater left the Bass family to start up his own investment shop and asked Goff to come work for him. Soon after, Goff became a senior investment adviser and vice president of Rainwater, Inc.

“This was the opportunity I had been working and waiting for,” Goff says. “I was going to be with some very smart individuals who were accomplished dealmakers and who had significant access to capital. It was just a wonderful opportunity. I don’t believe in luck. I had worked very hard and patiently waited for the right position.”

After the stock market crash in October 1987, Rainwater allocated Goff a significant amount of money to invest in the stock market and the autonomy to make his own decisions.

“Somehow he had the faith and the trust that I would make smart investments,” he says. “I had no experience investing in the stock market but I certainly had experience analyzing businesses and interpreting financial statements.”

Fortunately, Goff made good decisions and his stock selections ended up doing very well. This gave him the confidence to believe he had a knack for investments. He was then involved in many other investments made by Rainwater both public and private.

Soon thereafter the real estate market collapsed and Rainwater asked Goff if he would quarterback the firm’s foray into real estate. He says, “This was like Halley’s Comet. A chance in a lifetime. To design a strategy from scratch, to invest in the largest industry in the United States at a time when no one else thought it was smart.”

Goff then designed the strategy, deciding not only what assets to invest, but what markets to invest in, and determining how to finance them. Most importantly, Rainwater required Goff to invest personally in each decision he made. “Ultimately, I had my entire net worth on the line,” he says.

Over the next few years, Goff oversaw the purchase of more than three million square feet of office space, along with the acquisition of several residential projects and hotels.

Birth of Crescent

The eventual result of Goff’s successfully executed plan was the creation of Crescent Real Estate Equities, Inc.

“It was all based on timing and a macro view,” he says. “And I think that’s true in every investment. I learned a lot about that from Richard. You have to be right on your macro view and timing…or every bit of micro execution will fail.”

In May 1994, needing access to a much larger pool of capital in order to maintain the growth of the business, Goff and Rainwater led Crescent’s initial public offering.

After 13 years as a public company, Goff says they were at a point where the real estate cycle had peaked and it was an opportune time to harvest the gains for the shareholders.

In May 2007, Goff championed the deal that led to the company being acquired by Morgan Stanley Real Estate for $6.5 billion. After agreeing to remain with the company during a transition period, Goff has now officially abdicated his role.

“I’m now highly motivated to identify the next big opportunity,” he says. “It is refreshing to be looking but not having to do anything until the time is right. And now, I don’t have to search for capital, I have my own to invest.”

Philanthropy Efforts

During his tenure at Crescent’s helm, Goff championed a foundation, FACES® of Change, where the company adopted schools across the United States.

Having received national recognition, the program partners Crescent employees, customers, and business associates with local elementary schools that have limited resources.

Since its inception, FACES of Change has contributed in excess of $2.3 million in financial and in-kind donations, as well as more than 50,000 volunteer hours to 80 schools.

As a result of the Crescent’s sale to Morgan Stanley, Goff now plans to continue his philanthropy work under the umbrella of The Goff Family Foundation.

“Morgan Stanley has embraced the FACES program and I am certain it will continue,” he says. “My foundation will involve all of the family and will find new creative ways to help children through education.”

The Next Chapter

Today, a large part of Goff’s current focus is related to the other business he started back in 1997, Goff Capital Partners.

“I have a wonderful team at Goff Capital to grow a new business around,” he says. “They have already achieved many successes, and we are now armed with fresh capital and many ideas.”

The investment firm’s primary focus is real estate related securities, and it is currently managing more than $2 billion in assets.

“I consider myself incredibly fortunate with what I’ve been able to accomplish in my life,” he says. “I feel blessed. What I’ve tried really hard to do is to not let the financial rewards change me. I hope that my friends, family, and partners do not feel that I am any different now than I was 15 years ago. Too often, I get the accolades — which should reflect on all of these individuals as a team.

“I am most proud of the jobs that have been created, and the lives that have been impacted positively as a result of building companies,” Goff says. “A decent idea, teamwork, and good timing is a powerful combination.”