Texas Wesleyan University, the Fort Worth Business Press and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce are pleased to announce that John C. Goff, chairman and CEO of Crescent Real Estate Holdings and president of Goff Capital, Inc., has been selected as the 2018 Fort Worth Business Executive of the Year.

Goff will be honored at the 49th annual Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame event at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, at The Fort Worth Club. This year's presenting sponsor is Luther King Capital Management.

“John Goff is an outstanding business leader who has made an incredible mark on the Fort Worth community and beyond,” Texas Wesleyan University President Frederick G. Slabach said. “His business sense and keen understanding of real estate and investing make him most deserving of this prestigious award. It truly is our honor to recognize him and celebrate his accomplishments with the Business Hall of Fame.”

Tickets

Tickets to the Oct. 4 event are $250 per person or $2,500 for a 10-person table. To make reservations and purchase tickets, contact Adrian Bumgarner at 817-531-5806 or RSVP@txwes.edu. The reception begins at 6 p.m. and the dinner begins at 7 p.m. Dress is business attire and tickets are open to the general public.

About this year's honoree

John C. Goff is a private investor based in Fort Worth, Texas. Goff invests in a variety of industries, both public and private, through his family office, Goff Capital, and in real estate through Crescent Real Estate, where he serves as chairman.

Goff co-founded Crescent Real Estate with Richard Rainwater in the early 1990’s, designing the strategy and orchestrating the acquisitions leading to its initial public offering in May 1994. Under his leadership as vice chairman and CEO, Crescent grew from approximately $500 million at its IPO to $6.5 billion upon its sale to Morgan Stanley in August 2007. Crescent provided its shareholders with a 15.4 percent compounded annual return and more than $2.5 billion in cash dividends during its 13 years as a public company. In November 2009, Goff reacquired Crescent in a partnership with Barclays Capital, and in December 2017 he purchased Barclays’ interest to become the principal owner of Canyon Ranch, the world’s recognized leader in healthy living and luxury spa vacations, the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas Hotel and the McKinney & Olive office and retail complex in Dallas.

Goff joined Rainwater in 1987, investing in public securities, private equity and distressed debt in a variety of industries including oil and gas, health care and banking. This background led Mr. Goff to establish his family office, Goff Capital, which has a team of professionals currently focused on oil and gas, entertainment and aerospace investments.

During the credit crisis of 1998, Goff founded Goff Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invested in more than $4 billion in assets, real estate debt and equity. In 2016, Goff combined the resources of Goff Capital Partners and Crescent to consolidate all future real estate investing into one entity. Now operating as Crescent Real Estate LLC, the combined organization has over 110 professionals managing assets and investment capacity of over $5 billion.

Goff is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and is a member of the McCombs Business School Hall of Fame. He was named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southwest Region in 2014 and was inducted to the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors and Real Estate Professionals Hall of Fame.

About the Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame

For 49 years, Texas Wesleyan, the Fort Worth Business Press and the Fort Worth Chamber have joined forces to present the Business Executive of the Year, which promotes business as a challenging and dynamic profession. Last year's recipient was Paul Dorman, CEO and chairman of DFB Pharmaceuticals, LLC.

The event supports the Thomas H. Law scholarship program, which benefits business students at Texas Wesleyan University.