DAN DUPREE

Along the way, Cousins has developed or acquired the expertise to allow it to excel in vastly different areas of real estate with a seasoned team.

JOEL MURPHY

The REIT's purchase of retail-focused New Market Development Company in 1992 brought Dan Dupree on board, who is now president and COO, and Joel Murphy, who is now president of the retail division. Craig Jones, who worked for Dupree at New Market, is now CIO of the company.

CRAIG JONES

To jumpstart its residential division, the company tapped Bruce Smith, who worked in the sector for Arvida, a subsidiary of St. Joe Co. (NYSE: JOE), in 1995.

BRUCE SMITH

In early 2002, Tom Cousins turned to Tom Bell to serve as president and CEO of the company. Prior to joining Cousins, Bell spent 10 years at Young & Rubicam Inc. Before that, he worked at Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Ball Corporation, President, the Hudson Institute and Chairman of the Board for the Center for Naval Analysis.

The executive team has steered the company in new directions. The industrial division, formed in April 2004, is responsible for the development or management of more than 2.5 million square feet of industrial space in Atlanta and Dallas. To gain a foothold, it has launched ventures with two of Atlanta's industrial developers, Weeks Properties and Seefried Properties.

"We do not think that we can go into a market and immediately be successful," Dupree says. "We know there are things we need to learn."