Ken Jett, Vice President of Facilities & Capital Planning and President of Rice Real Estate, is well-versed in overcoming business challenges. Throughout his extensive career, he has consistently met obstacles head-on success. We had the privilege of spending time with this proud Rice alum to uncover what drives him, his current focus areas, and his vision for the future.
Can you share a little about your background and the pivotal experiences shaping your leadership style?
I’m a Northern California native and completed my undergraduate studies at UC Davis and my MBA from Rice. For the past 21 years, Houston has been my home. My family and I enjoy Houston’s unique, diverse culture, hospitality, and its entrepreneurial spirit. Houstonians are genuinely nice people, which has made it a great place to raise a family.
In college, I was a 400-meter hurdler. While track and field is often seen as an individual sport, it requires tremendous levels of teamwork during training to perform at an elite level. I have fond memories of pushing and being pushed by my training partners and coaches. We fed off each other's energy and leaned into our shared goals. This focus on trust, collaboration, and relationships, along with my entrepreneurial spirit, heavily infused my leadership style. This was reinforced during my time leading the direct investment platform at Hines where I discovered that our success often hinged on developing relationships and building trust internally and externally.
My partners within Rice Real Estate Company and Facilities & Capital Planning share this entrepreneurial spirit and collaborative focus. During my tenure at Rice, I will build upon this foundation and foster a culture of trust to deliver exceptional customer service to the community, generate attractive risk-adjusted returns, and maximize community impact on Rice’s direct real estate investments.
In your current role, what are your primary responsibilities, and what does a typical day look like for you?
Since joining Rice on April 1, I have found that there is no such thing as a “typical” day. However, I wake up in the morning thinking about being of service to my team, operational excellence, and being a great fiduciary of Rice’s on- and off-campus real estate holdings. Most of my time has been spent understanding our operational rhythms and getting to know my partners and their respective teams. A key focus has been listening and asking questions to get acclimated. I am committed to unprecedented development for my partners and their teams and placing people in roles where they can thrive.
My primary responsibilities are to oversee Rice’s on-campus facilities and off-campus direct real estate portfolio. This work includes looking for ways to enhance Rice Village, the Ion District, and generate strong returns on Rice’s investments. While the Village is a vibrant retail destination in its current form, we will look to continuously improve it over time through development and community-centric events programming. The Ion District opened in 2021, leasing space to start-ups and other technology companies that value being part of the ecosystem. The district fosters collaboration and entrepreneurship through various means, such as hosting networking events, design competitions, and educational programming. It is exciting to see how the creation of new businesses and the growth of the technology ecosystem are benefiting the Houston community.
Within Facilities & Capital Planning, the focus is on serving the community. We strive for excellence in everything we do. This includes ensuring new buildings, labs, and spaces meet the highest standards and creating spaces for students, faculty, and staff to do their best work. To accomplish this, we must ensure our people are trained, supported, celebrated, and have the necessary resources to execute. Over the next five years, my goal is to ensure that all our projects reflect Rice’s world-class reputation, while also being a responsible steward of Rice’s capital whether on campus or beyond.
What are you working on now that you’re excited about?
I’m most excited about partnering with Bryson Grover, Managing Director for Real Estate, and the Rice Real Estate Company team to advance the vision for the Rice Village into reality. I am also energized by the opportunity to work with Paul Cherukuri, Vice President for Innovation, to grow the Ion District into a thriving live-work-play environment for new company formation and applied research. It’s a privilege to work with Bryson, Paul, and their teams to help Rice achieve its ambitious goals. My job is to turn these projects into reality, and we are fully united in this endeavor.
Can you share your vision for the future? What does that look like for your team and Rice? What are the big-picture goals for your organization in the next five years?
My vision for the future involves both tangible and intangible elements. I am working closely with my teams to deliver a facilities operation and real estate offering that mirrors Rice's excellence. Regarding facilities, my goal is that within five to 10 years, our peer institutions will come to us for benchmarking in technology and building management execution. For real estate, I am focused on creating exceptional experiences for all who visit the Ion and Rice Village. This is a lofty goal and touches many people: students, faculty, staff, and visitors from all over the world.
We have the resources to achieve these goals, ensuring that our projects set new standards of excellence.
Reflecting on your career, what have been some of your toughest challenges, and what accomplishments are you most proud of?
Great question! Challenges have come from all angles throughout my career, but the ones that have been most impactful to me were those that arose from events like the dot-com bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, and COVID-19. My biggest accomplishments are successfully navigating the proceeding business cycles and landing this role. On a personal note, I believe that being married for 25 years to my amazing wife (Daphne) and raising three amazing children (Ethan, Nadia, and Dylan) is our crowning achievement!
How do you recharge your battery and have fun?
I recharge my battery with early morning walks around Rice or Memorial Park before the heat sets in. This time is an opportunity to clear my mind and enjoy being outside. While walking, I often listen to podcasts because I am always eager to learn something new. My favorite podcast is Guy Raz’s "How I Built This.” The stories of how the world’s best-known entrepreneurs and innovators created and built their iconic brands inspire me. It’s a reminder that we don’t always get it right the first time, but persistence and collaboration pay off.