| On most days, Crocker Liu blends into the university scene.
The youthful-looking real estate finance professor typically dons colorful Hawaiian shirts or T-shirts and jeans.
But behind the casual dress is a serious and ambitious 54-year-old man whose goal is to create a top-of-mind real estate program for the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. The school will graduate its first MBA students with a real estate concentration in 2008.
"I think we can surpass Wharton (School of the University of Pennsylvania) and (University of California) Berkeley if we get the right crew in, and I'm not trying to be cocky," said Liu, who left New York University after 18 years of teaching there for Arizona last summer.
Liu believes that will happen once ASU attracts another key real estate expert. He is hopeful this person, who he is not willing to name yet, will add the pieces missing in ASU's real estate program to make it nationally acclaimed.
Finance department Chairman Jeffrey Coles doesn't doubt Liu's ability to put ASU in the top five programs in the next three to five years.
"There are only five people in the world I would consider hiring, and Crocker is one of them," Coles said. "Crocker is soup to nuts, and he has industry experience at all levels."
Liu at one time sold real estate during summer breaks in Hawaii to help put his brother through college and law school. He also has worked as a consultant and vice president for Prudential Realty Group, focusing on strategy.
"I had two months every summer to go back and sell a million dollars worth of properties. It's not an easy feat," Liu said.
Liu, who trained under legendary real estate Professor James Graaskamp at the University of Wisconsin, became fascinated by real estate as a boy growing up in poor parts of Kalihi around Honolulu.
"People who were rich in the neighborhood seemed to all be connected to real estate," he said.
Another influence was a Honolulu financier and developer, Chinn Ho, who envisioned tourism in the old duck swamps that became Waikiki.
"They were entrepreneurs like you couldn't believe. . . . They were visionaries . . . who turned something inexpensive or worthless to something priceless," he said.
Real estate may not have been his future, though, because school wasn't a priority.
"I was a C student until I was a junior in high school," he said. "I used to hang out at the pool halls and undesirable elements. ... It's not the kind of lifestyle that you want to emulate."
His parents, who were public schoolteachers, kept pushing education, hoping he'd become a doctor or lawyer.
But his only A at the time was in music. Deep down inside, he was hoping to become the next Louis Armstrong, playing professional trumpet.
The turnaround came because of an offer his mother made him.
"If I had good grades, I could have what I wanted," he said.
For him, that was a car. "Then I got straight A's. People were astounded that I got into the National Honor Society."
And that also is when he decided to pursue an education in real estate. He took his first real estate exam as a high school senior, and started selling at age 18.
"Real estate helped me get out of the neighborhood. It got me to where I am today," he said. His co-workers call him a bit of a jokester but note his drive and persuasive abilities.
"He's a colorful character," said Coles, who is the Francis J. and Mary B. Labriola Endowed Chair in Competitive Business. "He's always walking around and saying stuff in Hawaiian." He also has been spotted in a T-shirt that says "I have the body of a god," referring to the not-so-svelte Buddha.
At the same time, Coles said, Liu is much like ASU alumnus and former Pepsi CEO Craig Weatherup in his work ethic. Both are eager to get down to work wherever it's necessary, he said. Liu also has vision, likely stemming from his own success story, Coles said.
"Crocker realizes with concentration and effort, anything is possible."
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- Crocker Liu
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- Age:54
- Title: Professor/McCord Chair in Real Estate at the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU.
- Education: Bachelor's, University of Hawaii; master of science in real estate, University of Wisconsin; doctorate in finance and real estate, University of Texas.
- Academic career: Started as a teaching assistant at the University of Hawaii in 1974; assistant instructor in real estate at the University of Texas, 1984-1986; assistant/associate professor of finance and real estate at New York University, 1988-2006; joined ASU in July 2006.
- Business experience:Realtor in Honolulu; security salesman for Hawaiian Equities REIT; vice president at Prudential Realty Group
- Family: Wife, Charlene, and three sons, Graam, Makana and Kupono.
- Hobby: Martial arts/kung fu.
- Favorite Hawaiian word: Imua, which means charge or go forward
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