Over Five Decades at Boyle, Halperin Credits His Success to Relationships

The Daily Memphian

By Rob Moore

In 1973, Mark Halperin was hired by Boyle Investment Co. right out of college.

During that decade, Halperin was part of the team that started Ridgeway Center, the 204-acre mixed-use development that today serves as East Memphis’ premier business park and is home to more than 150 companies.

In the 1980s, Halperin oversaw the development of the Shops of Humphreys Center on Wolf River Boulevard, and in the 1990s he turned his attention to the Schilling Farms Community in Collierville. In all, Halperin has played a large part in developing and leasing approximately 12 million square feet of commercial and office space.

“I don’t think our company would be as successful if we hadn’t had Mark with us over this long period of time,” said Henry Morgan, co-chair emeritus with Boyle. “I have been blessed to develop a close friendship with Mark over the years. He delivers consistently in his ability to do the right thing for programs in our company.”

Today, Halperin is Boyle’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, moving up the ranks over the years and all the while staying with Boyle.

In September, Halperin received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Memphis chapter of Lambda Alpha International, a professional organization consisting of people in the various disciplines related to the use and re-use of land. Previous winners of the group’s lifetime achievement award include Henry Turley, Mike Rose and Halperin’s colleague and friend Russell Bloodworth.

“I couldn’t believe I was on the same list of winners with names like Jack Belz,” Halperin said of the real estate developer credited with revitalizing Downtown. “Kemmons Wilson, Bayard Boyle Sr., those were just two other names on the list.”

Wilson and Boyle, the founders of Holiday Inn and Boyle Investment Company, respectively, are themselves juggernauts in Memphis business history, and Halperin was overwhelmed to find himself among their ranks.

“I was speechless,” he said, “and that doesn’t happen often.”

“In hindsight, it’s been wonderful,” Halperin said, “spending my career at Boyle. They want us to think like owners, and they empower us to make a lot of decisions on our own. I could have gone somewhere else at times, but I was always happy I stayed here, working on these relationships I’ve had since I first got started.”

In addition to his long-standing career with Boyle, Halperin has remained one of the longest-serving trustees for Memphis University School, the school he attended after moving to Memphis from Chicago.

Halperin is also the past president of the Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab as well as the past president of Temple Israel Memphis.

Currently, Halperin sits on the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) for Memphis and Shelby County.