Joseph C. Canizaro
Louisiana
Joseph C. Canizaro is President and Chief Executive Officer of Columbus Properties, L.P., a commercial real estate development company he founded and headquartered in New Orleans. Columbus Properties has acquired, developed and/or managed office buildings, hotels, mixed-use projects, as well as land and residential projects throughout the Southeast/Southwest. Some of his most recognized developments in New Orleans include Canal Place, LL&E Tower, Texaco Center, First Bank Center (formerly the Galleria in Metairie) and the Information Technology Center Office Complex located at the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park. Mr. Canizaro is currently developing Tradition, a master planned community on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, that, when complete, will create a sustainable new community with employment, residences, schools and recreational amenities centered on health and wellness, education, culture and the environment.
In 1991, he purchased First Bank and Trust, the successor to First City Bank of New Orleans, which failed during the real estate crisis of 1990-1991. Subsequently he formed First Trust Corporation, a bank holding company headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1998, he purchased Peoples Bank in Amite, LA and in 2005, he purchased First Bank and Trust of Mississippi, the successor to Central Bank for Savings located in Winona, MS. In 2008, he merged all three banks into First Bank and Trust. Today, First Bank and Trust is an $803 million community bank offering commercial, consumer and mortgage loans and deposit services to individuals and small to middle market businesses throughout the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast. In 1999, he formed FBT Investments, Inc., a full service securities brokerage firm and in 2000, he formed FBT Advisors, Inc, a full service securities advisory firm to compliment the products and services First Trust has to offer.
He founded Corporate Capital, L.L.C. in August 1998, a venture capital company currently investing in traditional American businesses. Some of its major investments have included Innovus, Inc., owner and operator of more than 3000 ATM machines and Columbus Data Services, the third largest ATM processor in the United States, servicing 60,000 ATM locations throughout the country and providing gateway services, pre-paid debit card processing and merchant credit card processing services. Corporate Capital has also invested in CRSA (Cooperative Retirement Systems of America), a developer and manager of more than 25 continuing care retirement communities nationwide.
Mr. Canizaro is a Trustee and former Chairman of the Urban Land Institute, a national professional organization established in 1936 with more than 30,000 members in 95 countries worldwide devoted to improving the quality of the environment, as affected by the real estate industry. He has been nationally recognized for his vision and creativity in urban and suburban real estate development and has served on the Harvard University Graduate School of Design’s Advisory Committee on Real Estate Development. Mr. Canizaro has been a member of the Business Council of New Orleans and the Tulane University President’s Council. He was the founder and former Co-Chairman of the Committee for a Better New Orleans, a privately funded group of more than 140 community, business and civic leaders committed to identifying the critical issues and opportunities facing the city and creating a blueprint for the future of New Orleans, based on mutual trust and consensus.
He is a Director, former President and founder of the New Orleans chapter of Legatus, an international organization of practicing Catholic CEO’s. Mr. Canizaro is also a former member and Secretary of the National Legatus Board of Directors. Additionally, he served the Archbishop of New Orleans as a member of the Archdiocese Finance Council. He currently serves on the Board of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida.
Mr. Canizaro has served on a variety of boards of civic and institutional organizations and holds numerous distinctions from his membership in a host of regional and national business, civic and arts organizations. He has been awarded a 2003 Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Knights of St. Gregory Papal Honor, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Papal Honor, Order of the St. Louis Medallion for work in the Catholic Church, Southern Dominicans’ St. Martin de Porres Award, and was commissioned to the highest rank of Councillor of St. Dominic on the advisory board of the Angelicum University in Rome. He is also the recipient of the1999 Mayor’s Medal of Honor, Louisiana Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame Award, American Academy of Achievement National Outstanding Achievers Award, and was named the National Italian-American of the Year.
Mr. Canizaro and his wife Sue Ellen have been married for over 50 years and have two daughters and a grandson.
