Ure R. Kretowicz
Chairman of the Board
Chief Executive Officer
Ure Kretowicz is a recognized leader in the San Diego real estate market with over 40 years of experience in the homebuilding industry. He founded Cornerstone Communities in 1994, where he has overseen the construction of more than 90 communities with over 9,000 new homes, propelling the company into being repeatedly named as the largest private homebuilder in San Diego County.
In addition to his strategic vision, Kretowicz is involved in every step of the development process from market research and land acquisition to financial arrangements and product design.
Kretowicz started his real estate management career in 1975 with Shapell Industries, at that time the sixth largest real estate development firm in the United States. In 1983, he co-founded Sunland Communities and Sunland Consolidated, Inc., a residential and commercial building and holding company. He was a founding director of the Bank of Rancho Bernardo, and in 1994 he established Cornerstone Communities. Since then he founded the Cove Equity Group and cofounded a partnership with CrossCountry Mortgage to help homebuyers finance their home purchases.
Kretowicz is actively involved in the real estate industry, has been a member of the Building Industry Association and served as both a Governor and Chair of its Political Action Committee. He also served on the San Diego mayor’s Housing Advisory Task Force under two separate administrations and has been recognized as “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young and USA Today.
His business credentials include the influential Lincoln Club; Lambda Alpha International, a land economics society; and the Advisory Board of San Diego State University’s College of Business Administration. An alum at the School of Economics at San Diego State University and the Harvard Business School, Kretowicz is an active member of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association and the Harvard Real Estate Society.
Kretowicz has been a meaningful contributor to several charities including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, the San Diego Ronald McDonald House, the San Diego Jewish Community Center and the American Heart Association. The Kretowicz family was honored by JDRF as the “1999 Family of the Year” and “2005 Corporate Honoree” for their many fundraising efforts.
