Dan Letter

Dan Letter is the heir apparent set to take over the biggest owner and developer of industrial and logistics space in the world.

The president of Prologis will take the reins as CEO on Jan. 1, 2026, when co-founder Hamid Moghadam retires from the role after more than four decades. (Moghadam will continue as executive chairman.) Letter has worked for the San Francisco-based REIT for over 20 years, but his new position includes managing all 1.3 billion square feet across 20 countries for what’s also the largest real estate investment trust in the United States by market cap as of the end of 2024.

For the three-month period that ended just before President Trump’s new tariffs went into effect, Prologis reported $811 million in real estate acquisitions and $646 million in new projects breaking ground. The company expects to start about 30 percent fewer projects this year than previously anticipated due to Trump’s trade policy, but it still is budgeting for between $1.5 billion to $2 billion in new development this year, along with another $750 million to $1.25 billion in acquisitions.

“We delivered exceptional results this quarter — signing leases totaling 58 million square feet, breaking ground on new build-to-suits with strategic customers, and expanding our power capacity to support the growing demand for data centers,” Letter said in a statement.

Indeed, Prologis remains perhaps the most important landlord and developer in markets that have been redefined by the global e-commerce boom the past 15 years. Even in a year like 2024 when all warehouse owners were tightening their conveyor belts, Prologis continued to sign major tenants to big, long-term leases.

Prologis is also a power player in the surging data center game, and is notably bullish on AI development. That includes a $25 billion development and investment arm, and $650 million in capital for new data center development in the first quarter of this year. If that’s not enough, the REIT is already a year into a plan to spend $7 billion to $8 billion to expand that data facilities platform before 2030.