James R. Irvine
Portland, Ore.
Year Served:
1995
Inducted into Hall of Fame:
2001
Category:
Builder/Developer
Hall of Fame Location:
90s, II, 2, A
James R. Irvine, a builder from Portland, Ore., and chairman of the Conifer Group, served as president of NAHB in 1995. Irvine was also the Oregon national representative and area vice president. He served as president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Portland and the Oregon Building Industry Association and was named “Builder of the Year” for both. An activist for affordable housing issues, Irvine served Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros in designing homeownership zones and Hope VI implementation. He also co-chaired the Mortgage Roundtable, served as a director for the Federal Home Loan Bank, and was part of the U.S. delegation to the United Nationals Conference on Human Settlements: Habitat II in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996.