PRESS RELEASE Media Contact:
For Immediate Release: Kathryn Jones
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 770-813-3381
Council for Quality Growth Names Egbert Perry 37th Recipient of Annual Four Pillar Tribute & Award
Founder & Chairman of The Integral Group to be Honored with Prestigious Leadership Award on October 1, 2026
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – The Council for Quality Growth will honor Egbert Perry, Chairman of The Integral Group, with its 37th annual Four Pillar Tribute and Award. Each year, the Council’s prestigious Four Pillar Award recognizes an outstanding individual who demonstrates the ‘Four Pillars’ of leadership – Quality, Responsibility, Vision, and Integrity – and exemplifies the Council’s mission of promoting balanced and responsible growth. The theme of this year’s Four Pillar Tribute, chosen by Perry, is “Integrity. Innovation. Impact.” – a reflection of the principles that have defined his work and leadership for more than three decades.
“Egbert’s leadership has not only transformed communities, but it has also helped shape the economic trajectory of our region and strengthened the quality of life for generations to come,” said Michael E. Paris, President & CEO of the Council for Quality Growth. “His thoughtful approach to development reflects the very best of what the Four Pillar Tribute represents.” Gerald McDowell, 2026 Chairman of the Council for Quality Growth and Executive Director of the ATL Airport CIDs, added, “The Council is proud to recognize the lasting impact of Egbert Perry this year. That impact extends well beyond individual projects, reflected in how Atlanta’s growth continues to reach more people and more communities.”
The Council for Quality Growth will present Egbert Perry with this award during the 2026 Four Pillar Tribute, presented by the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Delta Air Lines, Georgia Power, and Norfolk Southern, on October 1, 2026 at the Georgia World Congress Center.
“To be recognized by the Council for Quality Growth and this Four Pillar Award is both humbling and meaningful, and it reinforces the responsibility that comes with this work — to keep building with integrity, innovation, and impact,” said Perry. “There is still more to do, and more people to reach.”
Originally from Antigua and Barbuda, Egbert Perry immigrated to the U.S. during his high school years. He moved to Atlanta in early 1980 and began his now 47-year-and-counting career in real estate development. Today, he still serves as Chairman of The Integral Group, the company he co-founded in 1993.
Perry has spent the past three decades leading complex, large-scale developments that bring together economic growth and community stability across metro Atlanta and 20 other U.S. cities. He has led projects that have catalyzed investment, revitalized urban neighborhoods, and expanded access to housing and economic opportunity. He and The Integral Group are widely recognized for advancing a disciplined model of development that aligns long-term value with community outcomes.
Perry founded Integral with the mission to “create value in cities and (re)build the fabric of communities,” a mission that continues to guide the company’s work today. This approach was first demonstrated through the redevelopment of the former Techwood Homes ahead of the 1996 Olympic Games. Known today as Centennial Place, Perry and his partners set forth a vision for a mixed-use, mixed-income community, leveraging private capital alongside HOPE VI federal funding. Under their leadership, a distressed neighborhood became the first economically integrated community of its in kind in the United States.
This public-private partnership combined affordable and market-rate housing with a STEAM K-8 school, early childhood development, the Arthur M. Blank Family YMCA, student housing, and neighborhood-serving retail. The model became known nationally as the “Atlanta Model” and has since been replicated in hundreds of communities across the country. Perry has often pointed to Centennial Place as a defining example of how thoughtful development can shape outcomes well beyond a single site.
Today, The Integral Group is a 300-person organization with projects across the mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest and Western United States. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, with strong presence in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Denver. “Atlanta is fertile ground for entrepreneurship,” Perry said. “As a Black person starting a business here, Atlanta provides a sense of presence, scale, and relevance.”
Integral is a leading real estate development firm with a national footprint and a track record of executing complex public-private partnerships. The firm has played a central role in many of Atlanta’s most significant redevelopment efforts. Perry’s portfolio includes mixed-use and master planned communities, transit-oriented developments (TOD), and a full range of housing strategies, delivering more than 10,000 housing units over time. Notable projects include the redevelopment of the General Motors plant in Doraville, the Auburn Pointe Campus in Atlanta, Trinity Mills Station in Dallas, and a range of housing developments across multiple markets. Perry and Integral are also development partners on the historic office-to-residential conversion of 2 Peachtree and are working with Wellstar Health System on the redevelopment of the Atlanta Medical Center site.
Beyond his development work, Perry has been deeply engaged in civic and corporate leadership. He has served on numerous boards and advisory groups, contributing to economic development strategy, infrastructure planning, and policy discussions that have shaped growth across the nation. He served on the board of the $3.2 trillion mortgage giant Fannie Mae from 2008 to 2018, including five years as Chairman. He also serves or has served on the boards of Anywhere Real Estate Inc., University of Pennsylvania, the Atlanta Business League, the National Center for Civil & Human Rights, Central Atlanta Progress, and The Carter Center, and he currently serves as Chairman of Centennial Academy, a STEAM-focused charter school in Atlanta.
“Atlanta is a special place,” Perry said of the city he calls home and where he raised his family. “The diversity of offerings here is one of a kind – it can be fast, it can be slow, it can be light, it can be heavy, it can be concrete, it can be green – but there is something here for everyone.”
The Council for Quality Growth commends Egbert Perry’s commitment to thoughtful urban revitalization and the long-term work of building communities that are both economically strong and broadly accessible. Egbert Perry and The Integral Group have been consistent contributors to the progress reflected in quality of life, economic mobility, and long-term resilience across Atlanta’s communities. The Council is proud to continue its annual tradition of recognizing extraordinary leaders in our region and state by adding Egbert Perry to the prestigious list of Four Pillar Award honorees.
The 37th Annual Four Pillar Tribute is presented by the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Delta Air Lines, Georgia Power, and Norfolk Southern and will be held on October 1, 2026 at the Georgia World Congress Center. Sponsorship information is now available at www.FourPillarTribute.com.
About the Four Pillar Tribute:
For 37 years the Council for Quality Growth has paid tribute to an outstanding individual in the metro Atlanta region who exemplifies the Council’s mission of promoting balanced and responsible growth through an annual leadership tribute gala that recognizes the ‘Four Pillars’ of leadership – Quality, Responsibility, Vision, and Integrity.
The Four Pillar Award and Tribute is an unparalleled honor that allows the opportunity for the metro Atlanta region and State of Georgia to celebrate the recipient’s significant contributions to quality of life, community leadership, and economic development. The gala and award have come to be known as the highest honor bestowed for the contributions. The event provides a platform to align the honorees’ impacts on the region and the state with the Council’s ambitions and serves as a beacon of inspiration to perpetuate our economic prosperity. More information about the annual Four Pillar Tribute can be found at www.fourpillartribute.com.
Past recipients of the Council’s Four Pillar Award can be viewed here: https://www.fourpillartribute.com/about-the-award/
About the Council for Quality Growth:
The Council for Quality Growth is a trade organization that works to ensure continued growth and economic success for generations to come by providing advocacy, information, and education to its members. For 41 years, the Council has been committed to the mission of promoting balanced and responsible growth and is proactively involved in the formulation of policy and legislation critical to the growth and development industry. The Council addresses, head-on, strategic economic planning, infrastructure needs, and tough quality-of-life issues throughout the metro Atlanta region and state. Visit www.councilforqualitygrowth.org for more.
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