Mark L. Fine is one of Southern Nevada's preeminent real estate developers. His more than 40-year legacy includes an impressive list of the Las Vegas Valley's most successful and landmark developments.

After graduating from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration with an emphasis in real estate, Fine started his career in New York City working on Wall Street in the real estate finance business. He moved to Las Vegas in 1973.

At that time, Las Vegas was a sleepy desert town with little growth and no true planned communities. As president of American Nevada, Fine guided the development and growth of Green Valley, Las Vegas' first large, master-planned community, for 17 years. During Fine's tenure, Green Valley was rated one of the nation's fastest-growing communities. Today, it is home to more than 75,000 people.

For Fine, it was important to not just build homes, but create communities. To create this environment at Green Valley, Fine drew inspiration from Shaker Heights, the neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio, where he grew up. Open spaces, parks, public art, schools and libraries have always been priorities in Fine's developments. His public art program, which featured outdoor sculpture, was embraced by the community and throughout Green Valley and was rated "Best of the Best" by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

After developing Green Valley, Fine became an instrumental part of establishing Summerlin. During his four years as president of the Summerlin division of The Howard Hughes Corporation, Fine was responsible for launching the master-planned community, which became the nation's fastest-selling community. Today Summerlin is home to more than 85,000 people.

Fine created Mark L. Fine & Associates in 1976 and Fine Properties in 2005 with his son, Jeffrey Fine, to focus on the development of unique, high-end retail and office projects.

Fine believes it is imperative to be a contributing member to the communities he creates. He formerly served on the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority and the Andre Agassi Foundation Board of Directors. He was the past president of the board of Class! Publications and a national trustee of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

Fine is a dedicated advocate for quality education. In addition to his work as chairman of the UNLV Foundation and former chairman of the UNLV Research Foundation Board of Directors, Fine is the founding director of the Clark County Business School Partnership Program. He has been active in the Clark County School District for more than 30 years. In 2007 he adopted Booker Empowerment Elementary School. In recognition of his long-term dedication to CCSD, an elementary school was namedin his honor in fall 2009.

Fine was a member of the Urban Land Institute for more than 30 years and was a founder of the Young President's Organization, trustee emeritus and former executive committee member of the Nevada Development Authority, and a former member of the Nevada Tax Commission. He has been a founding director of two community banks, Continental National Bank and Nevada First Bank.

The Nevada Business Journal named Fine one of Nevada's Top 50 Leaders and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce awarded him the Community Achievement Award in Real Estate and Land Development. He also was selected by In Business Las Vegas as one of Southern Nevada's Most Influential Businessmen, and was chosen as a member of the "Vegas Dozen" by the Nevada Cancer Institute.