Founder and CEO of Harwood International

Gabriel Barbier-Mueller is the founder and CEO of Harwood International in Dallas, Texas. Born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland, he moved to Dallas in 1979.

Founded in 1988 by Gabriel Barbier-Mueller, Harwood International is a global real estate developer and value-add investor with offices and projects in select niche markets in Beverly Hills, Dallas, Sunnyvale’s Gold Coast, Geneva, London’s West End, Paris, and Zurich’s Golden Triangle. The full service real estate company covers every aspect of real estate acquisition, development, construction, and management of both commercial and residential high-rise properties. Harwood International’s operating philosophy for its properties is founded upon sound capital structures, energy conservation, cutting edge technology, beautiful green spaces, long-term ownership and management, and elegant modern design built to last. In addition, each development features museum quality art from the renowned Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller collections, including one of the largest samurai art collections in the world.

In addition, to the growing portfolio of properties and development projects from London to Beverly Hills, Gabriel’s signature development is the award-winning district of Harwood, Uptown Dallas’ newest and fastest growing district. Home to such companies as Amegy Bank, The Boston Consulting Group, HollyFrontier Corporation, Frost Bank, Harwood International, Jones Day, MoneyGram International, McGuire, Craddock & Strother, and Rolex, the six-building development by Harwood International currently showcases more than 1.5 million square feet of premier class office, and 330,000 square feet of exclusive high-rise living, retail space, and garden cafes. The park-like campus features multiple pocket parks and rooftop gardens, cafes, bars, restaurants, an art museum, and lobbies filled with various art collections of museum quality artifacts from around the world. Now a 17-city-block district, Harwood will continue to grow to satisfy the demand of existing and new customers in 17 phases to include over seven million square feet of condominium, office, and retail. Coming soon are two new phases with additional office, residential, retail and green spaces.

Through his development of commercial headquarters for various companies – including Centex, Jones Day, Rolex buildings in Dallas, Lititz, PA, Beverly Hills, and Paris among others – he has worked with such acclaimed architects as, James Cheng, Michael Graves, Tom Wright and Ricardo Legoretta, and is acquainted with many other architects such as Philip Johnson, Richard Rogers, Will Bruder and Christian de Portzamparc.

Mr. Barbier-Mueller’s projects have been published in the Master Series of Architects book series, and have won numerous awards, such as the Los Angeles Beautification Award, a national landscaping award from the Urban Land Institute for the International Center Gardens, national awards from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Preservation Achievement Award, and the City of Dallas Urban Design award.

Fluent in French, German and English, and with a working knowledge of Spanish, Mr. Barbier-Mueller has established and maintained a strong European and American partner base of large institutions and individuals.

Mr. Barbier-Mueller serves as Board President of the Association of the Friends of the Barbier-Mueller Museum, is a member of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is on the Board of Trustees of the Dallas Museum of Art, and is the Legacy Chairman for the Business for the Arts.  He also serves as Honorary Consul of Switzerland for North Texas and is serving on the boards of SMU’s Cox School of Business, an Executive Council Member of the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and past Board Member of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin (’04 – ‘07). Gabriel is a former member of the Dallas-Lone Star Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and an active member of both World President’s Organization (WPO) and Director of Chief Executive Organization (CEO).  He holds an Executive MBA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.