Joel Marcus’ fortunes have risen with those of the life sciences industry. The executive chairman of life sciences builder Alexandria Real Estate Equities first bought laboratory space in Seattle in 1996, two years after founding the company when biotech was still emerging as an industry. Alexandria is now a publicly traded giant with a market cap of more than $30 billion, millions of square feet of lab space throughout the U.S. and a venture capital arm, Alexandria Venture Investments. And his Pasadena, Calif.-based company has helped make the Seattle area one of the country’s top ten biotech clusters.