>> What role did mentors play in your career: My mentors played a significant role in my career development. I can honestly say I would not be where I am today without them. Bill Clay gave me my first opportunity to enter into the CRE industry by hiring me at SunState and then Jeff Cutberth brought me on at BDG. For the next 22 years, he [in particular] along with Rick Butler, Clay Chiappini, Toby Rogers, and many others have poured into my success. I have tried to take the best of each of them and make it a part of me. >> How has Phoenix changed and how do you see it changing in the future: Sometimes you are so deep in the forest it is difficult to see the change, but I would say that our biggest has been in the geopolitical arena due to the large influx of people moving to the Valley. Fortunately, some of the things that haven’t changed too much are the policies friendly to development and growth. My concern is that outside influences from that migration of views would jeopardize the CRE industry in the future. >>What would you be doing if you were not in your current field: I have always enjoyed working on cars, so I regularly said early in my career that I would probably have gone towards customization of cars had I not made it in the architectural field.
Otherwise, it is easy as cake! Just kidding, of course leadership is a constant challenge with varying degrees of difficulty, but extremely gratifying when you solve the issues at hand. >>What advice would you give to a DL who is early on in their career: It may sound cliché but, ‘stay true to yourself’. What I mean by that is make sure you get into a career you enjoy. Do not treat it as a “job.” You’re investing in the rest of your life. Don’t be afraid of change, but don’t do it for the sake of just changing. Embrace the challenges with passion. Remain committed to success. Lean on your relationships. You do not have to put people down to be lifted up. In fact, the more lifting you do the higher you will climb yourself. A good leader is always asking questions and learning from their mentors and training their own replacement while not being afraid of either. >> What are your passions outside of work: My faith, my family and having fun. I spend a considerable amount of time with my church and volunteering, but I also love to travel with my wife and anyone that wants to travel with us.
>> If you have kids, how has that changed the way you approach work: >>What is like working for your company: My children are both grown and out on their own. I have to say that I never imagined I would stay at one When our children were born, it didn’t just impact place for 10 years, much less 22. That is a testament the way we worked, but impacted the way we to the environment we have at BDG. Our diversity in saw the world. It amazes me how little value some the marketplace, opportunity to work on a vast array of people give life. Once I saw my son, I didn’t even project types, and architectural variety keep you on your watch TV the same way. I guess, when it came to toes and challenged regularly. Meanwhile the solidity work, I worked even harder to provide a good life of our place in the market and our brand gives security for my family. As I look back, the only regret is that in opportunities for career growth. maybe sometimes I worked too hard and forgot to slow down and enjoy their childhood more. You >>What is the most challenging part of your don’t get those times back. position: As the Principal in charge of operations at BDG, my >> Where do you see yourself in 10 years: biggest challenge is overcoming the employment Continuing to carry the BDG torch[!], but also shortages. The recent pandemic, in conjunction with the beginning to hand it off to the next generation at 2008 recession, has seemingly created a vacuum for BDG. We have a great group of individuals, but viable candidates. Candidates either lack the experiwe are even greater as the ‘BDG family’. I look ence and/or drive to work in our environment. Inflation forward to many more years working with this of salaries has made recruiting even more challenging crew and working in this market. Our relationships as under-qualified candidates have higher, more entitled throughout the Valley and the ability to practice expectations than reality. There’s a mentality that you great architecture should keep us all going for need to pay them before they will prove their worth vs years to come. There’s so much to look forward to. receiving compensation according to their value.
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THE DL DOWNLOAD 06
