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Letter from the President
By RYAN TERRELL, 2026 HAA President
HELLO AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! For those of you who don’t know me (yet), my name is Ryan Terrell, and I am honored to be your 2026 HAA President. I am a managing director for Greystar, and like most of you, I wear a bunch of different hats including leading our business development/client relations activities as well as supervising a good chunk of our Houston portfolio. I love the constantly evolving nature of our business, I love chasing new business opportunities and new relationships, as well leading my team. I’m one of those people that actually enjoys going to work every day, primarily because I love the people I work with on a daily basis. They are my family and family – both at work and at home – is very important to me. It’s the only thing I love more than Friday afternoons on a golf course with a cold beer and Morgan Whalen singing in the background! I was happy to sit down with the ABODE staff at the Greystar offices, so you can learn more about my family and how I got here starting on Page 32. Making Mentorship a Goal One of my goals for this year is to help our family of apartment professionals find or become a mentor. Like most reading this article, there is no way I would have gotten to where I am without others investing in me. We have some amazing leaders and really strong senior level talent across this industry, and we have so many young people who are yearning to grow. We must connect those people, to build young leaders in both their personal lives and their lives within their companies, as well as their volunteer lives with HAA. If we don’t take the time to invest in the next generation of leaders, we risk the type of leaders we produce. A Night Out to Celebrate So, let’s start out the new year by building new connections and seeing old friends while we lasso a good time! Join our multi “family” – myself, the HAA Executive Committee, Board of Directors and your fellow members – for the 2026 Installation Gala on January 23rd. Dust off your boots and don your bowties (yes, I will YouTube “how to tie a bowtie”) for an elegant western night at the Post Oak Hotel. I’ll be “gussied up” and waiting for you, whiskey in hand. I expect to see you all on the dance floor! See Page 15 for details. ABODE Moves Forward Another way HAA makes connections is through this magazine and we are making a big move in 2026 to meet the needs of our changing membership. After receiving the results of our readership survey, ABODE will pivot to printing event editions four times a year with digital issues continuing publication monthly online. Connect to ABODE every month from the home page at www.haaonline.org (and don’t miss our photo galleries from events there too), watch your email for links, and access new and past archived issues at https://issuu.com/haa_abode or the QR code at right. Follow us online and watch your mail in January, March, August and November for our 2026 print issues. Thank You 2025 HAA Volunteers Finally, I would like to recognize the great work of 2025 President Shelley Watson, the Executive Committee and our hard-working volunteers. Let’s build on their success for 2026. NAA has now made it official: HAA is the largest apartment association in the country. Come join our growing family. Watch your email and future ABODEs online for more.
www.haaonline.org
January 2026
ABODE
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