Derek AnthonyA Distinct Leader with Innovative Approach

No work is too small or too big; if one does their work with passionate determination, one will eventually climb the ladder of success. Having such strong determination, DerekAnthony, worked at 22 jobs in his professional journey learning a valuable lesson in hindsight.Each of these lessons molded Derek into becoming the VicePresident of RealEstate at The WoodmontCompany. His tremendous corporate background in sales, marketing, operations, P&L, and negotiation skills are unlike anyone in the real estate business.

Woodmont specializes in every aspect of commercial real estate, including development, asset management, tenant representation, brokerage, construction supervision, and investment sales.

Grown up in North County of St. Louis suburbs, from cutting grass, to lifeguarding in high school, to stringing rackets in college, to help pay for bills, to buy an engagement ring, and then graduate from Missouri State in Marketing, Derek wasn’t sure what he wanted to pursue. Derek took his first job out of college at Woods Wire Products, Inc., which got him on the right foot having a wonderful friend and mentor, John Wiesehan Jr. John had 15 years with GE and acorporate structure background in Sales & Marketing and patiently got Derek to break out of his shell. Since then, Derek has taken every opportunity that knocked on his door utilizing his ability to put deals together, which has been with him even after the Woods Wire days.

Over the next 17 years, Derek managed, sold, and marketed Consumer Electronic products to big retailers and distributors throughout the United States with Coby, Uniden, X-10, Fulfillment Plus, GPX, and many more brands. Derek traveled the world, visited factories, learned about different cultures professionally, took his strengths of direct reports, and incorporated those traits into how he manages and leads his team today.

Speaking about his journey, Derek says, “Given all my experiences from operations, P&L’s, people skills, emotional intelligence, and how to read a room, makes commercial real estate no different. It just comes down to deal-making and figuring out how to get to the closing table and being sensitive to both sides views and having an open mind, while making the soft ask.”

Derek has come across many challenges in his journey. He remembers one company he worked for was dealing with a lawsuit of $64,000,000 for not paying royalties and the company was shutdown. Derek had to sign up as an Uber driver to take care of his two kids and wife, even though he had the highest-earning period of his life and a mortgage. He also applied for a warehouse job at Amazon and was

Vice President

offered the job, and a day later, The Woodmont Company called.

For the first two years, he worked fingers to the bone for 12 hours a day through cold calling and networking, getting every lead he could until he was satisfied with the prospect list. He notes, “Singles and Doubles are good starting points to get to the home runs, eventually. For the last four years, I still am still doubling my business year over year.”

Derek mentions that today’s real estate industry makes decisions driven by data, as much as financial. Data in terms of mobile tracking, demos, sales figures, and data at our fingertips helps the company make more of a finite decision. It can now track visitors and pull them for yesterday, last quarter, or last year, and compare the rankings of that same operator elsewhere in the market, city, town, or US.

Derek states that CRM’s are all over the place, and the biggest challenge in the real estate world is the schedule, follow-up, and staying on track on every deal. However, prospecting Landlords and Tenants there are several avenues to go down on each of side of the table. Derek wants to create a business plan and stay on track. He notes, “Google Earth and Google maps have been a savior for the CRE world and amazing tools that are free to help us with our job. There are smarter folks than me that will create the next best thing, but I look forward to embracing it and learning about it!”

Derek believes that touring a space with virtual reality could be the next disruptor; however, it all comes down to who pays for it. Woodmont is vetting new software partners all the time, only if the technology is efficient, productive, and cost-effective. Currently, Woodmont partners with CoStar, LoopNet, Placer AI, Retail Trac, and Site Seer for commercial real estate vetting and analysis.

Derek envisions himself conducting deals, making new friends, and growing his team to a more prominent national footprint in Nashville, Charlotte, Austin, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Denver, and others in the next ten years. He also expects organic growth or acquisition to always be on the table.

Derek advises aspiring entrepreneurs not to get too excited or too down; if you are doing the tedious, mediocre tasks to get you a deal, that is what it takes. He says, “No deal is ever done until it’s done, and the commission has been paid, and tenant is open. There will be uncontrollable substances or decisions made in the process, and you cannot let it get to you.”

Concluding his thoughts, Derek asserts, “It’s not that hard; you have to be disciplined in your everyday tasks and don’t get distracted. Remember, attitude is a choice. What gets measured gets improved.”

conomic development of any region is the central Epillar of growth in all areas and its sustainable growth depends on good leadership. City of Surprise is a striking instance of the above mentioned notion, as it is thriving under the leadership of Jeanine Jerkvoic.

A management professional, Jeanine serves as the Economic Development Directorat City of Surprise. Her 15 years of enriching experience in the economic development industry reflects her passion for economic development. She believes that the most important skillset to build is learning to embrace change and practices the same in her approach. Throughout her tenure at City of Surprise, Jeanine has enjoyed creating initiatives to change perceptions about the city! Inspired by her visionary approach, we at Insights Success caught up with Jeanine to learn more about her journey and her contribution to the dynamic economic development industry.

Below are the highlights of the interview:

I grew up in the Greater Phoenix West Valley in Glendale, Arizona and then graduated from Arizona State University (ASU). Early in my career, I had the great fortunate of completing a college internship for former US Senator John McCain and then working for a political action committee (PAC) called Campaign America. After graduating from ASU, I attended the London School of Economics in the UK to get a master’s degree. While in the UK, I interned with the US Embassy in London and soon after got a job with the designated UK-based European contractor for the Arizona Department of Commerce. It was there that I was exposed to the commercial trade and economic development profession and learned about it as a career option. I moved back to Arizona soon after and worked in the International Trade and Investment Division for the

Arizona Department of Commerce, but it was only when I accepted a position at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), where I worked for four years, that I can say I truly fell in love with the economic development profession.

I left GPEC in 2006 to work where I live today in the City of Surprise! I was the Economic Development Manager in Surprise for over four years but left for an exciting opportunity with the Canadian Consulate in Phoenix. Shortly after landing there, the Canadian government began to shutter several US trade and consular locations, and unfortunately, our office was one of them. I landed at the City of Glendale, Arizona – my hometown – but ultimately, I returned to the place I love and still call home, the City of Surprise! I have served as the Surprise Economic Development Director for more than seven years! The economic development profession is faced with constant economic, political and social changes, and while I have found this to be the greatest challenge, it is the greatest opportunity!

The mission of the City of Surprise Economic Development Department is: to accelerate an enhanced quality of life and a thriving business environment for the community through the facilitation of new employment opportunities and workforce development initiatives; the attraction of retail amenities; the promotion of entrepreneurship and small business growth; and the retention and expansion of local businesses. Until recently, the Surprise Economic Development Department has been primarily focused on strategic industry and business attraction in four key general sector areas: advanced manufacturing, innovation, medical excellence, and signature retail. Business retention, small business assistance, workforce development and infrastructure, while important, have generally been secondary for us until 2021. This focus will change a lot in 2022!

Moving ahead, it will be essential to pivot quickly and execute effective workforce development and infrastructure support programs that allow us to accommodate the current surge of commercial and residential growth.

I am a huge believer in servant leadership, and the City of Surprise has a culture that reflects and supports this. It is important to build a culture where people connect, relate to one another, and build one another up. As I mentioned before, economic development is a dynamic industry, and there can be considerable pressure to meet – or even exceed – expectations. This makes it critical to hire talented, likeable individuals who aren’t afraid to leave egos at the door, and I am lucky to work with the best team in the world.

Technology has made us all more virtually accessible, and the Surprise Economic Development Department is no exception. Our marketing has become more creative, especially as we have had to adapt and create meetings, events and even community tours of Surprise in a virtual format! During 2020, we had a prospective company unable to visit due to restrictions, and we were able to produce a custom virtual tour video for them, which impressed them! Additionally, we hosted a first-ever virtual Spring Training VIP event with over 200 businesses and development professionals online – and as a result, we now have a signature restaurant negotiating in our market after attending that!

The next tidal wave in the economic development profession is the workforce development issue. It will be everyone’s greatest challenge – and greatest opportunity. Over the next several months, we are aligning our workforce and industry partnerships with certifications and resources to help accelerate opportunities for dislocated workers, youth and remote professionals. Workforce development will become our primary focus in 2022.

The City of Surprise has incredible economic assets that are any economic development professional’s dream: a successful business incubator; an emerging downtown with a residential university – Ottawa University Arizona - as well as an award-winning Spring Training stadium; developable land; highway accessibility – and even rail! My future goals are to lead initiatives to create a thriving downtown, to ignite our untapped workforce potential, to support new infrastructure solutions, such as broadband development, and to attract more commercial and employment opportunities to our future growth area in North Surprise!

I am a big believer in just putting yourself out there and talking to people! My advice would be to reach out to a local economic developer like myself, have a virtual chat or a cup of coffee, and learn more about economic development as a career path.