Boss Talks | Elevating ALL the Bosses of the Multifamily Industry

Who is Ty?   Ty started her journey as a leasing professional and went up the ranks to become a property manager, and continued to progress to the point of now serving as the Executive Director for the Arkansas Apartment Association. Ty brings over 16 years of experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consultation, training, education, and coaching in leadership, management, and other p...

Who is Devan? Devan began her student housing career in 2014 while attending the University of Kansas. She started her student housing career with Campus Apartments and PeakMade Real Estate. With them, she took on many roles, from leasing agent to national leasing specialist and new development property manager. Over the course of her career, she has gained experience in more than 30 Student Housi...

Who is Libby Hollan? Libby Hollan (she/her) is a Senior Talent Acquisition Advisor at Greystar based in Seattle, WA. Libby facilitates the talent acquisition process for on-site roles in Washington State and Idaho. She has over five years of high-volume recruiting experience in the multifamily, supported living, and LGBTQ+ mental health non-profit industries. Libby is a passionate advocate for ent...

Who is Adam Pittenger? Adam Pittenger is the Founder & CEO of Moved, the first automated onboarding and offboarding platform for multifamily real estate. He started Moved because after moving 9 times in 10 years, he felt moving into multifamily communities was incredibly stressful and antiquated - for both residents and property management. Moved delivers easy-to-use software to automate the resid...

Who is Charles Thompson?  Charles is a father of 4 and has been selling in some shape or form for the last 7 years. He’s been in sales formally for the last 4 years and in the multifamily space for one year. He sees sales as serving and loves the fact that sales enable him to create and build meaningful relationships with a myriad of individuals. Charles broke into sales from a non-traditional pat...

Who is Tadros ‘Teddy’ Abdelmalek?  Tadros (Teddy) Abdelmalek is the National Director of Business Development for Campus Life and Style (CLS), part of the parent company Vesper Holdings, which is the 6th largest owner of student housing in the United States. As an experienced property management and student affairs professional, Teddy holds a Master of Higher Education with an emphasis in student...

Who is Victoria Cowart? Victoria Cowart, CPM, NAAEI Faculty, is the Director of Education & Outreach for PetScreening. Previously, she was a direct multi-family industry member with extensive experience providing management and oversight for multifamily housing communities (conventional & subsidized), mobile home communities, and HOAs. She is a property management instructor and a proud graduate o...

Who is Lori Agudo? She started in property management 15 years ago. After stumbling upon the industry while looking for an apartment, she began working as a Leasing Consultant. Lori was very ambitious with her career path. She took multifamily courses through the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando, which sparked her passion for multifamily education. In 2016 she was asked to teach her first...

Who is Robert Velez?  In August 2001, Robert joined the U.S. Army, serving in Active Duty for 4 and a half years, and was deployed in 2 separate tours to Iraq. In between military tours, he had a security job. Once he finished his contract with the military, he began a journey that has led him to his current position; a result of 10 years of apartment industry experience. In 2009, a great friend a...

01:26 - Meet Vanessa Grayson, business manager at Lincoln Property Company in Kansas City, Missouri 04:48 - How Vanessa got started in multifamily 06:39 - Working hard and living strong with a support system 08:38 - Things I’ve learned over my 8 years in leasing and multifamily 17:00 - Looking backward to measure personal growth 21:01 - Enjoy your work, but stay professional 23:33 - More lessons t...

01:14 - Meet Steven Toro, property manager and improv comedian 12:02 - The nonlinear path of multifamily and property management 13:21 - Employee entrepreneurship 20:06 - 3 Community Boss questions It’s such a joy to interview Bosses on our Community Boss podcast, and today’s guest is no exception! Meet Steven Toro: former actor, model, and comedian; previous multifamily and student property manag...

01:51 - Meet Alicia Holmes, from Edward Rose & Sons 05:54 - Multifamily marketing, training, and e-learning 08:11 - Shoe rooms and vacation closets 12:09 - E-trainings: conflict resolution and face-to-face interactions 15:22 - The 2 Pillars of marketing 19:30 - Consistency, Connection, Content 36:21 - Our 3 favorite Community Boss questions In addition to owning 171 pairs of shoes and planning to...

01:56 - Meet Joelis Barandica-Rodriguez, Regional Education Director for Con Am 05:18 - Bridging the statistical gap for Latinas in Multifamily 07:37 - Barriers and perspectives 12:06 - Diversity vs inclusion 17:14 - How to get involved with Latinas in Property Management 23:04 - How to connect with Joelis this year 26:03 - Our 3 Community Boss questions: community, food, and coffee Before we jump...

02:23 - Meet Eric Orsbon, Independent Asset Manager 04:41 - Why Eric likes student housing (hint: it’s fun and life-changing!) 06:32 - Working with your spouse 8:40 - 10 tips for a career in the multifamily housing industry 09:26 - Tip #1: Keep learning. 11:55 - Tip #2: Where do you want to grow? 12:28 - Tip #3: What’s your career path? 14:57 - Tip #4: Train ‘em up. 15:45 - Tip #5: Numbers don’t l...

01:36 - Meet Bo Schneider, Tailwind Group (2022 Top Innovator Award) 05:50 - From business student to property manager 07:43 - Taking risks: is it worth it? 10:07 - Property management is property management 11:13 - Passion for leadership and mentorship 16:32 - The challenges of property management (especially tenant laws) 20:56 - Celebrate your people and mark it on your calendar 22:04 - 3 Boss Q...

00:28 - Meet Irving Lopez Gallarza, Community Manager with Centerspace 03:34 - Irving’s biggest piece of advice, plus a few bonus suggestions 07:17 - The Great Resignation in the multifamily industry 10:33 - Flexibility in the workplace 15:56 - Prop tech teamwork, innovation, and accepting change 23:00 - The power of a birthday card 25:30 - Ask your mentor for help 30:29 - Last nugget of wisdom, p...

01:00 - Meet Bridget Foley, Director of Multifamily Partnerships at Move for Hunger 06:35 - How to partner with Move for Hunger 07:41 - The reality of food waste in the USA 09:01 - Beyond just multifamily: food drives and movers 10:31 - Help your multifamily property reduce food waste 16:18 - Bridget’s benefits of working in multifamily 18:40 - Multifamily industry mentors, conferences, certificat...

01:06 - Meet Amber Smalls, Regional Manager at Redstone Residential Student Housing  04:56 - Comparing and contrasting student housing with multifamily housing  06:10 - Scaling from a Leasing Agent to a property management partnership 07:34 - Joining support groups, prioritizing PTO, and training your replacement 12:58 - Lessons for success 14:46 - The career-changing impact of mentors 23:07 - Fin...

02:08 - Meet Wheeliam Puckeet, multifamily maintenance and service manager 09:41 - More than just a maintenance man: awards and recognition 11:45 - The life-changing impact of mentorship 13:11 - Wheeliam’s rock-solid team philosophies 14:05 - His personal missions, values, and philosophies 16:40 - How the pandemic upgraded the status of the service team 25:07 - Launching his multifamily service te...

00:30 - Meet Laura Kitts with Housing Connector and WMFHA 01:33 - Learning the basics of sales with Comcast—while being a single mom 07:21 - Transitioning to the multifamily industry 08:35 - Board member of Washington Multi-Family Housing Association (WMFHA) 11:15 - Funny story time: door-to-door sales woman and local commercial 13:35 - Moving to Zumper, a prop tech startup 16:38 - Being driven by...

01:09 - Meet William Butler with Empower PMC 04:32 - Practical apartment leasing best practices  05:59 - His Book RELEASING: A Counterintuitive Approach To Apartment Leasing 07:05 - Why you need these counterintuitive tactics 11:05 - The biggest area where you can fix (and improve!) your multifamily leasing  13:47 - William’s multifamily conversion ratio — it’s high! 17:15 - The not-so-secret form...

01:39 - Meet Marcel Thomas, General Manager & High Priestess of Property Management 05:12 - What is The Turn in Student Housing?  10:14 - Time-saving integrations 12:17 - Student Housing Professionals Facebook Group 14:33 - Celebrating a 60% renewal rate 17:47 - Life in Las Vegas vs other schools 22:22 - Leadership philosophies 27:24 - Final questions: Building community, dinner guests, and a cupp...

01:00 - Meet Nathan LeMesurier, co-founder of Community Boss 03:50 - What Nathan really did fresh out of high school  06:16 - How joining his condo board changed his life—and career 09:02 - The early evolution of Parking Boss 13:59 - Our value of self-funded growth and vision 17:51 - Enter Covid…and our amenity solution 23:32 - The missing puzzle piece: mapping 27:54 - The future of CB 29:15 - Who...

01:03 - Meet Jennifer Carter from Fetch 04:25 - Ding dong! The necessity of package management 07:26 - How Fetch benefits residents and onsite teams 07:47 - Utilizing community maps to aid deliveries 09:37 - The benefits of being an onsite team member 10:44 - Why you (and I) need a business mentor  12:44 - Managing a team means making mistakes and learning from them 16:46 - Navigating the choppy w...

01:18 - Meet Dwayne Bryant from Greystone Property Management 02:35 - Framework for leadership: 4 D’s and 3 E’s 06:30 - A love of leasing and teaching 08:10 - The Value of mentorship 10:00 - The 3 E’s as a Boss 13:22 - Perception and reality 16:55 - How do you value yourself? How do you perceive yourself? 18:25 - 2 more E’s 21:44 - Where is Dwayne headed next? When you first meet Dwayne, chances a...