Why did you decide to come to Leeds?
CU Leeds offered a full-time MBA with a real estate concentration, smaller class size versus other programs, and desire to try living in a different part of the country鈥攁nd Colorado was high on the list.
What is one thing you learned at Leeds that you will never forget?
Different perspectives are not wrong, just different. If I keep an open mind, I can learn from those different perspectives.
Tell us about a particular professor or mentor that influenced you while you were at Leeds.
Byron Koste and Katie Latier worked tirelessly to help open up doors for my real estate-focused classmates and me.听
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Gerry Engle, my real estate mentor, coached me and encouraged me while I was as CU and continues to be a friend over 10 years later.
Where has life taken you since you graduated Leeds?
Life has taken my wife Kelley and I from our small, married housing apartment in Boulder, where Kelley worked full time as I was in the MBA program, to a small family farm in Michigan where Kelley and I are raising our three daughters, two horses, 12 chickens, and one cat.听
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I am working for our family manufacturing business (Orbitform), serving on the board of a few other manufacturing businesses, managing some real estate assets, and also doing a significant amount of investing via our family office.
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We are very blessed.
What is one piece of advice/best practice that has stuck with you throughout your career?
Do what you say you are going to do.听
What advice would you give to anyone interested in pursuing a career in your professional field?
Take more risks than you think you should. Volunteer for the difficult assignments. Go see: When you are not sure of what is going on, go and see for yourself what is going on. Don't assume; just go and see for yourself.听
What do you miss most about Boulder?
Hiking and CU football games.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
I'm grateful for the friends I made at CU. Especially for Scott, John, Eric, Mark and Kevin. Remember our sport coat Fridays? Remember our GREA trips? What a bunch of nerds.听
What is your title and company
Director of Strategy, Orbitform