Shortly after graduating from The University of Georgia, I joined Ackerman & Co. in Buckhead and at that time, one of the largest Commercial Real Estate firms in Atlanta. Coincidentally, this was at exactly the same moment IBM introduced the original personal computers for business use. Prior to beginning in office leasing brokerage, I was responsible for determining how the Brokerage Division of Ackerman could utilize these machines and ween off the legacy Texas Instruments 990 mini-computer. Thus was born my intense interest in computers and collaborative technologies. As an office leasing broker, I concentrated on assisting US-based technology companies as they opened regional office locations in metropolitan Atlanta.
After a few years, I was recruited to Peachtree City Development Corporation (PCDC) for an opportunity to work in both leasing and real estate development. PCDC was the master developer for an over 10,000 acre "planned city" just south of Atlanta. In the few years I worked for PCDC, I was part of a commercial real estate team responsible for developing and leasing a Class A office building, a 250,000² retail center (anchored by Kroger) and several million square feet of industrial buildings. (Side Note: We also built a World-Class shooting range for Trap, Skeek and Sporting Clays - including a spectacular High House.)
In addition to my real estate responsibilities, I also designed, engineered & implemented the first Novell Local Area Network at any real estate firm in Atlanta. That project was the catalyst that inspired me to leave commercial real estate and start my own technology integration firm in 1987.
In the thirty years since founding Southeastern Network & Printing Systems (SNAPS), I was fortunate enough to surround myself with many smart people and a team dedicated to solving telephony integration challenges between mainframes, minicomputers and local area networks that hadn't been experienced in those days before the internet. We grew SNAPS to be one of the largest fax server integrators in the United States and had both the opportunity & privilege to work with the C-Suites of many of the largest Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, Mortgage & Healthcare companies in the United States.
In 2008, my brother and I started a software development division within SNAPS and began solving document management and workflow interoperability problems for our healthcare clientele. The company was renamed to Holon Solutions and in 2011 we brought in an angel/private equity firm to help fund our growth into the healthcare space. After four equity & debt rounds, in 2014 we decided that the time had come to try something new.
We left Holon to start a new firm solving problems for law enforcement, military and private gun ranges. We developed, built, patented (US Patent No 9631906) and brought to market, the first Internet of Things (IoT), electronic target system, essentially gamifying the process of split-second decision-making for threat/non-threat target training. The Plinker Electronic Target System was a tremendously rewarding project but the volatility of the market (which ebbs & flows with whichever political party is currently in office) made forecasting stable revenues difficult. In essence, we couldn't make as much money as we wanted without bringing in investment capital - and we had just gotten off that train. It wasn't a fun ride.
So, after bouncing around from airport-to-airport, from hotel-to-hotel and from rental car-to-rental car, for most of my working career, I've decided to get off the airplane, ride in my own car and sleep in my own bed from now on. I've returned to my original roots of real estate, But this time around I bring thirty years of technology marketing experience and an understanding of how the high tech tools can help clients achieve their goals on time and on budget - and a whole lot easier than the analog ways of the past.
I work with other C-Suite executives who are too busy to buy new homes and sell existing homes while, at the same time trying to run their respective businesses. I work as a Residential Real Estate Chief of Staff - a trusted senior executive - who not only understands the demands of running a business but also understands the importance real estate finance for self-employed entrepreneurs, construction and building intricacies, school districts and market timing.
This is going to be fun.