1. Tell us a little more about yourself. Where are you from originally? Where did you go to school?
I grew up in Lake Forest, IL and went to school there all through high school. Much of my growing up time centered around playing or watching sports. I played football, basketball, and baseball depending on the season, and at times also played golf and volleyball. Both my mother and father went to Northwestern University along with some other family members, and so my father took me to all the Northwestern football and basketball games growing up with his season tickets to both. Sports has always been a big part of my life and still is today. After high school, I chose to attend USC in southern California for college and ended up walking-on the USC Trojans football team. During my four years there, the USC team was highly successful and won multiple national championships and Heisman trophies. It was a memorable experience to say the least.
2. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? Hobbies, etc.
Much of my spare time is spent with my wife and raising three children. We have a 6-year-old daughter, a 3-year-old son, and a 3-month-old baby girl, so we stay busy. School events and sports leagues take up a lot of our time, and for fun we enjoy hanging out with other family friends and their kids on the weekends. Personally, I am a news junkie of all kinds and enjoy staying informed of everything via Twitter and LinkedIn. I also follow college and professional sports pretty closely.
3. What do you like most about the relocation industry?
The thing I like most about the relocation industry is that there are no prerequisites for success. There are no special degrees required, no formal training offered prior to entry, and most of us would say the industry is "unknown" to the larger public and that we "fell" into it. I love all this about the industry. Anyone can find success as long as they have a positive attitude, work diligently, and find their unique value to specialize in. With so many specialty roles needed in the industry, I think there's opportunity for really anyone to find success.
4. What do you think about our Personal Approach?
Any service based business is all about personal approach to the customer or client, so I'm 100% aligned with this mentality. A service provider must give their customers personal attention and respect and allow there to be room for customization based on their needs. If your daily goal is anything but keeping your clients happy by giving them the services they need and making them feel important (which they are), you won't last long as a service provider.
5. Best meal you've ever eaten or your favorite cuisine?
Favorite cuisine is pizza, hands down. Thin crust, deep dish, gourmet, quick service....anything. I could eat pizza 3 times a week.
7. How did your experience with American Escrow and Closing prepare you for your new role at NRI?
Working at AECC was a great experience for me because it educated me on the detailed financial and compliance side of relocation, which I believe is a core baseline to have. Knowing that process along with its impact on policy development and benefit outlines will give me a great starting point to understanding the process and nuances of actually coordinating and delivering the benefits as NRI the RMC does. Additionally, I was given great trust and leeway in developing my own management and strategic style from the executive team at AECC, which I'll forever be grateful for. The style and vision I've been able to develop has me very confident and excited to begin my role at NRI.
8. What are you looking forward to learning/experiencing at NRI?
I'm looking forward to learning the details of how NRI operates as an independent RMC in the industry and helping put together a collective vision of what the future of NRI should look like. Additionally, I can't wait to meet every NRI employee and get to know them at both a professional and personal level. The most important assets at any company are its people and I'm looking forward to getting to know them and helping them be positioned to succeed.
9. Cubs or White Sox?
Cubs fan all the way.
