The PHA industry is special. There’s a level of caring and personal commitment to helping others that rises a notch in comparison with other real estate verticals. Exhibit A: Grant Burnham. Grant joined Yardi a few years ago. He not only brought with him decades’ of PHA and affordable housing finance experience but also a positive attitude and a genuine appreciation for the work PHAs do for their communities Let’s find out more about Grant, Yardi’s PHA clients and the company’s solutions. Grant, where do you call home? GB: Hello! I am a Colorado native, and my home base is Yardi’s Denver office. What hobbies do you enjoy in your free time? GB: I am an avid pool player. I have been playing in leagues for almost 15 years and even got to participate in team world championship tournaments three separate times in Las Vegas. I’m always up for a game or two (or more) whenever I get a chance! How long have you been with Yardi? What is your current position? GB: I’ve been with Yardi since February 2020. My role is a team leader and solutions consultant. That means I work with a great group of sales professionals dedicated to helping housing agencies solve challenges and serve their residents, landlords and participants with innovative Yardi technology. How did you get started in the PHA/affordable housing industry? GB: My journey in the housing industry began in 2008 when I joined a local PHA in the Denver area. I was there for about three years before I accepted a position with the Colorado Housing and Finance Agency in 2011. I remained with CHFA until 2020 when I began working at Yardi. Throughout my career, my roles in the housing industry have included Occupancy Specialist,...

Yardi’s global offices make essential contributions to property management and investors worldwide. Today, meet Sy Pham, associate technical manager on the Voyager Client success team out of the Santa Ana office. Meet Sy Pham Sy Pham just marked his first anniversary at Yardi in August. He has a passion for problem-solving and working with clients, so he’s greatly enjoyed this role. Pham wanted to work for a company where he could tackle complex problems but work with clients using Yardi’s products so he could see the impact he was making. “The last year with Yardi has been everything I’ve been looking for in a company,” says Pham. Pham spends his hours on client calls and training. When not on calls, he is researching questions that came up or preparing for the next call. He also regularly meets with his team to strategize on problems or do team-building exercises, making his experience at Yardi remarkable. Problem-solving Skills Working with commercial clients has been a challenge for Pham yet rewarding. He enjoys the people at Yardi, both internally and client-facing. He finds Yardi as a workplace that challenges him with tough problems, but the people he has met along the way make it all worth it. “I have never experienced a work culture so dedicated to helping clients and each other. It’s been fun collaborating with individuals from different teams and being able to solve problems together. I love how I can introduce myself to anyone and ask if they can lend a second opinion on a difficult case. The overwhelming support I always receive is inspiring. I hope one day I can lend a hand to the new folks that join like others has done for me,” said Pham. In his personal and work life,...

#TeamYardi had a wicked good time celebrating Fall and spooky season this year. The Atlanta office festivities started with a costume contest. The winners of the contest were as follows: Best: Static Shock costume, Amber Brown Funniest: Burger costume, Jonathan Singleton Scariest: Dr. Facilier costume, Gerald Valentine Most Creative: Frida Kahlo costume, RheaAnn Koppelman Best Group: Mario Party costume, Ciro Vellino, Tyler Edwards and Spencer Hardiman Those who participated brought some fun to the office and turned a typical Wednesday into an enchanted Wednesday. For lunch, three food trucks were provided with various foods for the office—Yaardie Eats, The Mad Greek and The Loaded Taco. Games were provided, and even a special guest was in attendance after making his rounds at the Atlanta HBCU scholarship programs Yardi supports. Jay Shobe, senior vice president, was impressed with Georgia’s southern hospitality. At headquarters in Santa Barbara, the office had a Fall Fest for Yardi employees and their families. The afternoon consisted of a pumpkin carving contest with pizza and gelato. The kids got dressed up and enjoyed a corn maze with trick or treating. What fun office collaborations for the end of...

Yardi’s global offices make essential contributions to property management and investors worldwide. Today, we introduce John Napolitano, a part of the Residential Practice Team 3 of the Long Island, NY office. Meet John Napolitano John Napolitano has worked as an associate technical account manager for just over a year. Napolitano spends his days assisting in client cases and helping teammates however much he can. “I love the atmosphere of being a Yardi employee. Everyone is always welcoming and helpful,” says Napolitano. “I have an amazing team!” Napolitano appreciates how Yardi does a great job incorporating teamwork into the day-to-day work. There are many resources and different individuals with different skill sets. Everyone is helpful and knowledgeable in their field. “We are encouraged to expand our Yardi Network and reach out to people from different teams. I love being able to reach out to people from all over the country and build those lasting relationships,” said Napolitano. In addition to teamwork, Napolitano describes Yardi as a second home after building lasting relationships with coworkers almost immediately. “Everyone wants to see you succeed and lend a helping hand when needed. I know how intimidating it can be for new hires, and I would like to be able to help however much I can in their transition with us,” shares Napolitano. Napolitano and his team recently volunteered and hosted a charity event for Yardi-supported nonprofit Island Harvest. They packed hundreds of boxes of food for people in need. “I love that we could organize an event like this and do our part for our community. It inspired me to do these events on my own time and more frequently,” says Napolitano. Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. Animal Enthusiast Outside...

Yardi’s global offices make essential contributions to property management and investors worldwide. Today, meet Alondra Valenzuela, Yardi technical analyst from the Dallas office. Meeting Alondra Valenzuela Alondra Valenzuela has been at Yardi for just over two years. While each day differs from the previous, every day brings an exciting new challenge that requires her to think outside the box. From utilizing data to digging into other applications to locate the cause of a client’s deteriorating performance, Valenzuela assists with getting many clients access back into the systems. “I love the challenge of learning something new every day and having the opportunity to utilize new tools that I can bring to my team. I also love the occasional rush of adrenaline when getting a critical item thrown my way and having the opportunity to relieve our clients,” says Valenzuela. Valenzuela enjoys the openness of everyone she works beside. In her two years of working at Yardi, she’s never felt alone, and the willingness of everyone who helps brings great relief, knowing she is not alone and someone is always there to help get a solution to our clients. “Yardi is a place that will allow you to grow in whichever direction you feel best. There is such a wide range of opportunities to explore at Yardi that you can always find something new to learn and do,” Valenzuela said. Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. Climbing Mountains When Valenzuela is not working, she enjoys spending time in nature. When she cannot get to the mountains in Colorado, she enjoys health and fitness in other areas. She cycles through either the gym, muay Thai or rock climbing. “I like adrenaline-packed adventures, which is why I love dealing with high-pressure...

Yardi’s global offices make essential contributions to property management and investors worldwide. Meet Ben Smith, senior bill pay specialist with the Yardi Bill Pay Express team. Meet Ben Smith Ben Smith started his career at Yardi just after graduating from college a little over a year ago. Smith spends his days working payment exceptions and making payments online for utilities. He also researches to determine the eligibility of vendors to go live on the BPX service as well as bring vendors live to it. He collaborates with other teams to resolve payment issues they might discover and continues to build a stronger foundation for this service. “I enjoy that this service is something uncommon in the industry currently. It feels that we are doing our best to improve the overall flow of payment processing for both Yardi and clients. There is so much to learn about what Yardi does, and I love that it’s easy to reach out and learn about products and services totally unrelated to mine,” says Smith. Wealth of Knowledge Smith finds the work culture at Yardi to have a good balance between teamwork and independence. “Our team probably works more independently than most others in the division, but that doesn’t prevent us from collaborating with each other or other teams,” Smith shares. The work environment has always been opening and welcoming for Smith. Yardi is a company that continues to take care of its employees while being a leading force in the industry. “There are plenty of opportunities for all walks of life, and there is a wealth of knowledge to learn. I can feel at ease knowing I’ll be able to provide for my family and see myself spending a long time with the company,” shared Smith. Yardi is...

What’s the best way for a real estate investment management firm to give clients the information they want when they want it? We asked Joe Biddle, director of information technology for Yardi client ABR Capital Partners, about ABR’s experience with the Yardi Investment Suite. Joe, can you tell us a little about ABR? We’re based in Baltimore and co-invest with clients and joint venture partners in properties across the U.S. Our portfolio consists of 7 million square feet of commercial space and 557 million square feet of multifamily units that comprise $1 billion of assets under management. What issues did you encounter with your previous accounting systems? We used a basic accounting package for property management and a homegrown investment management system. A major problem was the repeated manual data entry needed to transfer information between them. This labor became a drag on our limited staff resources. And clients seeking information on their investments had to request it from us via phone or email and wait for a response. Our clients and team needed, and deserved, a new software solution for accessing information. So, you adopted the Yardi Investment Suite. How did it remedy these problems? The Yardi Investment Suite replaced multiple manually executed operations – performance return calculations, joint venture partner reports, capital tracking, and information delivery to clients and employees – with a single connected automation solution that saves us substantial staff time and effort. Please explain how integrating accounting and investment management within the Yardi Investment Suite improves your customer service. With accounting data seamlessly flowing to the investment system, we can immediately communicate new opportunities to investors and prospects, customize investor reporting, and automate capital calls and distributions. This process is much faster and more accurate than using spreadsheets or...

Yardi’s global offices make essential contributions to property management and investors worldwide. Today, we introduce Zaria Lane, technical account manager for Yardi Breeze Premier, out of the Dallas office. Meet Zaria Lane Zaria Lane marked her sixth anniversary with Yardi this past July. She started her career at Yardi in the call center, then moved to various departments before working with Breeze Premier in 2019, working from associate technical manager to implementation technical account manager. Lane ensures she is organized and prepared to accomplish her daily goals. “Organizing helps me stay on my toes and feel more confident when presenting information to my clients. I also love to prepare for every scenario before I meet with clients,” said Lane. Welcoming Work Environment Lane enjoys the inclusion of Yardi and having a welcoming feeling from all she has worked with. “I enjoy how the company creates events where employees from different teams and departments can join to socialize. To me, it creates an even more comfortable workspace as our workers don’t have to feel that they are working with strangers and allows us to be more willing to work with others,” shared Lane. Lane graduated from Texas A&M University with a BS in Psychology and never expected to work as a technical manager. Still, she learned the system quickly, making her feel more comfortable learning new information. Between the welcoming work environment and increased productivity, Lane thinks hard work pays off and is based on work efficiency, not tenure. “I am excited to see the company grow even more, and I love that I will be a part of that growth,” Lane shares. Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. Dallas Cowboys Fan Lane spends time outside the office...

Meet another sensational Yardi employee, Jonathan Gonzalez, team lead for the commercial Voyager Client Success TX 1 team who began his journey as an intern.   Yardi’s offices have many internship opportunities for those interested in learning about exciting and expansive world of real estate technology.  Meet Jonathan Gonzalez Jonathan Gonzalez has been at Yardi for nearly five years and became a team lead for commercial in July 2022. He works with clients to achieve success with the products they are licensed for and finds new ways to improve their work lives with Yardi’s complete product line. He also works with his team to ensure they succeed in providing an excellent customer service experience and developing their careers. “I put a heavy emphasis on being available for my team, especially since we have transitioned to a hybrid work structure. My goal is to be available as much as possible to build relationships with my team members while also providing them with the mentoring they need to grow,” says Gonzalez. In addition to his team, Gonzalez assists his clients in achieving the maximum results with their licensed products. He spends his days reaching out to perform health check calls with clients to review their system usage and assist with critical escalations to ensure they are well taken care of. Gonzalez takes pride in having satisfied clients with support and confidence within his team that is more willing to utilize Yardi’s full product load. “Helping my clients achieve success in all their Yardi products is what I most enjoy about working at Yardi. Seeing my clients fully functioning and happy with their software gives me a sense of purpose for my work,” shares Gonzalez. Confident Colleagues Gonzalez enjoys the welcoming environment of Yardi, where everyone is eager to see success...

Yardi staff make essential contributions to property management clients worldwide. Today, meet Tamm Sharper, a Voyager Client Success residential TX 2 team consultant for special projects in the Dallas office. Meet Tamm Sharper Tamm Sharper has been working for Yardi since December 2014. Sharper works on projects from the Voyager Client Success and RentCafe Client Success Texas teams for existing clients. From complex and sometimes expedited implementations to At-risk client specialty projects, she has a variety of opportunities to build relationships with clients during their Yardi journey. She works with clients to analyze pain points and devise a course of action, whether goal-based or time-specific, to alleviate the issues they experience daily. Sharper conducts on-site training sessions and business process reviews to optimize Voyager/CRM to give the client the most value. She also mentors colleagues and newer Yardi employees going through the N.E.S.T program by showcasing the culture of Yardi, conducting trainings and assisting with cases. Strategizing Stellar Results Sharper says, “I like to call myself ‘the fixer!’” Sharper enjoys having a client come to her at their breaking point and her being able to strategize and develop a plan to get them back on track. At the project’s close, she feels there’s nothing more satisfying than having a client smile and express gratitude for all the hard work they’ve accomplished. “There’s just something special about reviewing all the objectives we set out to accomplish and getting that confirmation of satisfaction from the client! Also, it’s heartwarming to know that I’ve made a difference in client retention when we see the numbers during corporate updates,” shares Sharper. Sharper appreciates Yardi’s transparency since the early days of the pandemic and that Yardi is always there to contribute when help is needed. “It’s amazing to hear...

Yardi’s offices have many internship opportunities for those interested in learning about the technology side of real estate. Today, meet Brody Masterson, who joined the company for an internship five years ago and has been thriving at Yardi since. Brody and his wife, Ashton. Meet Brody Masterson Brody Masterson completed an internship in the summer of 2018 with Yardi. He completed his degree from the University of Oklahoma and graduated with a bachelor’s in management information systems. He then started working at Yardi full-time out of the Dallas office, making last month his fourth anniversary. Masterson is a senior technical manager for the residential Texas Practice 6 Team. Masterson spends most of his work resolving data issues for clients he is solely responsible for. When he is not working and meeting with clients, he works with his colleagues and team members needing assistance. Since stepping into the senior role with more responsibility, he has taken over critical topics for his team. “I’m readily available to answer any questions that my teammates have, or if they prefer, I’ll hop on a quick call with them to give them guidance on a case or insight over a Voyager functionality,” said Masterson. Yardi is a comprehensive software that takes time to learn the ins and outs. However, Masterson enjoys using not only his technical skills but also his consulting skills for the job. “There are numerous software areas that require either cloud knowledge, accounting knowledge, marketing knowledge, etc. So, it has been very beneficial learning from all these different areas,” said Masterson. Knowledge is Power Masterson likes the comradery and collaboration at Yardi. Even working virtually, he still feels the same vibes from working daily in the office. “Yardi’s culture is also very collaborative. There has always...

We recently caught up with Matt Berlin, CFO for Paragon Real Estate Investments, for perspective on the drivers and results of implementing new accounting software for managing real estate investments. Matt, what is Paragon’s business focus? We’re a privately held company that manages and invests funds on behalf of family offices, institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. We manage our growing portfolio of stabilized assets through our flagship fund, Paragon Real Estate Fund. The Paragon team is based in La Jolla, Calif., and owns commercial property in key urban markets nationwide. What challenges did you face in your real estate investment operations? As our investor base grew significantly, we found that doing property accounting manually on spreadsheets was cumbersome, time-consuming and mistake-prone. That prompted us to seek a new software solution capable of streamlining journal entries, general ledger updates, distributions and other investment operations. Then you adopted Yardi Investment Accounting. What did that do for you? It automated our asset, investment accounting and investment lifecycle within a single connected solution. Yardi Investment Accounting is the only one-stop shop I’ve seen in the market. What results have you seen from the implementation? The solution produces faster reporting, helps us formulate our investment strategies, satisfies investors and enables full transparency from investors through assets. Its seamless integration with Yardi Voyager means we don’t have to worry about mistakes from manually entering data into spreadsheets or whether disparate systems can communicate with each other and make the various general ledgers match. Investment Accounting also streamlined our annual net asset value calculations by automatically incorporating the current share price. Can you cite an example of Investment Accounting’s utility? When we executed a capital call, we didn’t need to set up new spreadsheet formatting. We no longer needed to open...

Ready to hear from another 2023 Changemaker? Say hello to Dan Madsen, chairman and CEO of Seattle-based Leisure Care. We’re loving highlighting this year’s honorees — an empowering group of senior living leaders — as the series’ sponsor for the fifth consecutive year. Dan Madsen named 2023 Changemaker From spending 32 years in the senior living industry, Madsen is well-versed when it comes to taking risks, developing new strategies and driving change. In his interview with Senior Housing News (SHN), Madsen talks about his lessons learned over the years, as well as what he’s focusing on looking ahead. Read on for a highlight of Madsen’s interview: SHN: How have you changed as a leader since starting in this industry? Madsen: It was 32 years ago, or almost 33, I guess, and I’ve learned tons. Every year I continue to grow and learn as a leader, gaining a lot of empathy and understanding for people and their behaviors. One of the greatest things I think I learned was the tolerance of — mine as well, that all people have seasons. We have such longevity in our company that people have really good years, and then they have life that happens as well, and to continue to support them is really, really important. SHN: Can you talk about a time when you tried to execute a change and things didn’t go according to plan? How did you pivot, and what did you learn as a leader? Madsen: I think that it’s more internal than external. We continue to innovate, and it’s the acceptance in the field sometimes even at the general manager level to really support that change. That’s because it is general managers in the field in those positions who are dealing with their current...

As National Volunteer Month continues, meet Shaina Fite, who recently organized a Yardi Atlanta team to participate in the Atlanta Community Food Bank Hunger Walk/Run, raising over $2,500 for the organization. Shaina Fite is a CSD manager for Rent Relief powered by Yardi. More than 28 states, counties and cities use Rent Relief to manage more than $1.5 billion in funding. Rent Relief is a complete software and service solution that’s fast to set up and scales to meet agency needs. Fite has been working at Yardi for almost eight years. Projects have included directly supporting the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in deploying the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), including technical support, vendor onboarding, call center, and marketing ancillaries. “I love working on products that directly impact people,” said Fite. “The Relief Suite has assisted with millions of dollars in payments for rent, mortgage, utility bills and small business assistance to those who need it most. It doesn’t get much better than knowing our work keeps people in their homes and their lights on!” Solution-driven and focused Fite appreciates the Yardi culture of inclusivity and acceptance, a recipe for employees to feel valued, respected and secure in their daily work lives. “When mistakes are made, we assess, adjust, and move forward together,” shared Fite. Fite describes Yardi as an innovative organization with solid values and appreciation for its employees and communities. “It’s a place where you can grow both as a professional and as a person,” enthused Fite. Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. Licensed to sell In her free time, Fite works as a real estate agent in Georgia. She also enjoys volunteering at local community nonprofit organizations. In addition, she has a...