“If I could have any superpower in the world it would be X-Ray vision, no doubt about it. I mean, come on, who doesn’t want to have X-Ray vision?” laughs Balázs Székely, an enthusiastic member of Yardi’s publishing team. The 25-year-old aquascaper and Red Hot Chili Peppers fan joined Yardi in October 2013, after a couple of stints at college newspapers and regional radio stations and he’s been loving every minute of it. “I studied journalism and so far, I have to say, being a journalist turned out even better than I imagined! I work for a vigorously growing company and I’m surrounded by young professionals… As a bonus, my job is completely independent from the local political scene, which is a privilege in this field. I mean, what more could a journalist my age ask for?!” he says, hinting at the colorful Romanian political world. As an associate editor for Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive, Balázs covers the most important commercial and multifamily real estate happenings in Miami, Orlando, Atlanta and Tucson. He’s constantly on the lookout for major transactions, new project announcements and keeps in touch with developers that are active in his markets. Balázs also writes market reports based on quarterly performance indicators and is part of the international news team, which covers the most relevant real estate news from around the world. “I like diversity in my work, so I’m always happy to contribute to the corporate blogosphere,” he says, referring to his posts for Point2Homes and PropertyShark. Among Balázs’s favorite parts of working at Yardi is that he gets to do what he does best – write – and that he’s able to pursue this passion in a dynamic and nurturing environment. He also appreciates the constant improvement...

Yardi CSD manager Terry Kelly and his wife Pam took the trip of a lifetime to Nepal this spring, but they weren’t on a typical tourist agenda. Instead, the focus of their visit was to volunteer at a pop-up health clinic, called a Health Camp, in the foothills of the Himalayas. The two-day medical outreach was organized by Project for a Village, a non-profit started by Kathy and Rene Perez-Silva. Terry Kelly and Rene Perez-Silva attended college together at Georgetown, and since the couple began their trips to Nepal four years ago, the Kellys were interested in lending a hand. After 22 hours of flight time (including 5 layovers) and wrangling 400 pounds of luggage that included medical supplies, they arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. “We carried over 250 pounds of vitamins and de-worming pills to distribute to the mothers of the small children (enough vitamins for a year’s supply for each child). We also took multiple duffel bags full of essential medicines to treat the common complaints,” Terry Kelly explained. Prenatal vitamins and a health outreach project focused on preteen girls were also distributed. “Many Nepali people become dependent on foreign aid groups coming to their village to provide free doctors and medicine through health camps,” Kathy Perez-Silva relates in the Project for a Village blog. “The shortage of doctors is severe and the pay is so low that most of the doctors want to leave Nepal after they finish school to work in the West.” During the two days of clinic visits, 1,000 people were treated by 16 doctors, with assistance from nurses and translators. Many of the ailments were routine, including aches and pains from physical labor in the fields, and digestive discomfort connected to poor nutrition and spicy food. Up...

For most California kids, growing up watching football on TV with Dad on the weekend might mean college games on Saturdays and the NFL on Sunday. For Mark and Jennifer Coverdale’s two young daughters, it’s an early Saturday morning ritual – with all the excitement of English and European games appearing in their Central California living room thanks to satellite technology. Most Americans might still call it soccer, but the daughters of a former pro football athlete from Hull City, England, will surely grow up calling football just that. “We sit and watch the Tigers together – it’s a family tradition that we have,” he said of watching the matches with his 1 and 4-year-olds. Recently, the family took a trip to his hometown together, making the trip with their children for the first time. Coverdale, an Inside Sales manager for Yardi who has been with the company for nearly 8 years, came to the U.S. a decade ago. He was training in Los Angeles, still interested in pursuing a professional career in the sport, when the parent of a young player asked him to coach her son. In the U.S., young soccer players with talent are asked to be part of professional development programs even before they hit their teenage years. Mark joined such a program for his hometown team of Hull City, in northern England, when he was just 10 years old. The experience gave him the opportunity to travel around the U.K. to play against other youth teams, and instilled an early foundation of physical conditioning and skill. At 16, he was offered a professional contract with the team, which continued until age 19. After attending university at Leeds, he became the first and only member of his family to leave...

You probably know a few triathletes. Chances are good that you might even know someone who has completed an Ironman. But the probability that you know an Ultraman are rarer – and an Ultrawoman? Well, there are only 131 of them to be found worldwide. Yardi Accounting Manager Cindy Braden recently earned her spot on this rarefied list of ultra-endurance athletes by completing her first Ultraman race in Clermont, Florida, from Feb. 20-22. Over the three days, a field of 39 athletes attempted to complete a 6.2 mile swim, 263 mile bike ride, and 52.4 run (that’s right, two marathons back-to-back) with 12 hour time limits each day. Day one was a 6.2 mile swim followed by a 91 mile bike, Day two was a 172 mile bike and day 3 was a 52.2 mile run. Braden, an Ironman veteran with six of the long distance triathlons under her belt, completed her first Ultraman in 31 hours, 40 minutes, 25 seconds. She was the second woman overall and one of just four women to finish the event. “This is not necessarily a race for time,” she explained. “You do have only 12 hours each day to get each of the distances done. I wasn’t too worried about day one or two, but I was terrified of day three, which was the run. I enjoy running, but I’m not good at it.” She focused on a mantra that’s printed out on the wall of her office: “If you lack the courage to start, you’ve already finished.” Determination, and an ironclad focus, helped her through the toughest third day. On day one, she persevered through cold conditions in the swim to be first woman out of the water – and sixth competitor overall – in just...

Ken Romero, Programmer, Affordable Housing, spends much of his work day adding new features and fixes to Yardi’s Beacon product while chugging away at multiple cups of black coffee. Fellow programmers and those on his QA team describe him as humble. They learned through national media that he’s probably a genius as well; Romero was one of only two people in the nation to accurately predict every winner of a 2014 midterm U.S. Senate seat accurately – one day before the results were compiled. His prediction success made him one of the first winners of The New York Times Upshot Cup. Romero’s friend and fellow programmer, Bryan Busey, was the first to spread the word of Romero’s accomplishments through an email, “Just because you wouldn’t hear it from him, the article says it all. Mind you the only other individual who successfully did this was a Dr. in statistics.” The young programmer first took interest in politics during the Bush-Gore elections when he was in the 6th grade. The elections had caused such commotion in his community that he began to investigate why: why do people fall on one side of an issue or the other? And why do they vote the way that they do? Since then, Romero has kept an eagle eye on American politics and social media, giving him the background needed to make his award-winning prediction. Or was it luck? The Balance Sheet caught up with Ken to learn how a programmer made headlines as a political statistician. What tools did you use to forge your predictions? The biggest thing was my Twitter feed. My “Favorites” list is probably 60% media and political insiders who freely share their info. I also have several pollsters, so every day during election seasons...

Technical analyst turned Q&A specialist, Edith Pojum is a dedicated member of Yardi’s CSD team in Cluj and a freelance illustrator whose playful e-cards are slowly paving her way towards taking over the world, one heart flutter at a time. Even though that’s not the way she’d go about world domination: “I’d start by helping people in need, because I have huge empathy for those who are abused, or homeless, or somehow disenfranchised.” A member of the Yardi Cluj family since November 2011, Edith Pojum previously worked as a technical analyst but switched to a Q&A specialist position three months ago. She spends her workdays testing the system, creating system enhancement and trouble requests and checking if previously reported bugs and errors have been resolved. A graduate of the University of Babeş-Bolyai’s Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration, her college studies come in handy in her day-to-day tasks, as many of Yardi Voyager’s functionalities have an accounting and finance base. Edith enjoys all that her job implies, but her favorite part of working at Yardi is the atmosphere and her colleagues. Catching up with the Milton Keynes and Yardi Amsterdam office colleagues was her favorite part of the recent European CSD Conference. The conference took place in Cluj on June 11 and 12 and was attended by more than 60 Yardi staff members from Milton Keynes, Amsterdam and Cluj. “It’s always nice to meet our colleagues from other offices, we work with them on an almost daily basis.” Learning more about Voyager functionalities such as Orion Business Intelligence, Rent Café/Residential, Advanced Budgeting, Commercial Leasing Pad, Payscan App, etc. also proved exciting to the dedicated Q&A specialist. When Edith leaves the office however, is when her true passion surfaces: drawing and illustrating. Her current...

The Rotary Club of Santa Barbara is pleased to honor local leaders with Community Service Awards for their commitment to Santa Barbara, the Westside and Bohnett Park. Yardi team lead Raul Gil accepted an individual award, and Spencer Strom accepted the award on behalf of BEGA-US. Gil is an entrepreneur and longtime active resident of Santa Barbara. He worked as a staff accountant for the Santa Barbara News-Press and was in the media industry for 30 years. He has worked at Yardi for nearly 7 years, and is a team lead in the Global Solutions department. In addition to his professional career, Gil is active on the Westside Community Center Workgroup, the Santa Barbara Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Goleta Valley Toastmasters, the Mariachi Festival Committee, founder of the 805 Basketball Club, statistician for the Santa Barbara High School basketball team and a dedicated supporter of the Bohnett Park revitalization effort. He has been a restaurant entrepreneur for more than 18 years and is the owner of El Zarape Restaurant on the Westside of Santa Barbara. Spencer Strom, Western territory sales manager, accepted the award on behalf of BEGA-US, a $45 million lighting design and manufacturing corporation with more than 50 percent of its product content sourced in the United States and designed and built in Santa Barbara County. BEGA-US has made product donations in many locations around Santa Barbara, including Westside’s Bohnett Park. BEGA-US was instrumental in providing the best lighting solutions possible to ensure safe after dark activities at Bohnett Park. The lights have enabled evening activities, including organized youth sports and social meetings with families and friends. BEGA-US has made a lasting positive impact on the Westside community with the new lighting system, making Bohnett Park more accessible and safe for local...

Yardi clients who have had the pleasure of learning from Guy Brown, a senior consultant in the Professional Services Group, or his wife Deborah, Director of Development, may have caught on that they are interacting with a pretty prestigious power couple. Both Browns have each logged nearly 15 years of service to Yardi, and made notable contributions to the continually improving Voyager reporting process. Deborah currently focuses on the company’s condominium clients and manages the standard Interfaces program, while Guy is involved in writing custom Voyager pages and client training. “We have different styles and different skill sets. But she’s clearly the brains of the operation,” said of his wife, who he met when both happened to be in Israel as teenagers. Deborah, who called California home, was studying at an American high school there, and Guy, a native of England, was visiting a friend whose father was in the British Foreign Service. Fast-forward 44 years, and they’ve made successful lives and careers in Santa Barbara, where they settled in 1980. Their two children, Anna and Shannon, are equally hard-working and innovative. Anna just finished her Ph.D. in chemistry at Portland State University and is involved in nanoparticle research on the chemical element bismuth. Shannon is an environmental scientist who works as a cartographer for a consulting firm in San Diego. “They’re like me – they want to understand the way the world works,” Guy said of the couple’s children. Indeed, his passion and interest in astrophysics, physics, magnetics, materials, geology and more has created diverse opportunities for work and research. Though he studied physics in college, Guy’s first job in Santa Barbara was in computer manufacturing, at a company called InfoMag. He became an engineer, drawing from his magnetics research to develop processes...

Anca Brisan is a woman of many talents. As a cartographer at Yardi’s Cluj office, she spends her time deeply immersed in technical activities, creating parcel-level maps for all of the major cities in the United States. A graduate of Geography and Territorial planning, Anca completed a master’s degree at the Babes – Bolyai University in Cluj with a full scholarship at the University of Glasgow, Scotland – Msc in Geoinformation Technology and Cartography. She has been with Yardi’s PropertyShark for more than three years now and her involvement was instrumental in the rapid development of the firm’s mapping team. Her incredible passion for spatial data, her pragmatic vision and ability to coherently render spatial coordinates have been of real help in consolidating PropertyShark as a must-have research tool for real estate professionals. PropertyShark provides comprehensive property reports for both the commercial and residential sectors, including pre-foreclosure and foreclosure listings, sales comparables, maps, building photos, for sale and lease listings. When zooming in on a property parcel, users get a mini-report that includes property summary, zoning information, building photo, last sale price, air rights and much more. “We do parcel based maps for all the counties where we have property reports, if we have the geometry data representing the parcels,” Anca told us. “We receive our spatial data from our colleagues in NYC, Data Acquisition Team and, using the data processed by the Data Team, we proceed to creating complex maps highlighting different aspects of the real estate market for more than 435 counties in 41 states. We are only five cartographers and we have a total number of 3401 maps, with 230 distinct maps and an average speed of 75 maps/week. Each map is an organized puzzle of small tiled images. We have...

Domonique Dozier’s skills at guiding clients through troubleshooting on their Yardi PopCard product have been compared to an Air Traffic Controller working from the tower. “It is so much fun to watch Domonique work when she navigates through her three screens, it is like she is landing an airplane! She has complete control of property remote sessions, guiding each manager through their calls for assistance,” said her colleague Stephen Hennessey in Yardi’s Orange County office. In fact, Dozier’s true professional background is as a licensed vocational nurse. Dozier finished her nursing credential in 2011, the same year she took a position with Lead Tracking Solutions. Yardi acquired LTS in 2012. What do nursing and technical support have in common? Well, it turns out that someone with a caring and nurturing personality can be very good at both of them, and grace under pressure is another vital crossover skill. “Domonique is calm, cool and always assisting with the politest voice over the phone. Each tech call is assisted with confidence,” Hennessey said. “She is truly amazing at her job, and it shows.” Domonique readily admits that she loves taking care of people, from her PopCard clients to her patients to her little sister, who she watched over while growing up. She is also active in her family’s karaoke business. Another one of her secret skills is hula hooping – she recently won a contest at the Yardi office. Dozier fell into the real estate technology world quite by accident. While supporting herself during nursing school, she took a job working for a real estate investment firm that acquired and rehabilitated properties around the U.S. She found that the real estate industry truly interested her – so much so that she would like to become the...

Yardi Voyager is used by companies and agencies around the world. But a training session for Yardi’s flagship product had probably never been delivered in American Sign Language (ASL) until very recently. Thanks to the initiative of Yardi Public Housing Technical Account Manager Bill Hughes, a staff member of the Ventura County Housing Authority, who is deaf and depends on ASL and reading lips to communicate was recently trained on Voyager by Hughes, using ASL. A student of ASL for about four years, Hughes and his wife Rosa volunteer to work with members of the local deaf community through their congregation. But that volunteer work typically doesn’t involve real estate technology. Converting some of the technical details of the sophisticated accounting and record-keeping system was more than a little tricky, Hughes said. “There were industry signs I had never used, because that’s not what I have practiced. So I immediately I went to work researching certain terms,” Hughes said. “Most everything software related was an immediate challenge. I had to do a lot of online research and work with the client prior to the visit to establish signs related to industry concepts.” The advantage to having a Yardi expert fluent in ASL conduct the training, rather than using an outside interpreter, was pivotal. “The few seconds between interpretation and vocal training would be eliminated, making it easier for the recipient to interject questions,” Hughes wrote in an article about the training that was published in the company newsletter this month. The article generated tremendous response from his colleagues at Yardi, who applauded his effort and shared their own experiences with sign language and in some cases dealing with hearing disorders in their own lives. “It’s really nice to know that our company has taken...

Editor’s note: This guest post comes to us thanks to Patricia Marroquin, a Senior Writer for the UCSB Graduate Division. This post originally appeared on GradPost, the division’s online news magazine, which often features stories about exemplary alumni. Yardi COO Gordon Morrell certainly falls into that category, as do many of our Yardi team members. Read on for the profile and find the full interview on gradpost.ucsb.edu. Gordon Morrell has been juggling roles for decades, going back to his days as an Education Ph.D. student at UCSB in the 1970s. At that time, in the halls outside their tiny graduate student offices in what is now the Hosford Clinic, he and several of his cohorts would take breaks from their studies and do a little three-ball juggling. “We actually got to the point where we could pass to each other,” Morrell recalled with a laugh, adding: “It was a stress breaker; it was like a little relief.” In explaining why this routine was helpful for the grad students, he said, “You have to really focus when you’re juggling. You can’t be thinking about other things. So maybe it’s just a good way to get your mind off what you’re doing.” That focus and work-life balance has served Morrell well. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised along with his older brother in Goshen, a small farming town north of New York City, he earned his Education Ph.D. (Counseling Psychology emphasis) in three years at UCSB. “I went straight through from kindergarten to Ph.D.,” he said. “There were no breaks.” He put himself through college by singing and playing guitar in such local venues as The Feed Store restaurant and bar in Santa Barbara (no longer in existence); SOhO; and Cold Spring Tavern. Morrell’s career path...

Many first read about Ashish Dhamnekar in the July issue of the Yardi newsletter. Ashish teamed up with fellow Yardi employee Nilesh Shinde to help drought victims in the village of Ashathi. Their initiative began with an assessment tour, followed by volunteer and staff recruitment. At the project’s culmination, the village received drinking water twice a day, each day, for nearly two months. Yardi’s contributions totaled ₹29,000 rupees; Ashish and his teammate visited the village each week to ensure that the villagers received the full benefit of the deliveries. When Ashish isn’t exploring outreach options in his community, he works as part of Yardi’s  License and Build Team in Pune where he handles license cases and custom CPR builds.  “It’s just me and Kunal Sonawane,” Ashish explains. “We assist each other to accomplish daily tasks. In his absence I have to manage the entire load and vice versa. We always try to maintain cheerful environment.” Even after six years with the company, Ashish feels a fresh sense of enthusiasm and dedication around the office, particularly when it comes to philanthropy. “Employees are really very enthusiastic and responsive by all means,” says the young technician. “Yardi culture is always supportive for social causes and general socio-awareness programs like blood donation camps, stress management workshops, sports activities and so on.” In addition to Yardi’s emphasis on community, Ashish also appreciates the company’s efforts to foster growth. “The organization supports learning and development on the job and of course it rewards hard work too. I enjoy the work that I do!” Learn more about Ashish: In your free time, what are a few of your favorite activities? Frankly speaking, we hardly get free time at work.  On weekends, we spend quality time with friends and go for...

A North Carolina native who puts faith and family first, Matthew Scott’s colleagues on the Raleigh Payment Processing Implementation Team say his energy and enthusiasm is tremendous. Though he has been with Yardi less than a year, Matthew has already developed a real passion for the company, its products, and the customers he interacts with on a daily basis. “I love my team, the customer interaction, and helping people,” he said. “I feel like we really do make an impact within the company, and that’s the part I really enjoy.” Until earlier this year, Matthew thought that he’d spend his entire career at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, where he was employed as an account manager. He enjoyed his work assisting insurance agents with the details of their policies and responding to customer requests. But then a good friend invited him to check out his new employer, Yardi Systems, at a career fair held by Yardi’s Raleigh office. Such events are held regularly to attract qualified new candidates for open positions. Though he wasn’t even really looking for a new job, Matthew found himself drawn to the leadership, company culture and potential mentorship and growth opportunities that revealed themselves as he went through the interview process. He didn’t know much about the real estate industry at first, but has quickly learned lots about many verticals that Yardi serves and the incredible variety of technology products that address just about every business services need. “We’ve done a great job of letting people know that Yardi will be your one stop for all real estate technology solutions. Clients are very dependent on our software,” Matthew observed. His friendly and personable approach to customer support comes through as he works with clients to diagnose any...

With nearly a decade of experience in information technology, Raymond Major has some very good advice for all of us. “Rebooting your computer fixes the problem 80 percent of the time,” chuckled Major, an IT specialist for Yardi who was originally part of the Yardi CLASSIC team. It’s simple but great advice from an IT veteran. Since CLASSIC’s parent company was acquired, Major has had the opportunity to work for Yardi in a variety of roles. “Within the company I have gone from Help Desk administration, to IT server administration, to ASP datacenter administration, and now I am now focused on Network administration,” Major said. He’s now part of the team that maintains Yardi’s Corporate and ASP networks. The effort involves roughly 100 staff members, spread across the globe at various Yardi offices, who oversee activity between 29 offices and 12 data centers. Such work requires solid communication and teamwork, which is especially important when working in different time zones, on different projects, but all within the same network structure. “Everyone’s actions traverse the network. Whether you’re setting up a new Voyager website, troubleshooting a database upload/download or simply performing a Windows update,” Major noted. Amid the complexity that networking can entail, Major’s philosophy is to keep it simple. “Technology can have complex branches to it, but it’s all still a simple machine with simple working parts. So if you can go back to the simplest form of the problem, then you’ll likely find your solution there, and a whole lot quicker,” he said. One of his favorite parts of his job is interacting with the other members of the IT and ASP teams, no matter what their physical locations. “You build camaraderie, as technical professionals, as you are hammering through problems. As a...

Right after college, Kris Panks could be spotted in a local car commercial but she knew acting was not her calling. “Oh Gosh,” she sighs.  “I think I’m standing near a car, excited, saying ‘I found it!’ I have the tape on VHS somewhere…but I’m no actress.” After receiving her degree in Marketing Sales Management, Kris worked with a software company that created products for civil engineers, land surveyors, and photogrammetrists. She sought a change in pace, taking on a series of independent consulting jobs. One of them was with CLASSIC Real Estate Systems. CLASSIC was very successful, specializing in fully integrated software for property management and accounting. Yardi acquired CLASSIC in 2006.  After working part-time for a while, Kris joined the Yardi team full-time, becoming the Marketing Campaign specialist for affordable housing, public housing and senior housing with Yardi in 2011. “The most challenging aspect of my job is staying current with what’s going on in my industries, “says Kris. There is certainly a lot to keep track of, as Kris balances everything from product marketing  and  rollout to ads, website management, press releases, email campaigns, and beyond.  Last year, Beacon Affordable and Beacon Public Housing Authority hit the market. The products were greeted with applause, giving Kris and her team the green light to promote the software more aggressively. She is also working to rebrand ALMSA, a transition that is slated to take a year. The web-based resident health care management system integrates with Voyager and provides a very powerful solution for the senior living industry. “There is a lot going on and sometimes I’m buried in my day-to-day duties,” Kris says. “Fortunately, I do have many talented people I can reach out to.” Kris fits well into her fast-paced roll. “I...

We can almost guarantee that within one click of your mouse, we can convince you that Point2’s office in Saskatoon, located in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, is a pretty fantastic place to work. Why? Well, the company is known for its team cohesion and spirit. And then there’s the secret weapon: the cooking abilities of Jacquelyn Bauer, Point2’s Director of Customer Relations. The Gourmet Housewife is the food blog that Jacquelyn maintains in her free time, but her lucky coworkers often get to sample leftovers. Not much helps wear off the chill of a sub-zero Saskatoon winter day like a warm loaf of homemade bread. In other words: if you’re ever invited to a Point2 company potluck, be sure to attend. There will be a near-certain chance of encountering a Jacquelyn-made treat, like a sautéed kale salad with panko and pine nuts, chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, or homemade bagels. That’s right folks, she makes her own bagels. Totally awesomesauce. But even if we can’t all work with Jacquelyn at Point2 or invite ourselves to her house for dinner, we can still enjoy the gorgeous food photography and creative original recipes to some of her favorite dishes via her blog. She focuses on “simple gourmet” fare that you can recreate without too many trips to the grocery store or hours spent stirring sauce on the stove. It is easy to forget that good food doesn’t have to be sacrificed due to a busy schedule, and Jacquelyn makes preparing such dishes look easy. A self-described perfectionist, Jacquelyn applies the same loving care and attention to detail to her work at Point2 as she does to her kitchen creations. She’s been with the real estate software firm for 13 years, starting when she was...

Melanie Calbow has proven to be more than a Billing Administrator. Her dedication to problem solving and quality customer service has earned her the reputation of being a stellar team player and customer advocate. Melanie quickly adapted to her position in the finance department after graduating from UCSB. “I didn’t have an accounting background but I was in school for it. I found that I really enjoyed working with numbers and things fell into place.” For eight years, Melanie has excelled in the fast-paced atmosphere of finance. As a Billing and Collections Administrator, each day is packed with new challenges and opportunities. “My day differs each day. That’s the fun part of my job,” Melanie says. “You have to be on your feet and ready to change gears at any given moment.” Creating statements and sending out invoices are only the tip of the iceberg. Sale order addendums, contracts, and even a few IT calls make their way to Melanie’s desk.  “I also talk to tenants every day,” she laughs. “Sometimes they don’t recognize how the statement is arranged so they call us. I’ve even gotten a few calls from people wanting tech support for Voyager. We live and breathe yCRM; though it’s similar to Voyager, it’s not the same so I have to point them in the right direction.” Melanie and her team are known for problem solving. It has been a part of her job that has allowed her to have major one-on-one impact with clients. “We get callers who have been to other people and we’re often the last ones in the line,” she explains. “They’re tired, usually frustrated, and they just want some help.  We try to improve the mood and find them the appropriate contact. We have that contact...

Numerous personal transitions have sharpened Rachel Lindley’s ability to adapt to anything that life hurls her way. The Sales Executive for Affordable Housing has worn many hats at Yardi, relocated across the country, and is raising a large family while maintaining a positive disposition. Her key to success? Focusing on what matters, which has consistently boiled down to a high regard for the team she works with and the people that she works for. After leaving behind her life as a stay at home mom, Rachel landed a role as an administrative assistant for Classic. She soon transitioned into a support team member in the Atlanta office. It was a perfect match that maintained her interest even after the Yardi acquisition. “When I was in a support role with Classic, I really enjoyed working with people who needed my help and were grateful for it. It felt like I made a difference. In sales with Yardi, I help companies and individuals find out what’s best for them and their growth. I get to use my background in customer service and I love helping them.” Even as job descriptions change, keeping her eye on the needs of others helps Rachel transition with grace. Though she could not have foreseen herself as a Sales Executive in her youth, she loves where she has landed. “I’m naturally a bit introverted and a bit shy,” she shrugs. “It took a while to get used to talking to people and putting myself out there.” Being introverted does not mean that Rachel is a homebody. Her love of the outdoors has always played a huge role in fulfilling her sense of adventure. “I grew up hunting and fishing,” she admits, her voice instantly igniting. “I really enjoy hunting in the...

Esther Bonardi, Industry Principal for Yardi Marketing Solutions, has joined the Apartment All Stars team and will be sharing her wealth of experience on the multifamily industry on the All Stars’ nationwide tour circuit. The Apartment All Stars are a team of experts that provide impartial instructive programming to apartment associations across the nation. They are known for their inspired, energetic and motivational speaking skills, wealth of multifamily industry knowledge, and results-inducing best practice tips. “I am honored to be included in this group of industry experts.  For years, our industry has looked to the All Stars to share the latest information, the most leading edge solutions, and the most effective strategies for marketing and managing apartments,” Esther said. “And of course, our industry also knows that along with great information, they are going to have a great time at an All Stars event.  I’m very pleased that the All Stars counted  me among those who could deliver this experience to their audiences. “ Esther will bring strong knowledge of multifamily marketing to her presentations on the All Star tour. “I’m all about digital marketing.  I love marketing technology, including both the opportunities and the challenges that it presents.  I will be bringing best practices in digital marketing to the All Stars events. A marketing ‘geek’ is the best kind of ‘geek,’ and I think All Star audiences will feel excited and empowered when they see how easy it is to make technology work to their benefit,” she said. Esther began her career in the multifamily industry in 1987 as a leasing professional, and she never looked back.  Over the years, she has served some of the industry’s best and brightest multifamily firms, taking a career journey from on-site management to multi-sit e management, and...

Lauren Chung pulls inspiration from multiple facets of her life to help clients find the proper solutions for their business needs. Everything from her background in economics to athletic training has equipped her with the skills needed to serve Yardi as a Senior Sales Executive. For Lauren, life seems to have come full circle in recent years. “My family emigrated from Korea when I was five. For the first five years or so in the US, we were living in affordable housing. It wasn’t until recently, when I began working in the industry, that I realized that we were living in affordable housing and how that had helped us. Everything has come full circle,” she says. “I’m truly able to see the benefit of having those sorts of programs that help people who are just coming to this country or getting on their feet for other reasons.” As a child, she had no idea that she would eventually find herself in a position to help families like her own. Lauren obtained her bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of Maryland before making her way towards a career in multifamily housing. It was a career path that fell right into place. “I began working in mutual funds but that was short lived. Next, I worked HR and office management for VisualHOMES. The company itself began changing direction, targeting multifamily about 15 years ago, so all of us headed that way.” She joined the Yardi family after the acquisition of VisualHOMES in 2010. “I would like to have joined sooner. I like what I do now and I really enjoy working with Yardi. But everything worked out well and I’m really happy here.” Lauren’s favorite part of the job is getting to know new people,...

When it comes to pursuing the things he is passionate about, Cory Hawkes doesn’t cut any corners. Point2’s Manager of Customer Care wears his heart on his sleeve, whether he’s supporting his favorite Canadian Football League team, playing his favorite sport, or working with his top-notch team of customer care specialists. A Point2 employee since 2007, Cory worked his way up from customer care representative to manager of the department with some of the same skills that have made him one of Saskatoon’s top curlers. He’s dedicated, committed, patient and persistent. For our American readers who find curling to be a totally foreign concept, Cory describes the sport as similar to shuffleboard – but played on sheets of ice. “You’re shooting a rock, a 42-pound piece of granite, down a 100-plus foot sheet of ice and trying to get it to stop in the rings that are under the ice at the other end,” he explained. Sounds like a pleasant test of skill, but curling is in fact highly competitive, physically demanding, and very strategic. Curling is played by four-person teams, inspiring close bonding and camaraderie. An avid curler since age nine, Cory plays in three leagues during the winter months and teaches more novice curlers how to improve their skills. He’s on the ice daily, and at the time of our interview, his team was holding the first place spot in each of the three leagues. They’re past club champions, meaning they bested the top teams out of 16 leagues in Saskatoon, and have also competed strongly against other top curlers from Saskatchewan. He still has hope of taking his participation in the sport to a higher level. Curling was officially added to the sports contested at the Winter Olympic Games in 1998....

They call him “Levity”. With his playful and competent manner, David LaGue is known for bringing fun and tranquility to Yardi Global Solutions clients and colleagues. He knows there is nothing clever about being unhappy, and watching him in the middle of his team, you see they’re a clever group; the nickname suits him perfectly. A former CSD manager based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, David joined Yardi eight years ago as an account manager in Client Services at the company headquarters in Santa Barbara. Initially, his focus was the large mixed portfolio of residential and commercial clients. He next moved to Yardi’s military housing product as a team lead and later as manager. Having looked after teams in Santa Barbara, Atlanta and Pune, David was a natural fit for the leadership role when it came time to open a Client Services team in Romania to provide support for Yardi’s European commercial clients. “I was ready for a new challenge professionally; in addition I had a personal interest to experience living and working in another country. And given that I had the full support of the Santa Barbara and European leadership team, the decision was easy.” In just over two years, the team that started with eight support specialists now numbers 43 members and continues to grow. With a Bachelor’s Degree from St. Olaf College where he studied Liberal Arts and Mathematics, David has continued to expand his market knowledge since landing in Romania. Although the initial plan was for him to leave Transylvania after one year, the amount of success and two ancillary services (help desk and data guardian) kept him here for longer. His focus these days is on the needs of Yardi’s European clients, leadership and escalations support, and project management planning. With...

James Beane is one of those rare individuals who can navigate the worlds of back end technical parlance and simple, user-friendly explanations of computing concepts with equal ease. For Yardi’s Manager of Cloud Services, communication is the most important aspect of IT. James’ job description includes answering questions from clients about how Yardi’s Application Service Provider team can make their lives easier and their businesses more efficient. He’s an expert on disaster recovery and business continuity, key processes that provide peace of mind for companies with invaluable business data stored on remote servers. Yardi has opened communication pathways between ASP and clients in recent years, making it easier for executives and administrators to pick up the phone and reach out to James or one of his colleagues on the ASP team and get their hosting questions answered. “We’ve cleared channels of communication with our ASP Hotline, for our hosted clients that have outages, ‘We cannot access Voyager; The report isn’t processing.’ We’ve implemented things like that so our clients can pick up the batline and say ‘I need help,’ and get the same service level that they would from an internal IT team,” James explained. Yardi has also greatly expanded off-site hosting services for clients that take much of the technology heavy lifting off the table for companies of all sizes. Handing hosting responsibility over to the industry leading software developer and application service provider makes good business sense. “Over the years, we’ve spent a lot of time supporting clients’ environments, with 3,000-some clients hosted and 11,000 network devices run,” James noted. “We can help our clients take the guesswork out of it and focus on what they can do really well, which is manage their properties.” Just past his ten year service mark...

For the last few years, Jay Shobe has had a technology to do list that would seem overwhelming by any standards. Yardi’s Vice President of Technology reeled it off for us, almost like it was a set list for a rock show. “Mobility – and that includes Apple, and Android. JQuery and HTML5, for multiple browsers, so IE, Firefox, Chrome, Mac. Multiple screen sizes, from a monster desktop to an iPad to an iPad mini to a phone. Sharepoint. Business intelligence. Cube design.  Data warehousing.” He paused to take a breath. “It’s been an incredible run of technology over the last two to three years. Way more than anything I had ever seen. And as always with new technology, I’m looking forward to seeing things really consolidate, and seeing all of these new technologies move forward into our different verticals.” Jay started at Yardi as a teenager back in 1985, stuffing envelopes, copying computer disks and running errands. After he graduated from Santa Barbara High and headed to Baylor University in Texas to study history, he worked fulltime at Yardi while he was home for the summer. In 1989, he moved back to Santa Barbara and began working at Yardi in client service support. The desire to try programming hit him a few years later. “I think all programmers ultimately have to do their own learning. In programming, things change constantly. It doesn’t matter what you learned yesterday. You’ve got to figure out a way to adapt and learn new technologies,” Jay said. He claims to have not been much of a student in college, but when company founder and CEO Anant Yardi gave him his first programming job to complete, he threw himself into learning how to write code for the Windows-based Enterprise...