Third IV managers and our team are available to discuss our vision and operations daily. Being accessible is the key to honest and effective communications. The team of Third IV has decades of experience, we are responsible and accountable to ourselves and our investors. We are driven to serve at the highest level possible.
Growing up working in the family pony business and grocery store business gave me insights into a variety of business situations. I then went to college at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS earning a degree in Business Administration with a focus in Management. I have extensive experience working with others in my roles managing grocery stores for Niemann Foods Incorporated, in addition to holding a number of positions in the corporate office. Transitioning into the banking sector, I served as Managing Officer of Property Services for Mercantile Bank where I oversaw construction, purchasing, insurance and property management. My background and interest in real estate have set me up well for my current career endeavor, as both a realtor and investor. I am a licensed real estate broker working with Century 21 and I am a member of the National Association of Realtors. I also oversee operations and manage five mobile home parks in Missouri and Illinois. My son Ferd IV and I have owned and operated a number of LLC’s which rent, buy, renovate and sell residential properties. I have extensive knowledge of the processes, controls and strategies necessary to successfully operate a business. Most of my focus the last few year s has been on mobile home parks. Turning around five mobile home parks in the last three years has been a substantial endeavor and has required proficiency in a variety of areas including, process and people management, interaction with city officials, construction management, leasing and general headquarters operations. I live and work in Quincy, IL traveling to project sites on an as-needed basis.
Over the course of my career, I have held several positions within and related to the finance and real estate industries. My first “real job” out of high school was working for a local community bank as a teller. At the time, I did not appreciate the career path this would lead me down, but I needed to pay the bills through college, where I was planning to study Business and Finance/Accounting, and figured a position that was somewhat related to my formal education, and was instantly resume worthy, was the best option. I worked here through college, taking on additional responsibilities as a personal banker. Nearing graduation, I began an internship with Northwestern Mutual as a college financial representative, where I learned the importance of understanding each client’s personal goal(s) and designing a financial plan to help achieve them. From there, I took an internship in the Finance department for Jackson County, MO where I learned the inner workings of municipal finance and local government more generally. Little did I know I would find myself back in public finance a few years later. During this time, I completed my undergraduate degree with a BSBA in Finance/Accounting from Rockhurst University and immediately began pursuing my MBA, also at RU. As grad school neared completion, I took a full-time job with Waddell & Reed as a Staff Accountant in Mutual Fund Accounting. During the next four years, I worked closely with many of the portfolio managers from the investment department, especially the municipal bond team. I quickly realized that the investment side of the business was much more exciting than back office and started studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) designation with the ultimate goal of transitioning to the investment department (known as Ivy Investments) as an analyst. Specifically, I knew I wanted to work for the municipal bond team, in part because of my background with Jackson County, but especially because I enjoyed learning about the various commercial real estate projects they were financing. It was also during this time that I got my first taste of being a real estate investor when I partnered with Ferd III and Ferd IV as a co-owner, investor, and operator of two single-family properties, targeting the nearby university population. We owned these properties for five years before selling for a nice profit. All the while, I successfully made the jump to the investment department at Waddell & Reed, four years after starting with the company. Over the next six and half years, I covered every sector possible in the municipal bond space, with a heavy focus on CRE projects such as charter schools, senior living facilities, student housing, economic development districts (TIF, special tax, etc.), and other mixed-use developments. This experience taught me how to properly evaluate various types of projects to not only identify those that would be profitable, but also avoid those that would not. I was eventually promoted to Assistant Portfolio Manager, where I helped with strategic positioning of $1.8 billion of assets under management and communicated the funds’ strategies directly with investors in the funds. It is this experience that I believe will be of great value to Third IV Properties and our investors and I am excited to be part of the team.