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Russ Schaadt, a new member, is president of Gardner Management, a real estate investment firm that acquires and manages large multifamily residential and commercial properties in Southern California.  The company was founded by Theodore Gardner in 1968.  The company owns and manages 1500 apartments and focuses on quality customer service to its residents while maintaining attractive profitable properties.

 

 

Russ grew up in the Bay Area in Northern California, where his grandfather was an apartment builder and his grandmother managed apartments.  While growing up, he learned apartment maintenance skills including using a paintbrush.  He came to UCLA for an economics degree, and was a fraternity house manager there.  After graduation, he worked in Bakersfield and Fresno for a homebuilder.  Since getting an MBA degree from Pepperdine, he has focused on private equity property management.  He believes in the value of teamwork, including the hiring, training, supporting and empowering of quality employees, and retraining them in case of performance failures.  Good communication and support of his staff members is an important skill, focusing on people, property and profits.  He believes apartment living is the demographic wave of the future, providing mobility and affordability.  Many young adults are looking for more compact and affordable unit sizes now, so they can live alone instead of with roommates.  He reviewed examples of how he applies the 4-Way Test in his business.