Career Spotlight: Berry Craven

Name: Berry Craven Company: Ginkgo Residential Title: Regional Service Manager Email: berry.craven@ginkgomail.com Local NC Affiliate: TAA

Tell us about your career:

I started in the apartment industry October, 18 of 2000 as a service tech with my current company Ginkgo (at that time we were known as BNP Properties). I was more or less a glorified grounds keeper as most of my days early on were spent cleaning laundry rooms, pools and light fixtures around the property. I never looked down on any task that needed to be performed, but rather saw any and all tasks as equal. I worked my way through the ranks of assistant service manager in 2002 and as service manager in July of the following year.

I was 24 years old running a multimillion dollar asset that was the Villages of Chapel Hill. It was a 321 unit student property in Chapel Hill NC. When I was promoted I was immediately short staffed in the worst time of year for any site, much less a student site. I was working crazy amounts of OT to the tune of 1 2 week period logging 126 hours and loving every minute of this new career I had found. Through my hard work and my companies recognition of my dedication I was allowed my first opportunity as a regional service manager (RSM) when my company expanded into a western division.

In January of 2008 I moved my family to a small town outside of Fort Worth, Texas called Keller. I was over our 16 assets in and around the DFW area as well as one site in St. Louis. This is where I learned a much more in depth understanding of this industry from a bigger picture perspective. Our company got out of the western division in January of 2012 at which time I moved back to NC and ran a site we were managing in Raleigh called Arbor Creek Aptartments.

I went to two other sites with Ginkgo before I was offered another promotion to become the RSM over our RDU portfolio...and the rest is history. I have been very lucky to have found this industry and be allowed a career path with a company that I have grown up with. While many things we do are very hard at times, I wouldn't trade my almost 21 years in this industry for anything!