One of Eastern Consolidated’s latest promotions is just 25 years young. Heidi Burkhart, who was promoted in January from the position of director to senior director, already has nine years of sales experience under her belt.
She began her sales career at the age of 16 at Ann Taylor, the women’s clothing store. As it turns out, it was clothing sales that led her to a career at Eastern Consolidated, where she has brokered over $400 million in deals since joining the company in 2003.
At the age of 20, Burkhart had been working two jobs — as a sales representative for pharmaceutical company Ferndale Laboratories and at high-end clothing retailer Anne Fontaine in Greenwich, Conn. — when Eastern Consolidated president Daun Paris and CEO Peter Hauspurg came into her store, and she and Paris
began talking.
“Being a woman, you are naturally attracted to another woman who is so successful running her own business,” Burkhart said. “She also had her family with her, and you could tell that she was very balanced with her life and work.”
Burkhart and Paris exchanged phone numbers, which led to her joining the investment sales company a few months later.
Burkhart has closed on building transactions amounting to more than 3,500 units in the three years she has worked in Eastern Consolidated’s specialized affordable housing division, and she is in contract to sell another 1,600.
Burkhart said that she is looking forward to having more junior brokers and directors work with her in her division.
“I would say that at this point, there are not a lot of brokers who have ventured into this arena,” Burkhart said, referring to the sales and acquisition of Mitchell-Lama and Section 8 housing. “So we look forward to building a bigger base there.”