TRD has partnered with CBIZ to take our audience inside the C-suite to meet the executives whose hard work keeps the real estate industry churning.
In our first episode, we headed to LIC to meet Justin Pelsinger, Partner and COO at Charney Companies.
“I don’t mind being the person that’s behind the scenes that people don’t hear about,” says Pelsinger, who has worked with Sam Charney since Charney Companies was founded. “For those that are actually in the industry that end up working with the company, they’ll be dealing with me on a day to day basis.”
Pelsinger emphasized the importance of a COO or CFO’s personal relationship with their CEO or founder. For marquee names who build their business atop their big personality, having a partner they can trust to be the slow, steady voice of reason is invaluable.
“Founders can inevitably feel really lonely,” he says. “It’s their vision that’s on the line, and I think it’s really helpful for founders to feel like they have this partner they can go to and speak with constantly.”
Pelsinger’s advice for other executives? Never forget that time is money.
“The biggest mistake I see in the finance and real estate industry is people not appreciating that time is risk,” he says. “People ultimately can’t help themselves with chasing the bottom number on the term sheet, when they should get it to a certain point where it’s good and then they should shift back to, ‘My job is to execute on deals.’”
If you are a CFO or financial leader in the real estate industry and would like to be considered for a future interview, please contact Ross Fox directly at rf@therealdeal.com.