Describe your day-to-day responsibility and a typical day.

I serve a client in the Southeast region of Wisconsin, and my job is to serve as the main point of contact with our landlords and tenants. We serve on both sides and by that I mean that we manage buildings that our client owns, and in those situations we act as the landlord managing leases and relationships with our tenants. And in some instances we lease space for our client, and then we work on their behalf as the tenant, locating the needed space, negotiating the lease for them, and helping to manage that relationship. Day-to-day we address any issues and concerns our third-party tenants have. We work on lease renewals, negotiate leases, and follow up on outstanding accounts receivable balances or other items that lease administration needs help with. We are the point of contact that our tenants know best so we tend to get most of the calls from them, even for things that fall outside our area of responsibility. In those cases we direct them to those who can assist them whether it’s lease administration, putting in a facilities work order or something else. A big part of my job is communication, communicating with the client, our tenants, and our landlords on a daily basis. It’s my job to communicate and manage standards and policies. The tenants in our buildings have to abide by the policies and standards of our client and in the relationships where we are the tenant, we must abide by the regulations of our landlord. All of that requires clearly communicating requirements and expectations to everyone involved.
 

Describe the path you took to arrive in your current role.

I began in 2007 as an accounts receivable representative for a real estate company in Indianapolis that handles office and industrial space. From there I transitioned into a lease administration role at another company. After a while I was looking to grow my career and take on more responsibility, so I took a job with Ascension Health that provided me with broader responsibilities, and I assisted them with the PeopleSoft lease administration software implementation project. When I was ready for my next challenge, I saw an opening at Medxcel for this position in real estate property management. I love being challenged and am always looking to learn and grow. I don’t like to feel stagnant. This position made me feel really excited and I was recently promoted to my current position.
 

What is the best part of your job?

Even though I’ve been doing this position remotely for the past year, the people I work with make this job fun. I love meeting new people and working on teams and the people I work with from our client, Medxcel and our landlords and tenants are all awesome. I live in Indianapolis and my region is in Wisconsin. Due to COVID protocols this past year I have yet to set foot in any of the properties I manage. I’m excited to get up there soon and meet all these great people face-to-face and walk through my properties in person.
 

Which of Medxcel’s Core Values do you feel is most important to you and your role?

To me Integrity is most important. When we’re working with our tenants and landlords and renegotiating a deal, or renewing a lease, we have to do what’s best for our client who we’re representing. But we also have to make sure we’re being honest and realistic with the customers on both ends of any relationship. Sometimes when you’re renewing a lease or working with a tenant, they may complain about something, for example the cost of the rent. So you need to be able to calmly and honestly explain why the cost is what it is, and perhaps demonstrate that the cost is within fair market value. Sometimes we can’t renew a lease and those conversations can be hard, so I think it’s best to communicate in a truthful and forthright manner, being respectful of everyone. We must always be honest so that we do not give tenants false hope about what can and can’t be done in their space. Operating with integrity makes everything easier in the long run; we don’t play games, we don’t make false promises to sign a tenant, we operate with full integrity as both a tenant and as a landlord.
 

What is the most unusual or interesting thing that’s happened to you during the course of your work at Medxcel?

I started this role during the pandemic so my entire time here I have not been able to visit the properties that I manage. Luckily that is going to change soon. Besides having to work remotely, COVID has added more layers of complexity to property management. In the beginning, some of the cities and states literally mandated that things be shut down. From a healthcare perspective that was of course challenging. Some of our healthcare providers weren’t allowed to go into their offices so they pivoted to trying to provide services via telehealth. Even now that offices are reopened, in some places you still can’t walk directly into a doctor’s office. You have to be screened. You have to wear a mask. Some healthcare facilities require patients to wait outside the building or in their vehicle until they are called in for their appointment. Everyone has a different opinion about how to keep facilities, patients, and workers safe, and each landlord and even the tenant’s employers have varied policies and procedures that have to be accommodated and enforced. It’s our job to keep up to date with the ever-changing requirements for all of our clients and we must communicate them clearly and respectfully, while listening to the needs of everyone involved because sometimes the regulations can cause conflict. As an example, a healthcare provider may not allow people to enter the building until they have gone through a screening process, but maybe locating a screening table and staff at the door goes against the building’s regulations about not blocking entrances. In those cases we have to make adjustment to accommodate both sides. COVID has been a very touchy subject and the rules are changing constantly. A lot of our job this past year has been managing and communicating within the COVID space.
 

Have you learned anything in this role that you didn’t expect?

My job is in real estate, but communication is actually the most important part of my job. Keeping everyone informed in any situation is key, especially during COVID when there have been even more and ever-changing regulations and procedures to keep our client and tenants aware of. Something that someone tells me may seem small and trivial to me, but it may be of critical importance to them. Also in our jobs we sometimes have to communicate news that is not “positive”, whether its that we can’t renew their lease, or that their local municipality is enforcing changes due to COVID. We need to communicate clearly and respectfully so that all the parties understand what is going on and have all the information they need. During the past year I’ve been managing my sites remotely, and not being there in person to see what is happening with my own eyes makes communication more important than ever. I’ve learned a picture can be worth a thousand words when someone describes an issue to me but I can’t see it. I’m blessed to have Medxcel facilities staff on-site in all my properties and they are able to help be my eyes on the ground right now.
 

What would you say to someone if they ask you if they should consider working for Medxcel?

I absolutely recommend working for Medxcel. I came here because of the opportunities Medxcel offered me in terms of learning and the ability to grow my career. At Medxcel you’ll never be stagnant, there are always new things to learn whether it’s a new position, a new location, or taking advantage of the educational offerings through the MyLearning platform. The other thing I love about Medxcel is the balance between work and life. A lot of companies have really lost sight of that balance, especially during the pandemic when people are working at home and their company may expect them to be available all the time. Medxcel really focuses on providing its employees with a healthy balance. And even though some of us have been forced to work remotely this past year, it doesn’t mean our careers have been stagnant during that time. We have been taking advantage of education through the My Learning platform, and career growth and opportunities have continued to be offered even during this challenging time. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings; Medxcel is always growing and I am excited to grow with them!