Montie Rouze

Crescent Real Estate

By Leah Etling on Apr 11, 2012 in People | 2 Comments

Montie Rouze has had a long and distinguished career as an information technology expert, systems manager and implementation specialist. But she’s also been recognized for a significant contribution to her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.

In 2010, Montie was named Volunteer of the Year for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas. Along with her son Cameron, now a 22-year-old college student, she mentors a boy named Erick as part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. They became involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters with the support of Montie’s employer, Crescent Real Estate. The company’s Faces of Change program devotes itself to getting employees into community service.

Unlike many mentorship partnerings, which can end after one to two years, Montie and Cameron are still active in Erick’s life, more than five years after they first met. Erick, a third grader when the Rouzes’ became involved in his life, will enter high school next year.

“It’s been really good for Erick, and he has seen Cameron grow up, graduate from high school and go on to college,” Montie said. “He idolizes Cameron.” Cameron Rouze is now in his fifth year of a landscape architecture program at Oklahoma State University. He visits his “little brother” whenever he’s home in Texas for vacation or school breaks.

Doing good things in the community is a natural fit for Montie, who has three grown kids with her husband, Don, and maintained a focused career path in information technology while her children were growing up.

She told us that support for working mothers by her previous employer, Trammell Crow Company, made a big difference. She worked for Trammell Crow from 1984 to 1994, and later started her own consulting company, which she ran for 10 years.

Trammell Crow Company supported working mothers by offering on-site childcare and reduced work week schedules in the 1980s, years before many other firms were doing such a thing. The result was that female employees who also wanted to become moms didn’t have to give up their jobs.

“Infant day care was practically unheard of then,” Montie remembered. “We would commute from Colleyville to Dallas every day, all four of us, and we would ride home together every night. At lunch time I could walk over and visit them.  It was a dream come true, really.”

After many successful years in the IT field, Montie enjoys the business side of her industry the most. “I’m not really into the infrastructure, the equipment, and processing speeds, but I love solving business problems,” she said. Streamlining processes and maximizing efficiencies for the companies she has worked for has become her specialty.

Away from the office, Montie and Don are enjoying time with their first grandchild, Julie, who is 19 months old. The entire family enjoys skiing, hiking and camping from their vacation home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Julie will be hitting the slopes with them next year – at age three!

Learn more about Montie:

What is your favorite type of music?

I am not very musical.  I go days without listening to the radio and never even miss it.  However if I do listen to music, I like Sting, REM, Billy Joel, etc.  The old stuff…

What is your favorite book of all time and why? 

The Shining by Steven King.  It scared me to death.  Joey Tribbiani  (of Friends) read it over and over and kept the book in the freezer because it was so scary.

If you have an hour of free time to spare, what do you do with it?

Call my kids. Now that they are grown-ups, they are my best friends.  

What kinds of food do you like?

Anything ethnic:  Indian, Sushi, Mexican, etc.

Where is the most interesting place you’ve ever traveled? 

The San Juan Islands in Washington State.  It was beautiful to see tree covered coast lines on dozens of islands which are accessed via ferries.   I saw Killer Whales and Bald Eagles.  A far cry from Texas beaches. 

What do you like best about your job? 

I have a great team.  We get to solve problems and make a difference for our company.

If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or historical, who would it be? 

I am fascinated with the British monarchy:  past, present, and future.  I think it would be Queen Elizabeth I…when she was a young girl.

What are the words you live by? 

Be fair and honest…everything else just works out.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A good wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister.

Do you speak any other languages, and which ones?

I wish…

What are some things on your bucket list? 

I would like to live in several different places, temporarily.  I want to live in NYC for a year, then move to the English countryside for a year, and then be a ski bum in Steamboat Springs, CO for a year. I want to travel and experience the culture…not just observe it.

What was your last Do It Yourself project?

I don’t really “Do” projects.  I sort of come up with the idea and encourage my husband “Do It Himself”. 

What athlete or sports figure do you most admire? 

None.  They seem to all disappoint me, eventually.

What online sites do you visit? 

MDRouze.com, VRBO.com, HomeAway.com, Woot

If you could have a super power, what would it be?

The power to not get tired.

What’s something about you that few people know? 

I make task lists for everything from implementing a new system to preparing Thanksgiving Dinner.