Linda McFarland

Yardi

By Leah Etling on Aug 21, 2012 in People

Linda McFarland’s work at Yardi’s Amsterdam office has been a homecoming of sorts.

The Netherlands native lived for eight years in the U.S., where she worked in property management and met her husband, before coming home to Holland nearly four years ago.

A world traveler, Linda has an adventurous spirit that drew her to live abroad in Playa del Carmen on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as a college student, and to move to the U.S. shortly afterwards.

Settling in the Atlanta area, she entered the Ritz-Carlton hospitality management program and worked in the hotel industry for several years, meeting her husband Robert in the process.  Then she moved on to an assistant property manager position in midtown Atlanta, entering a new industry that she thoroughly enjoyed. As part of her work for First Communities, she was a Yardi Systems user.

After their first child was born four years ago, Linda and Robert decided that if they ever wanted to live in the Netherlands, it was time to make a move. They didn’t want to be settled in Georgia and then uproot their family, so they made plans for a trans-Atlantic relocation.

Before leaving the U.S., Linda noticed an opportunity for an office manager position at Yardi Systems’ Amsterdam office, and jumped at the chance. She was familiar with Yardi from her work in property management, and just the sort of “international, growing, dynamic” company that she wanted to work for.

Yardi’s Amsterdam office serves primarily European commercial real estate clients. Linda has recently taken on some marketing responsibilities in addition to her tasks in human resources and the front office, and says she loves the variety of her job.

She starts every day with an hour-long run from the family’s Amsterdam home to the beach. The exercise gives her the energy she needs to balance a busy life as a professional and a mom. (Her son is now four, and her daughter was born in the Netherlands two years ago.)  The children are growing up bilingual, speaking Dutch with their mother and English with their father. Robert, a Boston native, is also learning Dutch and works as a chef in Amsterdam.

Returning to the Netherlands has brought her back in touch with close friends and family, Linda said. And she’s made many new friends as well.

“I really enjoy the people I work with at Yardi,” she told us. “We have a great time, we work very well together, and every day is different which I think is great. “

Learn more about Linda:

What is your favorite type of music?

Enjoy different types of music but mostly listen to dance/trance music while running and rock/pop otherwise.

What is your favorite book of all time and (optional: why)?

My favorite book so far would be  Memoires of a Geisha. Thought it was really well written and enjoyed the story line as well as the references to the actual locations.

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

Would like to do something fun with my kids or would go for a run to the beach.

What kinds of food do you like?

Would have to say American sushi but also enjoy eating veggies, fruit and salads  

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

The most interesting place would be Vieques, Island of the coast of Puerto Rico,  where my in-laws own a house overlooking the Caribbean on one side and the Atlantic on the other….just beautiful.

What do you like best about your job?

The people I work with and the diversity of my job

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Healthy!

Do you speak any other languages, and which ones?

Besides English I speak Dutch (my mother tongue) and Spanish  

If you could own one piece of famous art, sculpture, memorabilia or historic artifact, what would the item be?

You wouldn’t want to trust me with any of those things.  Somehow it would either get lost, stolen, broken or stained 🙂

What are some things on your bucket list?

Since I am scuba certified I would still like to dive the Great Barrier Reef some time, or ski the Alps…..and should probably learn to cook at some point.

What athlete or sports figure do you most admire?

Roger Federer

What online sites do you visit?

Facebook and Linkedin

What’s something about you that few people know?

That I was invited to play and follow a professional tennis training program in Germany when I lived and played tennis in Mexico.