What do you remember most about your summers as a child? Many of us enjoyed camps and retreats during our breaks from school. For others, those activities were not an option. United Way Santa Barbara (UWSB) is working to level the playing field for a new generation of local students by providing summer enrichment for ask-risk youth. Members of the local Yardi Voyager Client Success Residential SB 2 Team recently volunteered at the UWSB Fun in the Sun (FITS) Lunch Bunch event. Volunteers included Evan Hamilton, Brandon Paul, Luke Smith, Sonia Acuna, Ryan Daley, Baron Wei, Richard Ngoy, Dan Maliniak and Jomel Esleta, Team Leader, CSD. FITS is a six-week learning program geared towards children who are academically and financially at-risk. Esleta explains, “FITS is an important program for the community because these students’ parents spend much of their time working. The children are often unsupervised during the summer and are exposed to behavioral risks. FITS provides students and their families with unique and engaging experiences to reduce and reverse ‘summer learning loss’ and narrow the achievement gap between lower-income students and their middle or upper class peers.” Summer learning loss is a condition examined and analyzed through a 20-year study at Johns Hopkins University. When students lack access to enrichment activities over the summer, they lose academic skills gained during the previous year. They are also less prepared for the upcoming school year. The affects of summer learning loss accumulate year after year, pushing the students farther behind their peers who are able to continue learning during the summer. “By ninth grade, summer learning loss can be blamed for roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap separating income groups,” says TIME Magazine. To prevent summer learning loss, volunteers help students with hands-on assignments, arts and...

New hire onboarding is a necessary process for all growing multifamily organizations. It is also a major pain point. Dominium, a Minneapolis-based leading apartment development and management company, set goals to double in size by 2025. To reach its goals, the company needs an innovative and efficient training solution. Maya Kasangaki, Senior Service Desk Technician and Yardi Trainer, explains how Yardi eLearning has prepared her organization for growth. Onboarding Dilemmas Dominium faced challenges that are familiar to other property management firms: high turnover and costly, inefficient training processes. The organization hosted monthly weeklong trainings for new community managers at the corporate office.  In addition to regular conference calls, these nearly six-hour training sessions consumed the majority of Kasangaki’s time. Once complete, she lacked a consistent way to track students’ understanding and content retention. “If we have training with 12 people on the call, it’s hard to make sure that everyone is absorbing the information. They aren’t as comfortable bringing up questions or starting a discussion in the midst of a training,” she observes. High turnover exacerbated the already frustrating situation. “Because of the staff turnover in property management, we would train someone but they didn’t have basic knowledge of the industry. The information we provided  was maybe going over their head. Then we would hire someone to replace them and we would have to begin this process all over again,” says Kasangaki. Dominium sought a training solution that would simplify and expedite new hire onboarding. Online Solutions for Onboarding and Growth In 2016, Dominium implemented Yardi eLearning. The company customized the curricula to include soft skills courses, videos, webinars, and more. Kasangaki appreciates the ability to deliver content in different formats, allowing learners to receive the information in a way that appeals to their...

Desperate times call for creative solutions. The city of Allentown, Pennsylvania faced a multimillion-dollar deficit, high crimes rates, and a dwindling population. A unique approach to capital investment saved the city, producing what the mayor calls “Allentown 4.0.” William Billowitch, Controller, City Center Investment Corporation, sits down with Yardi to explore the organization’s singular approach to development. Built from Necessity The city of Allentown, the third largest city in Pennsylvania, descended into a rut during the recession. Its blighted neighborhoods became a hotbed for crime. While neighboring cities gradually pulled out of their recession lows, Allentown continued to descend. In the effort to save the town, local leaders and visionaries from the public and private sector worked together to draft a revitalization plan for the urban core. With that plan in mind, real estate development firm City Center Investment Corporation created City Center Lehigh Valley. The mixed-use complex is helping to transform downtown Allentown into one of America’s most vibrant urban communities. It is a regional center of excellence for business, culture and metropolitan living. “Our objective is to stimulate downtown, the economy. We use pretty much almost all Pennsylvania labor, all Pennsylvania products, to build,” says Billowitch. With Allentown’s new arena, PPL Center, at its core, City Center includes more than 1 million square feet. The campus includes three Class A office towers, the Renaissance Allentown Hotel, STRATA East and West residential buildings, The Shops at City Center, upscale restaurant space and a co-working space called Velocity. The seven-story office building, One City Center, was the first installment of a 10-year master planned project. In addition to office space, it is home to a sports performance and fitness center. One City Center is currently fully leased. “Since then, we’ve opened a building every...

81-year old Masako Wakamiya is proving to the world that age is really just a number. At a TEDx conference in Tokyo, a lively, energetic, self proclaimed “chatterbox” Masako professed angst at the thought of retiring at age 60–the requirement in Japan. It’s why after 43 years working at a bank, she decided to teach herself how to use a computer. In those days computers were not the intuitive, user friendly machines we have today. Masako recalled the three months it took her to set up and learn how to operate her computer. “My face was covered in sweat and tears,” she described. That same determination is what lead Masako to create her own app. But not just any app. Masako decided to create one specifically for elderlies after noticing a shortage of fun apps aimed at people her age. “We easily lose games when playing against young people, since our finger movements can’t match their speed,” explains Masako. Her app, Hinadan, is an iOS game based on the traditional Japanese festival Hinamatsuri, or Doll’s Day. During the festival, ornamental dolls representing the emperor and his followers are dressed in traditional garb and displayed in a specific arrangement. The game aims to teach players the correct positions by having 12 dolls that players must situate properly on a display with four tiers. Once the challenge has been successfully completed, a congratulatory message pops up. “I [would] encourage [old people] to start having fun experiences using computers,” she explained. When she is not teaching computer classes or blogging, Masako leads the Mellow Club, a community she founded for retirees that aims to encourage active aging. As if all this was not impressive enough, she also runs the Mellow Denshoukan, a digital archive of personal experiences...

Casey Lynch and Mike Brown were graduate school classmates at UCLA when they started their real estate investment and development company, LocalConstruct, with limited funds and bona fide sweat equity. “We bought a $55,000 condominium in Fontana, Calif. that we painted and renovated ourselves. We were at Home Depot, buying our own supplies,” recalled Lynch. Flash forward nearly a decade, and LocalConstruct has become a thriving small firm with multifamily and mixed-use projects in California, Colorado, Idaho and Montana.  The Los Angeles-based company, a Yardi client, has developed 2,000 apartment units to date. Lynch and Brown have a specific vision for urban infill development. Seeking out markets with plentiful jobs but limited work-proximate housing, they have hit a sweet spot where limited supply meets unprecedented demand. We talked with Lynch about LocalConstruct’s market choices and formula for success.   You started your company in 2008, when real estate was in a desperate place. Why? Lynch: We saw a great opportunity to start an entrepreneurial enterprise, given the volatility in the market at the time. We raised a small fund to go out and buy single family homes and convert them into real properties in Los Angeles. You always hear developers who have been in the business 30 to 40 years talk about their first deal and working their way up the ladder. For us and our story, that would be true.   Things have changed tremendously since then. What happened to LocalConstruct in the last nine years? Lynch: We went from one unit projects to 2 to 4 to 8 to 20 to 100 to 300. We have a presence in four states in the West and we are focused on infill housing strategies, primarily rental housing, and we are focused on emerging markets...

With 8 communities in Illinois, Ohio and Michigan and 3 more in development, Randall Residence prides itself on a history of providing quality care dating back to 1975. Though the company has been around longer than the personal computer, they aren’t stuck in the past. In fact, by embracing the data management capabilities of Yardi to improve staff efficiency and more effectively manage operations throughout their portfolio, Randall Residence is using the best of modern technology to continue their track record of excellence. For Noel Salgado, a key element of the company’s success lies in its ability to harness the power of information. As CFO for Randall Residence, Salgado watched as the company transitioned from a small, regional company to a senior living provider with properties spanning three states. As the company evolved, its needs also changed, including demand for a comprehensive and integrated software system capable of incorporating accounting and care management. “As CFO I want to make sure I can see all the effects that are occurring in real time instead of having to wait a month before knowing whether anything needs to be adjusted,” says Salgado. From Basic to Comprehensive When Salgado first arrived at Randall Residence, the company was in the early stages of Voyager 6 integration. Although Salgado was aware of the software’s capabilities, he admits that at first Randall Residence was “using it in a very minimal way.” “We weren’t utilizing all the Yardi Voyager capabilities at first,” he says. “For the longest time, we used only a minimal portion of the software, before realizing the value of what we could do.” For Salgado, the realization hit when the company transitioned to Voyager 7S and began to add modules and expand utilization. “Moving from Voyager 6 to Voyager...

Jeff Bischoff and Michael Grimaud were classmates and friends at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. But that’s not all they have in common. After graduation, both built rewarding careers on the Yardi sales team. Sales at Yardi, an industry-leading real estate technology company with offices around the world, offers many exciting opportunities for professionals of wide-ranging skill and experience. Bischoff and Grimaud entered the company out of college and quickly ascended. Other positions are suitable for experienced sales executives and customer care professionals. Both Bischoff and Grimaud began their careers in Yardi’s client services division and then moved to sales. You can learn more about available Yardi sales roles on yardi.com/careers. We recently caught up with Bischoff and Grimaud to learn more about their experience. Both have been with Yardi for about five years. Bischoff currently works as Regional Manager for Public and Affordable Housing sales, while Grimaud is a Senior Account Executive focusing on the multifamily sector. Both employees say that Yardi’s prestigious position in the real estate industry, as well as the chance to truly make an impact for the clients they work with, are among the most rewarding parts of the job. “I truly enjoy visiting clients face to face on a regular basis. To build strong relationships, it is important the client trusts you and there is no better way to do so than by sitting down and interacting, whether it be through a meeting, a presentation, or a meal.  I also enjoy providing clients with a real solution to solve their business issues. When you show a new product to a client for the first time and you can see their eyes light up – that is a great moment,” said Grimaud, who works out of the Yardi Santa...

To mark two decades in the senior care industry, Benchmark Senior Living recently embarked on a seven state mission to spread kindness and neighborly love in towns and neighborhoods where the company’s 54 senior living communities are located. For the month of June, residents living near a Benchmark community discovered care packages on their doorstep along with small helpful acts like a newspaper moved closer to their front porch, all with a note commemorating Benchmark’s “Radiant Acts of Kindness.” Employees committed to 1,000 such acts throughout the month. “This is Benchmark’s 20th anniversary year, and we want to give back to the communities and families that have supported our company’s growth since 1997,” Tom Grape, the company’s founder, and CEO said in a statement. “So, every one of our 54 senior living communities across seven Northeast states — and our home office in Waltham, Mass., — has committed to performing at least 20 Radiant Acts of Kindness during June in their local neighborhoods and towns.” Located in Waltham, Mass., Benchmark Senior Living operates 54 senior living communities throughout the Northeast. They offer services ranging from independent living to skilled nursing and memory care. For the last nine years, Benchmark has been recognized by The Boston Globe as one of the “Top 100 Places to Work,” and many of Benchmark’s executive directors and staff embraced the June initiative. Every one of Benchmark’s communities committed to the 1000 Acts, with many taking a creative approach that went beyond gift baskets to include washing cars, providing free tennis balls to neighborhood dogs to handing out random gift certificates. “We can’t wait to share these compassionate acts with West Chester and surrounding areas,” commented Doug Buttner, executive director, Wellington at Hershey’s Mill. “Our employees already have surprises prepared...

A Texan who now makes her home in Toronto, Brittney Dolinger has an exceptional outlook on life – and a great perspective on her Yardi journey. Currently working as a team lead supporting Yardi’s Genesis2 clients, Dolinger started with Yardi more than seven years ago, when the company had an office in Dallas. “I was just in one year remission from cervical cancer,” said Dolinger, who learned about Yardi from her sister, Laci Ortiz, a 10-year Yardi employee. “My sister told me about a new vision Yardi had and was looking for exceptional customer service oriented people to help build their new call center.” After diving into her new job, she began learning the ropes of a new industry and was part of the team who helped build the Yardi Call Center in Irving, Texas. “When we moved from the Dallas office to the Irving office, I took the opportunity to step up my game. We started to have more and more clients and that comes with more responsibility. We were making a name for ourselves and working on delivering top quality customer service to the industry,” she recalled. The call center team, known among Yardi’s global offices for its camaraderie and rapport, quickly expanded and became a valued part of the Yardi Marketing Suite, where multifamily clients use RentCafe Connect to meet their after-hours customer service needs. While use of the product grew, so did the families of many of the call center employees, including Dolinger’s. “Nine of us were pregnant at the same time in the call center. We like to call them our Yardi babies,” she laughed. Her son Finn is now three and a half. After he was born, she went back to college to finish her bachelor’s degree, which...

Team Yardi Toronto recently spent time at The Scott Mission in Toronto, giving back by preparing food for those in need. The Scott Mission has been serving homeless and impoverished Toronto residents since 1941, and has played a major role in helping thousands of people return to safety and stability after living on the street. In addition to meal services, the mission provides nightly shelter for up to 50 homeless men, groceries and clothing for the impoverished, summer camps and childcare, and worship services. The mission’s 100 staff members are joined by 2,500 Toronto community members each year to make these good works possible. On June 20, that included a group of employees from Yardi Canada. “This was a team building experience as well as a very humbling way to give back to the community,” said Lee Anne Lippa, an application solutions consultant from the Toronto office. “It left us with added appreciation for our surroundings of health, family, friends, colleagues, our place to work, home to live in and the food on our table.” The Yardi team, led by senior account executive Shirleen Vieira, participated in food and dessert preparation, setting tables for two lunch servings, and a final clean up. “They serve balanced meals,” Lippa noted. “We had chicken wings, baked potato, hard-boiled egg and salad.  Others that were vegetarian with baked potato, salad, hard-boiled egg, salad and grilled eggplant and zucchini.” They served lunch to the shelter guests – which included people of all ages – with courtesy and respect for those coming to eat, which is a focus of the organization’s Christian values. Drawing from the Yardi corporate values, which include giving back to the community, the Toronto offices encourages other Yardi colleagues globally to give back in similar fashion....

Yardi recently sponsored and participated in an event hosted by the Empire Club of Canada. The panel talk, titled “The Evolution of the Real Estate Industry — Diversity, Culture and the Workplace,” focused on the commercial market. Established in 1903, the Empire Club of Canada is an influential forum for leaders in various industries and cultural organizations. Every generation, but especially Baby Boomers and millennials, has a major impact on various sectors of real estate. The Empire Club panel broadened the discussion to include gender and racial diversity. The hope was to motivate industry leaders to increase the presence and influence of women and minorities in the Canadian real estate industry. The panel included Scott Addison, President, Brokerage Services Canada, Colliers International; Toni Rossi, President, Real Estate Division, Infrastructure Ontario; and Michael Brooks, CEO, Real Property Association of Canada. Serving as moderator was Sheila Botting, National Real Estate Leader in Canada and a partner at Deloitte. Driving Change Botting compared a thriving work culture to an ecosystem. No ecosystem can be homogeneous — diversity is crucial for ongoing growth and survival. “Diversity drives productivity, profitability and better outcomes for everyone involved,” Botting said. Addison commented that the first thing that needs to happen to drive change is awareness. He has personally observed a lack of gender diversity in the brokerage arena. To address this issue,  Colliers set up campus recruiting and other hiring programs led by women to help balance the gender gap. Rossi, representing Infrastructure Ontario, said the organization is fortunate to have a 50/50 gender balance in its leadership.  That has been established thanks to direction by the federal government, especially during the Trudeau administration. Rossi outlined three key things she believes can prompt change: Leadership: set a target (not a quota) for...

The power of online learning for real estate companies is highlighted in a new video featuring Yardi client Roscoe Properties. A multifamily firm in Austin, Texas, Roscoe has drastically reduced staff training time using Yardi’s customizable online learning platform. Mariana Estrada, Vice President of Operations at Roscoe Properties, shares in the video how the multifamily organization has been able to grow with help from Yardi eLearning. Critical trainings at Roscoe Properties would previously take up to four weeks. After implementing Yardi eLearning, staff was able to reduce critical training duration to three days. “eLearning has allowed us to take our training to the next level,” says Estrada. “It has provided us with a scalable training strategy that will take us to the next 10,000 units.” Yardi eLearning facilitates customizable online training that appeals to different learning styles. Students can access courses anywhere there is an Internet connection and review content as needed. Assessment tools empower course moderators to identify students who may need additional support. The results are flexible, effective trainings that save time and resources. “Just in travel alone, we’ve been able to save tens of thousands of dollars,” Estrada says. Roscoe Properties learns on Yardi....

Yardi employees Tom and Larissa Napoli are parents of a two-year-old daughter and work full time in Yardi’s San Diego office, and also manage to find the time to fundraise for worthy causes. Both Tom and Larissa work in support of Yardi’s Smart Energy Suite. Larissa is a team lead and Tom is a senior technical account manager. Outside of work, Tom is the founder of the Free Art Foundation, a San Diego 501(c)3 organization that puts on art-focused events on behalf of organizations in need. Larissa, a talented artist herself, assists him with graphics and marketing. “I had always wanted to start a charity focused on helping artists create art to sell for charitable causes,” Tom said. “When our daughter was born, she had complications and was in the NICU for 10 days. That experience did something to me that pushed me to focus on helping kids out any way that I can.” Born with a hole in her lung, their little girl is now healthy and happy. But the passion for helping children in need remains. With a strong ability to connect with people and companies and create relationships, Tom decided to put those skills and energy to good use in his free time. Previous beneficiaries have included Mama’s Kitchen of San Diego, which provides free food to patients living with AIDS and cancer, and the Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego. This year, the Free Art Foundation is working to benefit StandUp for Kids, an established organization with San Diego roots that assists homeless youth. With the support of San Diego Harley Davidson, Tom arranged for donation of a motorcycle that will be raffled in support of the charity. “Our organization was founded in 1990 by a group of volunteers in...

Each May, the good people of Santa Barbara, Calif. are encouraged to put pedals to the pavement and ride their bikes to work. Yardi’s home office in Goleta is a longtime participant in CycleMAYnia, the regional cycling challenge that encourages people of all ages to get back on their bikes. The event has been ongoing since 2005. “The community benefits through fewer cars on the road and reduced emissions, as well as elevated levels of joy and friendliness amongst neighbors, strangers, and coworkers,” said Lori LaRiva, Traffic Solutions/TDM Program Coordinator for Santa Barbara County Association of Governments. “Employees arrive at work refreshed, they let go of stress at the end of the day, they get a free workout, and they experience the camaraderie of a friendly workplace challenge,” LaRiva said. That’s certainly been the experience at Yardi, which captured the win for the 500 – 999 employee category. Companies are stacked up against each other based on size. Second place category finisher, Mindbody of San Luis Obispo, rode just 25 percent of the miles Yardi team members did. Yardi employees racked up 3,598 miles on bikes during the month of May to earn the win, and 439.5 miles during the week of May 15-19 when the competition tallies were recorded. “Not only did CycleMAYnia encourage employees to bike together, but it also encouraged carpooling for those who live too far to bike the entire way.  We had a new cyclist ride from downtown Santa Barbara every day,” said Kelly Johnson, Yardi event coordinator.  “The farthest biker came from Carpinteria.” LaRiva described some of the widespread benefits of the competition. “Every year, participants say that the Bike Challenge gets them back on their bikes again. For some, it creates a casual routine that will last...

By adopting an electronic health record platform with a centralized database, senior living provider Northbridge Companies lives up to its commitment of providing best quality of care to its residents. When Northbridge companies made the choice to transition from paper documentation to electronic health records, the company’s primary objective involved eliminating redundant tasks and improving staff productivity. As someone on the front lines during the company’s switch to Yardi EHR, Marcia Suddy saw firsthand how swiftly technology can improve the workplace. “One of the biggest changes with electronic records versus paper is that you can lay your hands on information very quickly,” she says. “That reduces the length of time needed to resolve issues and helps us provide the best quality of care to our residents.” Live Well, Love Life Founded in 2006, privately owned senior living provider with 15 communities servicing residents across New England, Northbridge Companies has made providing quality senior care a priority for over a decade. Northbridge Community provides its 850 residents with an environment designed to “encourage freedom, offer lifestyle choices, and provide the necessary services to live life to the fullest.” When Suddy began her nursing studies, she quickly realized she felt a connection to seniors. “While I was earning my administrator’s license and BC certification, I absolutely fell in love with senior care,” she says. “I don’t foresee ever doing anything else.” As Regional Director of Care Services for Northbridge, Suddy feels great satisfaction working for a company she describes as being “passionate about senior care.” “It’s such a relief to work for an organization that truly lives up to the values they advocate,” she says. “It’s not just the president of the company, but the associates, the investors, the families. Everyone is committed to providing the...

When it comes to the senior living industry, one word reigns supreme: community. Whether it’s memory care, assisted living or simply providing the opportunity to live independently, all manner of senior living options pivot on the notion that residents and their families are keen to sustain connections and keep life in the golden years meaningful and nurturing. One key aspect integral to the creation of a senior community is communication, between staff, caregivers, residents and their families. “Communication is one of the biggest challenges we face as an industry,” says Dennis McCarthy, CIO at Superior Residences. “In the senior housing market, you are not just serving the resident, you’re serving the family that cares about them as well, so it’s important to ensure everyone stays connected.” Care, Comfort and Accountability Florida-based Superior Residences exemplifies the multifaceted nature of the senior living industry, with services ranging from independent living to assisted living and memory care. Superior Residences even provides a Day Stay Program designed to give at home caregivers a break by providing resident care for shorter periods of time from a few hours to the whole day. The company’s mission statement, “building trust so that residents, families and our team have peace” demonstrates Superior Residences commitment to creating an atmosphere of care and comfort based on a set of core values including “integrity, service, efficiency and fun.” As one of the company’s founders, McCarthy understands the essential role accountability plays in fulfilling those core values, an accountability made all the easier by the company’s use of Yardi Voyager for Senior Housing. “Billing needs to be as accurate as possible so that you can explain to resident why they are being charged and what services they are being billed for,” he explains. “When you have...

As the senior living industry continues searching for solutions to ongoing workforce shortages and rampant burnout, software solutions like Yardi Voyager can simplify tasks and increase employee satisfaction. Finding and keeping the right employees remains an ongoing challenge for senior living providers. In fact, according to research firm Holleran, after a fairly short “honeymoon period” of one year, worker engagement begins to decline, leading employees to seek out new opportunities and resulting in a 42% average turnover rate for life plan communities. These losses translate into real money: The average cost of turnover per employee can be up to 50% of that employee’s salary, with true turnover costs for registered nursing hovering above $65,000 per employee. “Turnover in our industry’s been pretty high,” admits Angela Kennedy, Senior Accountant for Commonwealth Assisted Living. “Just being able to recruit and retain top talent is challenging.” “Our People Set Us Apart” With a set of core values focused on helping seniors “age with dignity,” Commonwealth Assisted Living operates 23 communities throughout Virginia. Founded in 2002 by Richard J. Brewer, the company values leadership from within and strives to create an atmosphere of teamwork and transparency. As one of the largest providers of independent living, assisted living and memory care in the state, Commonwealth cares for over 1,500 residents. “Our people set us apart from other providers,” says Brewer, “We work hard, and are not afraid to do things differently.” The centralized recordkeeping, customized menus and easy to relevant records available through Yardi Voyager® Senior Housing allows Commonwealth staffers to do their jobs much for effectively, but that’s not the only benefit. According to Angela, the simplified data entry system and streamlined record keeping also help employees feel more engaged by freeing them from mundane, repetitive tasks so they...

Bozzuto Management Company President Stephanie L. Williams was recently recognized by the Washington Business Journal as one of the top 25 minority business leaders in Washington, D.C. One of the co-founders and co-champions of the Bozzuto Diversity and Inclusion program, which strives to cultivate diversity at every level of the company, Williams has strongly held views on how those in the multifamily industry can make their corporate cultures more innovative and strengthen relationships with residents. What do you believe was the greatest factor in your success? Williams: I’ve been at Bozzuto since 2004. I came in as a development associate, having been brought on board as a result of relationships I started in graduate school. I learned early on that building relationships was a key to getting opportunities and to being successful. Once I joined Bozzuto I continued building relationships, demonstrating knowledge of the business and my interest in the industry. And that was evidence I was committed to the company and wanted to grow within the company. I was pretty vocal about saying I wanted to become a leader and also in saying, ‘Help me understand how to do that.’ I supplemented that with relationships outside the company, which allowed me to bring business into the company, whether it was a company we could partner with or build for. I’ve always been a big believer in mentors both inside and outside the company. They have helped me strategically navigate through my career, urging me to take risks and sometimes to show patience. And then just not being afraid to take risks. That separates the good from the great. There were times when I made a decision that wasn’t the right one. But showing the initiative and the willingness to think outside the box...