Yardi’s offices have many internship opportunities for those interested in learning about the technology side of real estate. Today, meet Brody Masterson, who joined the company for an internship five years ago and has been thriving at Yardi since. Brody and his wife, Ashton. Meet Brody Masterson Brody Masterson completed an internship in the summer of 2018 with Yardi. He completed his degree from the University of Oklahoma and graduated with a bachelor’s in management information systems. He then started working at Yardi full-time out of the Dallas office, making last month his fourth anniversary. Masterson is a senior technical manager for the residential Texas Practice 6 Team. Masterson spends most of his work resolving data issues for clients he is solely responsible for. When he is not working and meeting with clients, he works with his colleagues and team members needing assistance. Since stepping into the senior role with more responsibility, he has taken over critical topics for his team. “I’m readily available to answer any questions that my teammates have, or if they prefer, I’ll hop on a quick call with them to give them guidance on a case or insight over a Voyager functionality,” said Masterson. Yardi is a comprehensive software that takes time to learn the ins and outs. However, Masterson enjoys using not only his technical skills but also his consulting skills for the job. “There are numerous software areas that require either cloud knowledge, accounting knowledge, marketing knowledge, etc. So, it has been very beneficial learning from all these different areas,” said Masterson. Knowledge is Power Masterson likes the comradery and collaboration at Yardi. Even working virtually, he still feels the same vibes from working daily in the office. “Yardi’s culture is also very collaborative. There has always...
Leeana Bari
Yardi Employee Profile
Yardi’s global offices make essential contributions to property management and investors worldwide. Today, we introduce you to Leeana Bari, a senior technical account manager for RentCafé Resource out of the Dallas office, a part of the Texas Practice 6 team. Meet Leeana Bari Leeana Bari has been with Yardi for five years after graduating from the University of Oklahoma, her first job out of college. Bari spends her workdays keeping clients as happy as possible. Fulfilling the Yardi mission statement, taking care of clients and being dedicated to them, ensuring they are all responded to promptly. She also values positive reinforcement for her peers and colleagues. “I am a queue watcher because I love seeing the queue go down and sending a ‘good job team’ message from time to time in our team chat to shine a light on their hard work being seen because some weeks it gets tough,” says Bari. Working in the office has allowed Bari more human interactions since the pandemic made everything virtual. She enjoys walking around, joining conversations, and playing ping pong in the breakroom. She finds working from home can lead to burnout with minimal breaks, so when working at home, she is mindful of her time and does a quick 10–15-minute workout to get the blood flowing. “I believe it’s important to incorporate times to step away from the computer to refresh your mind, especially if you’re stuck on a case,” Bari shares. Cultivating Bonds Bari appreciates all the people she works with at Yardi. She has never felt that she couldn’t be herself, which makes the work environment enjoyable. The professionalism and involvement of managers and team leads in the Dallas office encourage success and growth within Yardi. “The environment is professional, but one thing I absolutely love about Yardi is that I always felt and continue to feel like I can be myself in and out of the office,” shared Bari. She wants new hires, especially those right out of college, to know that Yardi’s company culture makes a big difference. Knowledge is shared daily, which makes working with clients that much easier. Yardi encourages diversity, inclusion and growth, making it easy to connect with peers and enjoy work each day. “The recruiters at Yardi have done an amazing job at finding knowledgeable people with the awareness and soft skills to ensure the work culture meets all requirements of our motto,” said Bari. She continues, “I’ve absolutely loved working for Yardi! I’ve made life-long friendships and couldn’t have imagined or asked for a better first job!” Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. World traveler, dancer and pro wedding guest Bari spends her time outside of the office traveling with family and friends. Her parents immigrated to America from Bangladesh, so travel has been super important to them to connect with family. Bari was able to experience traveling to foreign countries and even within the States as a child, opening her eyes to what is out there in the world. She also has been swamped attending several weddings within the past few years. “In 2022, I attended nine weddings. I am on number three of six for 2023 and have six already on the calendar for 2024! Celebrating my friends brings the utmost joy to my life – however, if you’ve ever attended a Desi wedding, you know a gal is running out of outfits,” Bari exclaimed! When she is not attending weddings, Bari enjoys dancing. Dancing has always been a part of her life. She believes it soothes the soul. Some of her best years were on a dance team in college, and she cultivated strong friendships she still has to this day. “It is amazing to me to see how everyone brings their own personality and flow to the dance; however, we’re all able to mesh and flow in sync as...
Client Spotlight
Matt Berlin, Paragon Real Estate Investments
We recently caught up with Matt Berlin, CFO for Paragon Real Estate Investments, for perspective on the drivers and results of implementing new accounting software for managing real estate investments. Matt, what is Paragon’s business focus? We’re a privately held company that manages and invests funds on behalf of family offices, institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. We manage our growing portfolio of stabilized assets through our flagship fund, Paragon Real Estate Fund. The Paragon team is based in La Jolla, Calif., and owns commercial property in key urban markets nationwide. What challenges did you face in your real estate investment operations? As our investor base grew significantly, we found that doing property accounting manually on spreadsheets was cumbersome, time-consuming and mistake-prone. That prompted us to seek a new software solution capable of streamlining journal entries, general ledger updates, distributions and other investment operations. Then you adopted Yardi Investment Accounting. What did that do for you? It automated our asset, investment accounting and investment lifecycle within a single connected solution. Yardi Investment Accounting is the only one-stop shop I’ve seen in the market. What results have you seen from the implementation? The solution produces faster reporting, helps us formulate our investment strategies, satisfies investors and enables full transparency from investors through assets. Its seamless integration with Yardi Voyager means we don’t have to worry about mistakes from manually entering data into spreadsheets or whether disparate systems can communicate with each other and make the various general ledgers match. Investment Accounting also streamlined our annual net asset value calculations by automatically incorporating the current share price. Can you cite an example of Investment Accounting’s utility? When we executed a capital call, we didn’t need to set up new spreadsheet formatting. We no longer needed to open...
Reimagining Affordable Housing Training
ALCO Talks Training
Our series highlighting affordable housing visionaries continues with a look at the work of Ebonye Edwards, director of learning and development for ALCO Management. ALCO is based in Memphis, Tenn. The company’s 200+ employees serve communities in eight states in the Southern United States. ALCO’s portfolio includes 59 properties with 5,497 units. How did Yardi choose Ebonye to feature in our Affordable Housing Visionary series? It’s her ability to recognize the usefulness of training and to implement technology that keeps ALCO in compliance with the ever changing standards of the affordable housing industry. She keeps ALCO’s in-office and remote workers trained using custom courses, curated learning plans, automated reminders and reporting tools. Q: Ebonye, tell us about your role at ALCO. EE: As Director of Learning and Development, my job is to make sure our team has the resources necessary to not only perform their job, but also to create career opportunities in the complex affordable housing industry. Q: What is your biggest accomplishment at ALCO to date? EE: When I was hired, our learning program used live instructional sessions held in virtual classrooms. I discovered that method to be a bit inefficient because classes would often be faced with unknown delays and absences that may have limited the potential benefits of training. Q: How did you mitigate those limitations? EE: At the time, ALCO was licensing Yardi Aspire, but with limited actual use. Our training courses at the time covered standard topics such as fair housing, sexual harassment and maintaining a drug-free workplace. All other topics, including affordable housing compliance subjects, were taught by our in-house instructors. They’d set a schedule with hopes of reaching everyone who needed training. Despite their best efforts, it was a challenge for everyone to attend. As I was considering the future of training at ALCO, I took a closer look at Aspire. I found that Aspire had affordable housing property management and compliance training content that could supplement, if not replace, much of the live training sessions we had difficulty coordinating across our regional work spaces. We considered the different roles at ALCO, such as property managers and maintenance teams and created learning plans based on those roles. Q: How does your team make sure your learning plans cover everything you need? A: Our Senior Instructional Designer is great at creating custom courses in Aspire. She uses the templates and design tools to roll out coursework to our team, and can normally complete a module in a matter of days. One of the biggest differentiators I have found with Aspire is that it’s not just a medium to get training content onto the screens of learners. Aspire is different because it also has built-in, proprietary content. That content often meets our needs, but when it doesn’t, our design team can easily tweak the classes or build new learning modules from scratch. Q: How does Aspire help ALCO with affordable housing compliance mandates? EE: Yardi helps us keep up with evolving affordable housing industry regulations. When HUD changes go into effect, Yardi Aspire immediately begins work to make sure our training content is compliant. I feel confident that our staff is learning up-to-date processes and procedures and not spending time on anything out of compliance. Q: How does automated content delivery make things easier for ALCO? EE: Centralizing training on a learning management solution, such as Aspire, replaces a lot of administrative work. Instead of keeping track of training schedules for each employee in a spreadsheet or database, we automate things on Aspire. It alerts our team members when they are required to recertify on fair housing, employment standards and on changing laws. Q: Was Aspire helpful for ALCO during the pandemic? EE: Yes. At the time, I felt like ALCO was ahead of the curve compared with what other affordable housing organizations may have been experiencing. For example, Aspire is great for...
Meet Dan Madsen
Changemakers 2023
Ready to hear from another 2023 Changemaker? Say hello to Dan Madsen, chairman and CEO of Seattle-based Leisure Care. We’re loving highlighting this year’s honorees — an empowering group of senior living leaders — as the series’ sponsor for the fifth consecutive year. Dan Madsen named 2023 Changemaker From spending 32 years in the senior living industry, Madsen is well-versed when it comes to taking risks, developing new strategies and driving change. In his interview with Senior Housing News (SHN), Madsen talks about his lessons learned over the years, as well as what he’s focusing on looking ahead. Read on for a highlight of Madsen’s interview: SHN: How have you changed as a leader since starting in this industry? Madsen: It was 32 years ago, or almost 33, I guess, and I’ve learned tons. Every year I continue to grow and learn as a leader, gaining a lot of empathy and understanding for people and their behaviors. One of the greatest things I think I learned was the tolerance of — mine as well, that all people have seasons. We have such longevity in our company that people have really good years, and then they have life that happens as well, and to continue to support them is really, really important. SHN: Can you talk about a time when you tried to execute a change and things didn’t go according to plan? How did you pivot, and what did you learn as a leader? Madsen: I think that it’s more internal than external. We continue to innovate, and it’s the acceptance in the field sometimes even at the general manager level to really support that change. That’s because it is general managers in the field in those positions who are dealing with their current...
Vitality Living Success Story
Voyager Senior Housing
“We use Yardi as our source of truth for everything.” That insight comes from Nick Byrd, chief financial officer at Vitality Living, in a recent interview discussing Vitality’s successes with the Yardi Senior Living Suite. With a focus on Yardi Voyager Senior Housing, the story spotlights the challenges Vitality faced prior to working with Yardi — and shares how they’ve found success since then. Read the highlight below, then head to the success story to get all the insights: The Challenge: Manual Processes & Disparate Systems Vitality used to rely on manual processes and disparate systems — taking time away from priorities, generating errors and causing confusion among teams. From monthly ACH pulls to building financial reports, key tasks became increasingly arduous. Vitality searched for a dependable, integrated solution to serve as their source of truth and alleviate the challenges they were facing. The Solution: Yardi Voyager Senior Housing Designed for senior living providers of all types and sizes, Yardi Voyager Senior Housing delivers property management and financial accounting on a powerful, cloud-based platform. By adding solutions across the Yardi Senior Living Suite, operators take full control of the senior living spectrum from marketing to operations to care. The Story: Gaining One Source of Truth, Eliminating Errors & Saving Time Prior to implementing Voyager Senior Housing and accompanying tools in the Yardi Senior Living Suite, Vitality used a mix of siloed technology and manual processes. The lack of a single connected solution — built to unite all data and workflows in one place — meant Vitality didn’t have true visibility or a reliable method for retrieving important information. By moving forward with Yardi, Vitality now has a single source of truth — a solution that integrates all aspects of its business into one database. “When you’re running a report in Voyager, you’re getting real time data,” shares Byrd in the success story. “The system is integrated with all of these pieces which allows us to get a true picture.” With Voyager automating tasks Vitality previously did manually, errors have now been eliminated across the board. “When we would run our monthly ACH pulls in the old system, the community’s business director would have to prepare the file, send it to accounting and we would manually enter all the ACH transactions, and update the amounts,” explained Byrd. “You can only imagine what kind of errors that could create, and it created a ton.” Vitaly also said goodbye to time drainers when they partnered with Yardi. Since Voyager acts as their complete general ledger system, Vitality has drastically reduced time spent on key financial accounting tasks, allowing team members to shift and focus on other priorities. “We gained two days back just around the ACH process,” said Byrd. “It was a manual lift before, but now things are getting updated in real time.” Read the full success story Ready to see all the ways Vitality is finding success with Voyager Senior Housing? Read the full success story! If you have any questions for us — or you’d like to book a demo based on what you read — reach out to connect with our senior living...
Yardi Long Island
Volunteers for Beach Cleanup
Let’s swim over to The New York Marine Rescue Center located in Riverhead, Long Island, founded in 1996, a rescue and rehabilitation organization that promotes marine conservation and is the primary responder for sick marine life like seals, sea turtles, dolphins, porpoises and small-toothed whales. Their mission is to preserve and protect the marine environment through various conservation efforts such as rescue, rehabilitation, education and research. It is the only marine mammal and sea turtle rehabilitation center in New York State. To assist the organization with its mission, #TeamYardi members from the Long Island, NY office had 27 volunteers that went to Robert Moses Beach for recent beach clean-up days. One of the groups gathered over 21 pounds of debris. The employees enjoyed a day at the beach and made an incredible impact on the marine environment. In addition to two beach clean-up days, eight volunteers represented Yardi at the New York Marine Rescue Center’s Ocean of Hope event. Yardi contributed a charitable donation, and the volunteers enjoyed silent auctions, music and...
Shaina Fite
Yardi Employee Profile
As National Volunteer Month continues, meet Shaina Fite, who recently organized a Yardi Atlanta team to participate in the Atlanta Community Food Bank Hunger Walk/Run, raising over $2,500 for the organization. Shaina Fite is a CSD manager for Rent Relief powered by Yardi. More than 28 states, counties and cities use Rent Relief to manage more than $1.5 billion in funding. Rent Relief is a complete software and service solution that’s fast to set up and scales to meet agency needs. Fite has been working at Yardi for almost eight years. Projects have included directly supporting the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in deploying the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), including technical support, vendor onboarding, call center, and marketing ancillaries. “I love working on products that directly impact people,” said Fite. “The Relief Suite has assisted with millions of dollars in payments for rent, mortgage, utility bills and small business assistance to those who need it most. It doesn’t get much better than knowing our work keeps people in their homes and their lights on!” Solution-driven and focused Fite appreciates the Yardi culture of inclusivity and acceptance, a recipe for employees to feel valued, respected and secure in their daily work lives. “When mistakes are made, we assess, adjust, and move forward together,” shared Fite. Fite describes Yardi as an innovative organization with solid values and appreciation for its employees and communities. “It’s a place where you can grow both as a professional and as a person,” enthused Fite. Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. Licensed to sell In her free time, Fite works as a real estate agent in Georgia. She also enjoys volunteering at local community nonprofit organizations. In addition, she has a...
Tamar Kapner
Yardi Employee Profile
April is National Volunteer Month, so we’re pleased to highlight a few Yardi employees who make a difference in their local communities. (Know a standout volunteer you’d like to see featured? Email us.) Meet Tamar Kapner Tamar Kapner is an associate technical account manager for the Yardi Breeze Premier setup team in Atlanta, Georgia. Kapner spends most of her time in the office onboarding new clients with Breeze Premier products for their first two to three months. In addition, she supports colleagues on her team with their clients and assists other account managers in different offices across the country. She also teaches classes internally for Breeze Premier. “I love the community we create within our teams. I enjoy working closely with clients, getting to know them and their companies, and helping them learn and use our software. Then, when the software clicks with a client, and they can use it to manage and grow their business, I get so much satisfaction,” said Kapner. A company that cares Kapner is a part of the Atlanta Office holiday planning committee and assists in planning holiday gatherings. She is also the Atlanta Breeze Premier volunteer committee coordinator and sets up opportunities for the team to volunteer at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. “Yardi feels like family. The Yardi motto can be felt in every aspect of the job. This is a company that cares. Cares not only for our clients but for each other and our communities. I love working for Yardi. This company values everyone for what they bring to the table,” Kapner shared. Kapner describes Yardi as a place where input and contribution matter. “No one here is just a number that meets metrics.” She continued, “Yardi cares about each employee and works hard to...
Tunisia Powell
Yardi Employee Profile
Meet Tunisia Powell, a consultant with residential consulting practices on the RentCafe team in Yardi’s Raleigh office. Greg Smith, vice president of CSD, says Powell “is positive, eager, and fearless, and never backs down from a new challenge.” Powell has been with Yardi off and on for over twelve years. When she decided to return to the company in 2014, one reason was because she missed the Yardi culture. “I believe the Yardi family vibe is in every office, which makes this company a unique and special place to work for,” Powell said. RentCaffeine websites, marketing, ILS, troubleshooting issues, third-party websites, CRM, and Voyager are some of the many projects Powell works to assist Yardi clients with. Her typical day tends to verify, which keeps it interesting with frequent new challenges. “I have several strategic clients with different workflows, ideas, and demanding needs. I have built relationships with these clients, so the first daily task is how to provide each of them with the same amount of time and support,” Powell said. Working from home for the past three years, Powell finds that keeping a list helps her to maintain a healthy work-life balance. “I start my mornings by looking at my scheduled meetings, reading emails, reviewing cases and notes from meetings, and creating a list of prioritized tasks to complete during the day,” Powell shared. Global synergy Powell enjoys the work relationships she has built with Yardi over the years. “I have worked with so many people in different offices around the United States, India, and Australia.” She continued, “To work with people that care speaks volumes.” While working in the Atlanta office, Powell was nicknamed “Tuni,” which even carried over to clients. Her infectious smile and laugh filled the office, and that energy...
Yardi Dubai
Sports League Success
The Yardi Dubai office is full of spirit, energy and fun group activities. Office manager Oksana Goliak coordinates the office to meet up for regular friendly competitive group sporting events. In 2021 they had a virtual climb of Mount Everest and had some skiing action for Ski Dubai. Then in 2022, they started the Yardi Sports League, which included cricket, badminton, football, and volleyball. Here is a look at some of their accomplishments of the past few years. When the pandemic hit and most were on lockdown, Yardi Dubai started to include some virtual team-building activities. In 2021 the Dubai team virtually climbed the highest mountain peak, Mount Everest. Each team member logged their steps into a daily group log with a challenging goal of 230 km in seven days. Cycling activities were excluded. Watch the video here: Next up in 2021 was Ski Dubai. The team gathered at an indoor skiing arena pictured here. Watch their outing here. In 2022, Yardi Dubai started the Yardi Sports League and gathered for cricket, football, volleyball, and badminton throughout the year. Pictured below is the cricket match. Watch the video here: Dubai Sports League: Football. Watch the video here: Dubai Sports League: Volleyball and Badminton. Splitting into two teams, The Black Panthers and White Tigers. The Black Panthers won the badminton trophy, and the White Tigers won the Volleyball...
Digital Assets Emerge
Proptech Insights with Alice Chen
A future of instantaneous settlement and no intermediaries is possible with the right infrastructure. Alice Chen, Bernie Devine’s guest on the latest episode of Yardi’s Proptech Insights, is busy building that infrastructure. The world of digital assets is taking shape before our eyes. In December, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock – the world’s largest asset manager with around $8 trillion in assets under management – predicted blockchain technology would open the door to the “next generation for markets.” Tokenisation can provide liquidity to illiquid assets – and one recent estimate suggests tokenising just 0.5% of the total global property market between now and 2026 would create a $1.4 trillion market. Alice Chen, co-founder and COO at InvestaX, was a real estate lawyer for many years, dealing with complex transactions “with a lot of intermediaries, a lot of paperwork and a lack of trust.” “I knew, if we could build trust into the process, we could save a lot of money and a lot of time,” Chen told Devine, Yardi’s senior regional director for Asia Pacific. With this insight and a desire to “democratise the real estate investment process,” Chen established InvestaX in 2015. Today, she and her co-founder Julian Kwan oversee Singapore’s leading digital securities platform. Tokenisation is the process in which a digital representation of an asset is created on a blockchain, authenticating its transaction and ownership history. Any asset – from art to real estate to bonds to carbon credits – can be tokenised. “And anything that has value, once tokenised, becomes a digital asset,” Chen explained. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum capture a lot of headlines and headspace, but they are quite distinct from digital securities. Cryptocurrencies are a decentralised medium of exchange that operate independently of central banks or governments. Digital securities, on the other hand, are investment products that are represented in digital form and can only be bought, sold and traded on regulated platforms. Metaverse investments and digital securities “have different characteristics, regulatory parameters and tax implications,” Chen emphasised. “I agree. The path to success with digitisation of assets is one that is compliant,” Devine added. “By digitising an asset you also make it easier for software to deal with it… You are not relying on an external third party to stamp a piece of paper.” InvestaX is taking the “slow and long road” – one which is building relationships and advocating changes to often antiquated laws. “The US test for what is a security is based on case law from 1946,” Chen explained. One of the biggest hurdles to real estate tokenisation is the stamp duty or transfer tax applied each time the asset changes hands. But Chen can clearly see a future of instantaneous settlement and no intermediaries. “We have the opportunity in the private markets to introduce an entirely new infrastructure because we don’t have legacy systems. We can facilitate instantaneous settlement… but we can only do this if we have digitally native currencies and digitally native securities. That’s how we think the future will be and that’s why we are rebuilding an entire infrastructure around it,” she said. How long will tokenisation take to transform real estate? Download the latest episode of Yardi’s Proptech Insights webinar series with InvestaX’s Alice Chen to find...
Ralf de Graaf
Yardi Employee Profile
From the Yardi Amsterdam office, meet Ralf de Graaf, senior manager for European Yardi services. His primary role is managing services teams during the implementation process and providing ongoing support for the European residential sector. Yardi’s EU product focus includes clients in both the Build to Rent (BTR) and student housing. He has spent over 25 years in finance, working with top financial companies such as Ernst & Young and Deloitte. de Graaf’s experience includes roles in finance management, outsourcing, platform management and operational leadership. With extensive knowledge in finance, de Graaf’s second hat at Yardi is overseeing Yardi’s international standards and compliance efforts. “In this role, I work with a small team based out of our Amsterdam office in close partnership with our programming teams and the various client service teams to help our clients meet local compliance in many European countries. The structured approach we have established towards the topic really helps to respond to rapidly changing laws and regulations across the European continent,” de Graaf said. He also works with the European translation team on initiatives to improve and deliver language capabilities across many products. “With the clear connection of the topic to the value we bring with our consumer-facing products, such as RentCafe in the residential segment, working on this topic is strategic to us,” de Graaf shared. Amsterdam YASC In 2017, de Graaf decided to pursue a career change and talk to key industry contacts. “I visited YASC in Amsterdam. This was a good moment to talk to some of the Yardi people I had the pleasure of working with for a long time, some of them already since 2004 when Deloitte became one of the first clients of Yardi in Europe,” he recalled. That was the start of...
Nick James
Yardi Employee Profile
Let’s go to the frozen tundra of Saskatoon, Canada for our latest Team Yardi profile and introduce Nick James, senior analyst in cloud services. Meet Nick James Nick James has been with Yardi since 2010, when he was part of the Point2 acquisition. James is at one of the coldest Yardi offices in Saskatoon, where temperatures can get to the low -40s in the winter. James’ work revolves around keeping malicious emails out of Yardi’s IT system and ensuring that the outbound emails sent from Yardi employees and platforms have the best possible chance of being delivered to the receiver’s inboxes, not to junk folders. Both areas involve hands-on technical work and communication with various teams to develop processes and procedures. “When I am not working on those things, I am working on security awareness initiatives with some other security team members. That includes everything from sending our regular security training to broader initiatives like Cybersecurity Awareness Month activities every October,” said James. Leading-edge betterment James appreciates that Yardi is an organization that cares about employees and clients. “That focus on people is one of the things I love most about working at Yardi.” James continued, “I get to work on things that interest me where I can see a tangible impact. Yardi has also allowed me to grow and learn in my role, so I always feel like I am moving forward.” He wants new hires in Canada and globally to know that Yardi is an employer that cares about employees and has a lot of internal growth and development opportunities. Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. Train displays Beyond hobbies such as video games (Dungeons and Dragons) and reading, James volunteers with a local group...
Yolanda Poulson
Yardi Employee Profile
Yolanda Poulson is an account manager on the RentCafe implementation team in the Yardi Raleigh, North Carolina office. Poulson has been working at Yardi since 2016. Prior to joining Yardi, she worked as a project manager for a Yardi client for 11 years. Training clients on how to use and support their newly implemented RentCafe platform is critical during the implementation. “As an account manager, I can build relationships with our clients and assist them with setting up their projects. In addition, I enjoy getting to know each of my clients and forming a bond that reassures them of being in great hands,” Poulson said. All hands on deck Going above and beyond, Poulson services Yardi clients and assists colleagues in other departments, such as onboarding new employees, which has opened new challenges for her. “These transitions have allowed me to learn new products and enhance my knowledge base, my knowledge of Yardi products, and my network across the company,” Poulson shared. Poulson is also a part of the Yardi Cares committee in the Raleigh office. The team finds outreach opportunities for the Yardi staff to participate in throughout the Triangle region. The saying “there is no I in TEAM” is a motto Poulson holds dearly and admires most about the team she works with. Collaboration and flexibility are two key components she enjoys the most about her work. “My advice to all new hires is to be a sponge and soak up all the knowledge around you and ask questions. Do not be afraid to submerge yourself into your work and research issues using the tools provided. Remember always to trust the process and your leadership team to have your best interest at heart,” Poulson said. Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees...
Marcus Rutherford
Yardi Employee Profile
Marcus Rutherford, a senior corporate trainer in the Yardi Raleigh office, has worked at Yardi for eight years. He started as a technical account manager, then transitioned to his current role as a senior corporate trainer. “Most of my days are spent introducing new employees to our company, culture, and products. As a corporate trainer, I train new employees on Breeze, accounting, residential, commercial, and system administration training on Yardi’s flagship program Voyager,” said Rutherford. When Rutherford is not training new employees, he is training himself on topics, working on various candidate certification programs, and reviewing Aspire courses as a subject matter expert before they are released. Foundation development Rutherford enjoys being one of the first people new employees meet during new employee training. “I pride myself in being a model employee and strive to give every new employee a great foundation to grow from within their new job role at Yardi,” shared Rutherford. Teamwork collaboration is something that Rutherford appreciates that Yardi strongly promotes. The corporate training team achieves so much working as a team rather than individually. “As Gestalt would say, ‘The sum of the whole is greater than its individual parts,’” he quoted. Rutherford also enjoys being invited to present at industry conferences. “My last presentation was for the IRO Summit, where I presented basic accounting for property managers. The recording made it to Yardi’s YouTube channel and has 13,000 views and counting!” See his presentation here. For a new hire seeking employment at Yardi, Rutherford describes Yardi as a great organization to join. “Yardi is a place where you are rewarded for sharing your knowledge with others around you. When in need, a coworker is one call or message away to assist. If you’re a person who thrives on learning something...
Towne Properties
On REACH SEO & PPC
Michael Wilke is the marketing strategist at Towne Properties. When he joined the company in 2014, Towne was dependent on ILS advertising for leads and leases. Towne’s property sites didn’t have online leasing yet. In his current role, Michael has worked with the rest of the marketing team to modernize Towne’s online user experience to meet shifting renter expectations. When Towne shifted its strategy to include online leasing via RentCafe websites, it realized its property websites convert leads at a better rate than ILSs. Take a look at Towne Properties’ award-winning websites. As a result, Michael started looking for the most effective and cost-efficient ways to drive traffic to Towne’s websites. The challenge Towne’s RentCafe property websites were converting at a better rate than ILSs, but they needed more leads. Michael knew how to set up Google Ad groups, but he felt like he was just scratching the surface of what was possible. And he didn’t have the time to maintain and optimize campaigns for every property. Ultimately, he and the Towne team decided to get expert help. The solution When looking for a marketing partner, the REACH by RentCafe digital marketing agency stood out. Since Towne uses Yardi and the agency is a part of the Yardi family, Michael knew that integration would be simple and data would be clean. Towne enlisted REACH search marketing experts to optimize their websites and set up ad campaigns quickly. More importantly, Michael said, “[REACH experts] have the expertise that we don’t have. That became clear during the setup process. They were going over all the things they were going to do for us, the dedicated teams for search marketing, creative and more.” REACH SEO results Thanks to ongoing search engine optimization, Towne’s websites are getting more traffic that converts into...
Oksana Goliak
Yardi Employee Profile
Yardi’s global offices help property managers, owners and investors succeed worldwide. Journey with us to the Middle East and meet Oksana Goliak, office manager of the Yardi Dubai office. Meet Oksana Goliak Goliak has been working at Yardi for eight years. As the office manager, she ensures that the office operates smoothly with over 65 employees. In addition, she is involved with human resources responsibilities, works closely with senior directors, and retains employee happiness and engagement. “My workday routine varies daily. I am involved in many roles such as office management, supplier relations, Human Resources, the IT department, purchasing, employee engagement and team building, to name a few,” said Goliak. Goliak enjoys Yardi’s corporate culture, work environment, colleagues, and Yardi inspirational leaders in how they encourage employees. “We follow our corporate mission and vision. It helps us achieve the goals we set, and spreads the word that Yardi is a reputable organization where people enjoy working,” shared Goliak. Teambuilding confidence Goliak likes that Yardi appreciates employees’ hard work, acknowledges performance, values contribution, and understands challenges while keeping a happy culture. Even during the pandemic and lockdown, Goliak could engage with her team via online platforms and still have regular team-building activities. Employee activities are encouraged with corporate and management support. “I am proud to say, our Dubai team has virtually climbed the highest mountain peak, Everest, we run through the Amazon Forest, and have explored The Great Wall of China. And now we’ve launched monthly sports challenges called Yardi Sports League, where employees can participate and play in the teams. So far, we have had a football tournament, badminton, volleyball, and cricket, and in February, we are preparing for a basketball game,” enthused Goliak. Since working for HR, Goliak has received much feedback during...
Angela Blair
Yardi Employee Profile
Yardi’s global offices help property managers, owners, and investors succeed worldwide. Let’s travel to the land down under for this profile and get to know Angela Blair, Manager of the Professional Services Group (PSG) for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Meet Angela Blair Blair approaches a decade of working with Yardi in July, but has been part of the Yardi network since 2001. “From client user to consultant to project manager, to now, Yardi has been a big part of my professional life,” she said. Blair spends her days at Yardi managing five consultants, ensuring they have the tools to achieve productivity goals and contribute to client success. In addition, she oversees the rollout of Yardi’s residential suite for build-to-rent asset classes in ANZ, which entails attending conferences and seminars to learn about industry requirements for the region. She also is the project manager for both commercial and residential implementations, working closely with the presales team, assisting with requests for proposals (RFPs) and demonstrations, and creating PSG proposals. “Managing ad-hoc client requests and resource allocations across projects can be a bit of a juggling act sometimes,” says Blair. After leaving the accounting life, which was sometimes mundane and repetitive, Blair loves that work feels almost like a new job each time she implements a new client. “Although the work itself might be basically the same from project to project, each client varies in team size and expertise; each has their own business practices and processes that we need to understand fully to provide them the best system solutions possible – and sometimes that requires us to think outside the box which keeps it feeling very new and challenging, but in a good way,” she said. Embracing fresh perspectives Yardi’s corporate culture lends itself to...
Wayne Tuck
Yardi Employee Profile
Let’s rendezvous with Wayne Tuck, Senior Director for Yardi’s residential portfolio in Canada. Tuck supports Canadian clients as well as those from the U.S. and Latin America. Meet Wayne Tuck Tuck has worked with Yardi for four years but has been in the industry as a client of Yardi’s since 2004. He is involved primarily in the support of clients and teams that service them. “I always say to employees I work with, ‘You are not working for me; I am working for you; we’re working together.’ It’s my role to guide, support, and direct them to be better for our clients. When I first joined, my message was, ‘I’ll share as much as I know about the multifamily industry in Canada, and you share as much as you know about software, and this will be a great relationship,’” said Tuck. Tuck says Yardi’s corporate motto resonates with him, as do Yardi’s company values: Take care of our clients, take care of our employees, take care of our communities, stay focused and grow. “I have been extremely fortunate to participate on Yardi Toronto’s Charity Committee, helping with the organization’s philanthropic efforts,” shared Tuck. One beneficiary is Canadian client Toronto Community Housing, where Yardi contributes post-secondary scholarships for individuals living in social housing. The funds help provide an opportunity for recipients to pursue their dreams. “In addition, the Investing in our Diversity scholarships are awarded annually, and I’m extremely proud to represent Yardi in helping deliver them,” shared Tuck. Learning and leadership Tuck’s journey with Yardi has been a chance to gain a perspective on how real estate and tech companies operate around the world. “We always rely on teams outside Canada in support of our clients, and the diverse nature of our organization and its geographical reach offers a unique opportunity to gain a truly global perspective,” he said. What does he enjoy most about working for Yardi? The chance to continually expand his knowledge. “I am inquisitive by nature; I have learned so much here at Yardi, and I continue to learn each and every day. I’m also focused on sharing my learning and experience to benefit our employees and their ongoing development,” Tuck said. Tuck is also a part of the hiring process for Yardi. In interviews with candidates, Tuck said: “I always reinforce integrity as the core value (at Yardi) that resonates most. Going back to the motto, it is not only the attention, dedication, and commitment to our purpose that resonates but also our consistent delivery of products and services that demonstrate how we fulfill it. “Integrity for me is not just about doing the right thing; it’s about having the will to do it right no matter what barrier or perceived barrier is in front of you.” Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. Hockey with heart Tuck is a huge hockey fan and plays regularly. His son and daughter both compete at a high level in two of the premier minor hockey leagues in the world—The Greater Toronto Hockey League and the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association. He also volunteers and helps his son’s team as a trainer, which finds himself in the ice-skating rink several times a week during the Fall and Winter seasons. Tuck also enjoys riding his motorcycle, creative writing, and painting abstracts with acrylic when he is not in skates. Check out his LinkedIn bio here. Learn more about the dynamic members of #TeamYardi on the People...
