Dawn Bolin

The Ezralow Company

By Leah Etling on Nov 28, 2012 in People

Dawn Bolin isn’t someone to shy away from a challenge. After 20 years as an accounting manager for The Ezralow Company of Calabasas, Calif., she asked her employer to entrust her with a major new challenge – overseeing the transition of the multi-vertical property management firm from Yardi Enterprise to Yardi Voyager.

As an accountant, Dawn suspected that her expertise on the financial side would be vital to a successful transition to the new software platform and way of working. And she was right. Along the way, she made a major leap into a new area of expertise – technology – and has never looked back.

Six years later, she will start her 27^th year with Ezralow this January.  Dawn’s responsibilities as the company’s Yardi Database Administrator have added many new facets to her job, and she tells us that she loves the challenge.

“Things are constantly changing, and that keeps my mind busy. I like to learn new things,” said the Orange County native. When a technical glitch occurs, she’s excited about the opportunity to figure out how to fix it – and tries to avoid calling her Yardi account manager until she’s exhausted troubleshooting efforts. “All the Yardi people are great. They are extremely patient,” she told us.

Dawn attends the Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference twice a year to get the latest updates on updates, new products, and more efficient work processes. And she’s focused the company’s current technology efforts on creating more efficient workflows and moving to mobile devices.

“Our (property) sites have to log in to so many different websites to do their job. We’d rather them log into one and have it all be interfaced, so we’ve eliminated the pieces that are scattered and combined them all into one,” she said. Currently, the company is implementing PAYScan and will transition to RentCafe Portal for its property websites in the next few months.

The Ezralow Company profile includes 44 apartment buildings with 7750 units, primarily in the Northern California area. Commercial holdings encompass 2 million square feet of commercial, industrial and retail space.

Dawn’s strong work ethic and passion for her job have been passed along to her two sons. Dillon, 20, is enrolled in the Santa Barbara City College Culinary Arts program. Nicholas, 16, attends high school in Agoura Hills. Both work part-time at Vons while attending classes, making their mother very proud.

In her free time, Dawn loves to hike, travel and enjoys good wine and food. During the weekends you can find her taking long hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains with friends and hiking meet-up groups. And every year she travels to the Hawaiian island of Oahu to enjoy a rainforest hiking excursion with the Sierra Club.

Finding new boutique wineries in Napa that produce great full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon is another passion. And she’s constantly on the lookout for good new San Fernando/Conejo Valley restaurants and wine bars to try. Just as in her professional life, Dawn is always ready for a new adventure.

Learn more about Dawn:

What is your favorite type of music?

I like classic rock to new wave, R&B, hip hop and I think Dudamel is amazing.

What kinds of food do you like? 

All kinds, I consider myself a foodie and always try to eat ‘outside the box’ while trying new restaurants.

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

Paris, alone.

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

Probably Hillary Clinton.

What are the words you live by?

Ha! ‘Always watch your P’s and Q’s as you never know who you will run into’.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Wine maker

What are some things on your bucket list?

Hiking Machu Picchu, zip lining, visiting Italy and Barcelona, take a sommelier class and study wine making           

What was your last Do It Yourself project?

Remodeling the boys bathroom, started 4/2011 and it’s still not done. Whose  bathroom do you think they’re using?