FROM THE PRESIDENT
BRANDON RICH | GREYSTAR REAL ESTATE PARTNERS
Propeling AAMD into the next 50 years
I
am honored and excited to be this year’s AAMD president. I look
forward to working with this year’s board members and committee
leadership.
Last month we celebrated our association and industry at June Awards
(recap begins on page 19). The theme of the event was simply "Timeless".
This is very appropriate as we prepare to celebrate the AAMD’s 50th
Anniversary. When you say the word, “Timeless”, most people think of
something static. Like a diamond which never changes, but stands the
test of time.
However, in order to become timeless an organization has to have
core values that are consistent, yet allow them to evolve to meet the
changing needs of its customers, team members. As we approach the next
50 years as an association, I encourage us to shift our focus to find modern
methods of telling the compelling story that sets us apart as an industry.
For example, while customer service has always been important in our
industry, it has become the new marketing but the tools have changed.
We now use social media, hashtags, reviews, podcasts and videos to tell
powerful stories. How can we leverage these tools to tell our stories to
engage our future leaders? We should use our 50th anniversary as a time
marker to celebrate and embrace our history, utilize the timeless lesson’s
we’ve learned to elevate and move our industry into the next 50 years.
AAMD is a progressive organization and they do so much good for its
members each year. This year, I would like to focus on a couple initiatives,
which I'll call our “main things”. If we do everything else well, and main
things great, then we will have a tremendously successful year as an
association.
First, the association has embarked on a Public Relations campaign to
promote the image of our industry. We have refined this focus into two
key areas: to attract, recruit and develop the next generation of leaders in
our industry, and help fight off harmful and counter-productive legisla-
tion.
While the primary cornerstones of AAMD have principles that are
timeless, we need to make sure the way they are conveyed, resonate with
millennials and all generations. All of our branding should appeal to our
current members, as well as, our next generation of leaders.
We need to educate the public and elected officials on the benefits of
our industry. We create homes for people and their lives happen in our
product. What we do is noble. We provide high quality housing,
amenities and customer service to a full socioeconomic spectrum. The
perception of our industry is still that we are big bad landlords and fat cat
property owners. The truth is a large and growing percentage of apart-
ment owners are institutional such as retirement funds for teachers,
firefighters, state employees and union members. We are entrusted with
the care of their investments.
6 | TRENDS • JULY 2017
The political environment has continued to become more hostile to
our industry. Last year alone, our government affairs team killed legisla-
tion that would have cost our industry over $218 million.
Our industry also adds billions of dollars to the national, state and
local