HALL OF FAME
Drake Powell
BY MARK WINDHAGER
I met Drake Powell in 1996 when we both worked for Lincoln Property Company. He must have
not liked me very much, because after two years he moved on to start the property management
division of Baron Properties.
Drake was a partner at Baron Properties, and during his 12 years there, was instrumental in their
growing their portfolio to over $450 M.
In 2010, Drake left Baron and formed Echelon Property Group along with Bryan Stern.
Drake and Bryan grew that company from scratch to now being one of the largest third party
property management firms in Denver with over 10,000 units under management with around 300
employees. On the personal front, Drake is a Colorado native and has been married to his wife
Caren for 24 years. They have two sons ages 19 and 15. Drake enjoys bike riding around Europe,
which is what he was doing as his name was called last month at June Awards.
His staff hilariously accepted the award with cardboard Drake masks!
Scot Sellers
BY MIKE ZOELLNER
I owe Scot a great deal of gratitude for many reasons, but especially for giving me my start in the
industry in 1984. Scot was the Colorado partner for Lincoln Property at the time, and he was looking
for a development assistant. What a wonderful opportunity on many levels, but especially to become
his friend and learn the business from him. Together we built 8 communities in just 4 years.
Scot was one of the youngest partners ever at Lincoln for good reason. He moved to Southern
California in 1987 to run the region there and I took over the Colorado office. Scot quickly made his
presence known in California where he developed dozens of successful projects.
He then went on to ultimately create one of the largest and most respected apartment companies
in our industry – Archstone, a company that prides itself in having top quality talent and systems,
largely through Scot’s leadership.
Through a series of sales, acquisitions and developments, as well as over $7 billion of team
Ross Sellers accepts the HOF award on behalf of his father
transformed Archstone into the preeminent owner/operator of luxury apartments at that time.
Scot has always been known as one of the smartest executives in our industry. His ability to lead
innovation and structure complicated financings was second to none. Archstone was also a leader in technological innovation in the apartment industry,
including introducing many new practices to our industry including web-based credit scoring and online leasing capabilities.
But beyond all his professional recognition, Scot has been very involved in multiple charities around the world, usually focusing on children and education.
He is a very, very generous contributer to many worthwhile causes.
32 | TRENDS
JULY 2018
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