Secretary to Senior Vice President in 20 Years

Meet Jeanette Flory, a portfolio manager at Bentall Kennedy in charge of $7.2 billion in assets. She’s had an amazing career trajectory: twenty years ago, she had just started in real estate as an administrative assistant.

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4word: Tell us about the span of your career, and what led you to Bentall Kennedy in Seattle.

Jeanette: I started my career in Dallas in 1982 working for the multi-family subsidiary of the Vantage Companies, Drexel Management. Over the next ten years, I worked for a number of brokerage, development and investment sales firms and then joined a pension fund advisor, IBEX Institutional Advisors.  I handled all their due diligence and closings. In 1995, I relocated to the Miami corporate headquarters to take on Asset Management responsibilities for the portfolio. After three years, I joined Bentall Kennedy (aka Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel) as an asset manager in Seattle.

4word: You went from administrative assistant to senior vice president in 20 years. That is quite an impressive career track! Was executive leadership your goal when you began your career?

Jeanette: I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I got started. I wanted to leave Ohio, and chose Dallas because I believed it had a wide range of opportunities. Although I had a teaching degree, I was pretty sure I didn’t want to teach in a traditional school setting.

I’m a bit embarrassed to say I didn’t really have a goal at that point in my life. I took the first job I was offered, and it changed my life forever. For me, success was about a couple of key relationships, never saying, “That’s not my job,” reading every document that came across my desk, and always wanting to learn more.

My two mentors never put a box around what I could do based on my job description.  That made all the difference for me. Early in my career, I often worked 80 hours a week, because I wanted to make sure I had time to work on whatever project needed to be done.

4word: What key moments, projects, or relationships helped propel you to success?

Jeanette: There were two very important mentors in my early career. My first boss at Drexel gave me a promotion within 90 days, and went to the Chairman of the Board to get a raise above the maximum allowed.  She clearly did not place a lot of emphasis on my job title.  She recognized that I was very interested in the business and was a quick study. Unfortunately for me, she retired early, so I ended up moving on to other opportunities.

As I changed positions, I took on more responsibilities. Interestingly enough, I met my second mentor/sponsor when I joined The Worthing Companies to work for the head of acquisitions and finance.

Once again, I was a sponge, absorbing as much information as I could about that side of the business. Steve and I worked together at six different firms over the next 10 years. His leadership is the reason I joined Bentall Kennedy.

Although he left the firm years ago, I would not be where I am today without his belief in me. Steve often put his reputation on the line in support of me, and there is no stronger statement that can be made. Thankfully, I don’t believe I ever let him down. I am very blessed to have come across two such amazing people who were so important in my success.

4word: What do you wish you’d learned earlier in your career?

Jeanette: I wish I’d had the same resources that are now available to help women come up through the industry. I also wish I had asked more questions when I was very young. I was always afraid people would figure out what I didn’t know.

I encourage those younger people that I work with to ask as many questions as they can early on when people assume they don’t know much. I also wish I had been more confident in what I did know early on, because I might have moved up the ladder more quickly.

But, at the end of the day, I wouldn’t change anything. I met some of the most amazing people along the way and consider myself amazingly blessed.

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What are the keys to your success? Share your advice with fellow readers in the comments!