McLean to focus on eliciting potential from colleagues

You’re now the CEO. What are the challenges that come with that?

Every day in an environment like this, you are growing. We have sophisticated investors. And one thing about retail, it’s always going to change. So you’re growing.

The biggest change for me is I’ve been fortunate in my career to have two incredible mentors between Joe and (former CEO) Terry Brown. I will continue to have strong mentors and rely on the people I have.

But (a challenge) is finding new strategic partnerships and making sure I’m leading, guiding, directing.

Being entrepreneurial, leading an organization comes naturally to me. You have to focus on inspiring people to reach their own potential, which you recognize is higher than the individual recognizes on their own. I think that’s where a lot of my focus has been and will continue to be.

I don’t think you’ll see a lot of change in the strategy of the organization as far as execution goes. We’re in a cyclical business, so understanding where you are in your cycles are important and always driving our real estate strategy.

What are the challenges for the company now as the economy slowly recovers from the Great Recession?

The strategy of the company has always been to mitigate risk through diversification. So, we may feel like we’re in a slow recovery here (in Columbia). But we are heavily invested in Boston, in the New York region, in Washington, Atlanta, Miami and now in Houston and Dallas. And each one of those markets offer us slightly different economic cycles and economic recovery. So we are seeing more growth opportunities in different markets right now.

On Feb. 18 we closed on the acquisition of AmREIT, a public company operating out of Houston – about an $800 million portfolio. So taking in and digesting both the portfolio and the team and making sure they are fully inculcated into our culture is a big focus right now.

When you invested in Texas, gas prices were high. And then ...

Yes. (laughing) Prices have come way down. Some of that is excellent for our retailers in other markets. As gas prices come down the consumer has a little bit more disposable income.

For us, we wanted exposure to energy, and we got it. (laughing again) But we haven’t really seen that impact the consumer in Houston nor Dallas. Our sales remain extremely strong in our retail operations there.

When we look at market diversification, the one sector we felt was going to drive a large part of the U.S. economy going forward was the energy sector. ... So those are good markets for us as we grow.

Why have you stayed with the company for so long?

Edens has continuously transformed itself over the years. Personal growth has always been available here. Opportunity has always been available.

When I started in 1990 our portfolio was $150 million of assets and (the company) was a very diversified real estate platform.

I met Joe (Edens) on an independent study on entrepreneurship. I was dead set on going back to Chicago. But it was a very bad time there. Continental Bank had failed. There were massive layoffs. So Joe offered me a job as an analyst.

I ended up having some good opportunities. And in 1997 we did our first capital market transaction with the state of Michigan retirement systems. At that point, we were just about $300 million in size.

From there ... we’ve gone from being a $270 million organization to a portfolio of $5.5 billion. It’s allowed me over that time to have great exposure to so many different aspects of real estate.

During the last 25 years, this industry and this organization have both given me great opportunity to grow and learn and continuously improve.

What do you like about the work?

I love, first and foremost, this firm. It has the highest quality people, a high quality portfolio and the very best culture in our industry. So I think the combination of those three things makes Edens exceptional.

The work we do balances two things that I love. I love the financial and investment rigor. And I love the creative design/merchandise mix. You have to understand human behavior to really be successful in what we are doing.

Where else do you have the opportunity to balance those two very distinct skill sets of analytics with creative thought processes to create the most value possible? Pair that with a culture that is highly purpose-driven with people who are highly intellectual, what’s not to love?

This story was originally published May 2, 2015 at 6:18 PM with the headline "McLean to focus on eliciting potential from colleagues."