• Tenant Service
     
  • Grace Under Pressure
     
  • Equipment Guru
     
  • Breaking Boundaries
     
  • The Moneymaker

SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION

EQUIPMENT GURU
Finalists 

David Koehler
Chief Engineer
Dewberry Capital

NOMINATED BY: Mark Peavy

David joined Dewberry Capital a week after me. I had just left a 10-year job in NYC to move to Atlanta after John Dewberry took a shot on me and gave me a chance to manage his class A office buildings in Midtown Atlanta. David and I both being new had to acclimate to a new company, new corporate residents and assess various processes which had been in place prior to our arrival. It was apparent almost from the outset that David was very special. His extensive knowledge about building equipment and systems was staggering. As a property manager, I have never been an expert in anything but rather coordinated the experts to get answers immediately and remediate problems quickly for a demanding high end clientele. I was fascinated by David's ability to immerse himself in all things mechanical, know it inside and out and in the rare occasions he didn't know it, tinker with it until he was sure he knew it moving forward.

David's first building was the old Bell South headquarters which Dewberry Capital purchased in 2012. With any situation like this comes inherent issues based on how the property was maintained or neglected. Coupled with this situation was a building that was close to 30 years old. David quickly realized there were issues that needed to be addressed and went about meticulously learning and dissecting the building from the inside out, diagnosing every type of building MEP system, compiling a plan of attack to address the most critical issues and helped to create a capital plan for the remainder. His care, professionalism and expertise helped to position Campanile in the best possible manner to avail itself an a strong asset for years to come. Mr. Dewberry did the masterful work to make the deal to purchase the property, allowing us to attract someone with David's talents to become part of our team. We are able to live our truth of "It's not just Real Estate, it's Real Life" each day due in part to David's efforts.

Rudy Kozar
Assistant Chief Engineer
Urban Renaissance Property Company 

NOMINATED BY: Zach Hoffman

As a young technician it is of the utmost importance to have a mentor who is both patient and knowledgeable about every aspect of commercial buildings. I am happy to say that Rudy Kozar exceeds at both. Whether it be basic preventative maintenance tasks or upper echelon repairs he brings vast experience and expertise to the table. He is the kind of old school guy that can glance at a bolt and rattle of the type of thread and size when it would take me an hour looking through a catalogue to figure it out.

Don't have the part? Don't worry, Rudy can probably fabricate it out of scrap that's lying around if the situation requires it. He's also bridges the gap between old school and cutting edge, being the sort of guy that will spend a while on the Internet to learn the ins and outs of a variable frequency drive or building automated system. Long story short, if it's a piece of equipment that breaks or needs maintenance, he's your guy!

McKinley Ricks
Chief Building Engineer
Divaris Property Management 

NOMINATED BY: Tazewell Rinehart

McKinley Ricks, Chief Building Engineer of a 20-story, multi-tenant building in downtown Norfolk, VA is currently working on up grading the DDC controls for the HVAC system. McKinley started as a maintenance technician 18 years ago in this building which has given him intimate knowledge of the building and its operating systems. His knowledge and experience as well as his eagerness to learn new technology has allowed him to complete the majority of the work in house instead of contracting it out, saving the client thousands of dollars.

McKinley has taken ownership of this upgrade and the initiative to train his team on the intricacies of the upgrade which makes him and his team more knowledgeable and valuable to Divaris and our client. McKinley is not only an Equipment Guru; he has mastered the ability to operate under pressure along with multi-tasking and maintaining good tenant relations.

Michael Savage
Maintenance
National Church Residences
 

NOMINATED BY: Jo Stanovcak

Mike has been my maintenance supervisor for over five years and has always done more than his what his job requires. he oversees maintenance staff at three different properties with a total of 282 units. He helps with the budget preparation at all three sites. This is his "normal" work load. Additionally Mike is often called upon to help out at other sites for Pre-REAC inspections. In the past six months, he has worked at five other Properties. At one site in WV, he assisted in the hiring of a new maintenance tech and with the training of that tech. He was called to assist at a property in mid Ohio that had a REAC scheduled, went to the site, did a 100% unit inspection and created a punch list and work orders that needed to be done before the REAC. He contacted and got bids from contractors to get work completed that was necessary. Mike also traveled all the way to Wisconsin to help train maintenance staff on company maintenance policies at two of our family sites that are located there.

He is currently doing a pre-REAC at one of our Cleveland properties, much the same as he did with the other Ohio site - 100% unit inspection, common and exterior inspection. Mike is very knowlegeable about our policies and is able to communicate these policies to other staff. He is a great problem-solver. There is  so much more that he does, but to sum it up, Mike is a STAR and we are very lucky to have him!!

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