Tenant Experience Network (TEN‪)‬ HILO

In this episode, we learn about Jeff’s career journey, his experience in the events business, and the impact of the pandemic on his business. As his business transitioned to remote operations, Jeff began to explore new ways to build community using social media platforms. Shortly after, he launched Work 20XX to provide thought leadership on the future of work.

Jeff readily admits that he had no commercial real estate experience when he first embarked on this journey. He relied on his genuine curiosity to lead him in new directions, never afraid to learn and try new things. Jeff shared his thoughts on how certain costs have moved from being “fixed” on the balance sheet to being more “variable” on the income statement.

I really appreciate Jeff’s insights on segmentation and intention—an excellent way to understand the changing purpose of physical space. Real estate now needs to focus on attracting people to spaces in ways that aren’t possible at home, making hospitality a crucial theme.

Jeff also shares some insights on the advances in wireless technology and environmental elements impacting CRE. I learned a lot from our conversation and value his level-headed and thoughtful analysis of all things related to how and where we work. I look forward to staying connected with Jeff and continuing to tap into his expertise and thought leadership.

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In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Ryan Speers, Partner and COO at Workhaus. Ryan shares his early beginnings leading a marketing agency. During that time, Ryan had a yearning to build something, rather than just serve as a consultant. He shares how he met his business partner and ultimately ventured into the co-working industry to become a partner at Workhaus. Today the company has grown to 12 locations in Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo and Calgary. Ryan acknowledges that his naïveté was an early advantage to entering a new industry with no existing playbook and rules evolving every day. I loved hearing about Ryan’s appreciation for the different skills he and his partner each bring to the table. He highlights some of the different scenarios that his business is now helping to address as companies assess their real estate strategies. To do that, there is a greater reliance on technology and predictive analytic solutions to help meet these emerging needs. If given a blank cheque to invest in the business, Ryan would put 100% of the funding into expanding across Canada. His co-working business is at the forefront of the hospitality and customer experience conversations that are happening as CRE continues to up its game on this front by offering essential amenities to help drive user engagement and enjoyment. Tune in to learn more about Ryan’s perspective on Workhaus being a tech-enabled business versus a technology business. Subscribe to TEN so you never miss an episode of the Tenant Experience Network.

In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Bryan Berthold, Global Lead Workplace Experience at Cushman & Wakefield. Bryan shares his journey to commercial real estate and how he got started in the business. Bryan studied architecture and eventually found his way to commercial real estate helping companies develop their strategic plans around workplace requirements. He then applied his analytical skills to focus on his passion for the experience of people and eventually found his way to Cushman & Wakefield where he leads their employee experience practice. Bryan acknowledges the big shift we are seeing in the purpose of the office, from the place where you did so many different things, to a place where the focus is now about building community and connection. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the needs and preferences of the different types of users and how that drives attendance and engagement. It is not one size fits all. We went on to discuss Bryan’s thoughts on viewing spaces and then creating an associated experience to support them. This led to a discussion about hospitality and the need to have people at the core of everything owners, operators and occupiers do. Bryan offered a critically important insight into how technology is being used in CRE, specifically having to be more user-centric to better meet emerging needs.Subscribe to TEN so you never miss an episode of the Tenant Experience Network.

In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Lisa Davidson, Vice Chairman at Savills North America. Lisa shares her professional journey, which commenced fresh out of college. Initially uncertain about her career path, Lisa seized an opportunity with a small real estate tenant rep firm that visited her campus for recruitment. Expecting it to be a stepping stone, she quickly discovered a natural fit for her skills within the tenant representation domain, leading her to devote her entire career to Savills. We both share a personal connection to Mitch Steir, the former Chairman and CEO of Savills North America, who now serves on HILO’s Advisory Council. Lisa has since ventured into angel investing in the Proptech space and is a member of the Hyde Park Angel community. In our discussion, Lisa sheds light on key market drivers influencing real estate decisions, such as the rise of amenities and spec suites. She describes the future of work as “accommodating employees with great space.” The impact that unique community spaces have on potential tenants as they are touring prospective spaces is something else she sees in the market. Drawing from her professional insights and client interactions, Lisa shares compelling observations on the evolving tech landscape within buildings. I really enjoyed our conversation and appreciated the opportunity to learn through Lisa’s unique lens into the industry. Stay tuned until the end as Lisa reveals her philosophy on "making her life bigger." – something we all should do!Subscribe to TEN so you never miss an episode of the Tenant Experience Network.

In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Rob Kumer, CEO of KingSett Capital. Rob shares his journey to commercial real estate. KingSett is a private equity real estate investment company focused on Canada, both the equity and credit side of the business and all asset classes. After graduating from the Ivey Business School, Rob began his 20-year career journey in CRE. He started as an analyst, then moved to the investment side of the business and became President in 2021, and more recently assumed the role of CEO. Rob acknowledged his extraordinary relationship with KingSett’s founder and Executive Chair, Jon Love, who is also a two-time guest on the TEN podcast. Rob believes that aligning to a set of core values has significantly contributed to his success and that there is always something to learn from other people. He shares some of his insights from the early days of the pandemic, including this comforting sentiment: “It is never as good as you think, and it is never as bad as you think”. I loved hearing Rob reflect on the pride he feels about KingSett’s collective determination to navigate and overcome the crisis the CRE industry is fighting. Our conversation continues with how the use of spaces is changing, which is necessitating more amenity, meeting, and touch-down/collision spaces, and fewer private offices and exclusive workstations. As some businesses rethink their space requirements, more often than not, the actual footprint has not changed significantly. Rob notes that companies are looking for more amenities, shorter lease terms, and access to fully outfitted facilities, like KingSett’s program ‘Ready, Set, Go’ spaces. As well, there is a greater emphasis being placed on moving buildings to ZERO carbon and KingSett is taking a leading position in this effort. Rob shares his 3 pillars for success in the office category and speaks about the importance of experience and the technological advances impacting all asset classes. KingSett is very focused on decarbonization, and energy management including deep water cooling and implementing new lighting systems. Customer experience is driving many new initiatives that save time and provide more convenience, from pre-ordering a coffee when arriving at the building to using destination dispatch on the elevators. We close the interview with several questions that provide an opportunity to get to know Rob a bit better on a personal level. Get ready to picture him in coveralls giving your car a tune-up!

In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Sophie Wade, Founder of Flexcel Network and host of the Transforming Work podcast. Sophie’s journey to her current role started with the experience of living in many different countries and studying people. She started out in strategy and finance and later focused on the future of work as her personal situation demanded working differently. Sophie is an avid observer of people and has used this skill to shape her view of the world, and now the subject of ‘work’ specifically. She points out that for the first time, we are at a point where we are asking questions about how we should be designing spaces to meet our needs better. Sophie emphasized the need for everyone to recognize that we are in a period of significant change and now is the time to embrace where we are and engage everyone in the process of defining what in-office work looks like. We discussed how interdepartmental collaboration needs to take place to respond to the emerging needs of people. When it comes to technology, Sophie is a big proponent of experimenting, exploring and testing to see what works. We both acknowledged that communication is key amongst all stakeholders during this significant time of change.