Episode 4 - Tanya Betts

Join us for a conversation with Tanya Betts, Chief Financial Officer of Haverkamp Group. She outlines her journey to her current position, the importance of good leadership, as well as the impact that using an EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) has on an organization.

www.HaverkampGroup.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to HaverChat, a HaverCamp culture cast where we take you behind the scenes at HaverCamp Group. My name is Todd Wiesenberg, and I am the chief culture officer here at Haverkamp. And we are in episode number four of an eight-part series where we are introducing you to the men and women who are the executives or key leaders here at Haverkamp. In episode number one, you met Brent Haverkamp, our owner and founder. In episode number two, you met Dave Hyman, who is the president of Haverkamp Properties. And then in episode number three, our last episode, you met Zach Ludwig, who is the chief operations officer here for Haverkamp Construction. This is episode number four, and our guest today is Tanya Betts, who is the chief financial officer for Haberkamp. Welcome, Tanya.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Glad that you could be here today and be our guest. And yeah, we're going to just jump right into it. And we always like to start a show off with helping our audience get to know who you are a little bit more. And we do that through the four F's. We do it with what we we talk about the from we talk about the family, we talk about the fun and we talk about the future. So let's start with the from background, you know, where you were born and raised. And then part of that from should be your professional journey here to Haverkamp.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Sure. I was born in Jefferson, Iowa and raised in Shredan, which is a really small town about 15 minutes away from Jefferson. I grew up on a farm with four siblings, one brother and three sisters. And so kind of started my life out in that farm world. I went to the Peyton Shredan school system, which was a small school system through my freshman year. And then as a sophomore, open enrolled to Jefferson Scranton and graduated Thank you so much. I spent the first 24 and a half years of my career at American Athletic in Jefferson as my children. I have two children, Kara and Cole. And as Cole was nearing his college or his high school completion, he was probably a sophomore freshman. I started to just kind of feel a little bit of a professional urge to maybe move beyond what I had done for quite a few years at American Athletic. Our corporate office, Fruit of the Loom, was in Bowling Green. So there wasn't really opportunities for me to kind of take the next step in my career unless I wanted to relocate. So talked with Alan, we decided Where I was at was a good spot until Cole was out of school and I was done with kind of my mom tenure. So once Cole graduated and started looking for other opportunities, I took a job here in Ames with Hawk Corporation, spent about three weeks there before an opportunity here at Habercamp came open and made a very quick change after a short timeframe. And I've been at Habercamp now just shy of four years. It'll be four years at the end of June.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

All right. Well, let's go back to those American Athletic Days days. What role did you start in and talk about those 24 and a half years? Is that what you said? Just kind of your progression with that company.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Sure. So I started out there as a staff accountant. They had a position posted my senior year of college. They were looking for a full-time staff accountant to start in January. I ironically had my class load really narrowed down, was initially planning on taking classes Tuesday, Thursday. My final And prepping for the CPA exam Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So I reached out to their human resource manager, said, hey, I'd love an opportunity in my hometown. However, I don't graduate until May. And she lined me up to visit with their then CFO. We had a meeting and talked together and said, if I would be willing to work Monday, Wednesday, Friday, they would be willing to take me on on a part time basis with the intention of myself coming on full time when I graduated. So that was a great opportunity for me. There's not a lot of opportunities like that that come open right now. in Jefferson. And so I started working for them Monday, Wednesday, Friday. When I graduated in May, then I came on full time as their staff accountant and started there, eventually transitioned up to an accounting supervisor, then accounting manager, and then eventually ended up in the controller chair, which is where I was at when I left.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Okay. Wow. That's quite the journey. And again, 24 and a half years. I want to stop there for a second. As you went through, was that four different positions, five different positions? What were some lessons that you learned through that that you still carry with you today?

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Sure. You know, one of the first lessons, I think, being part of a small company like that, where you just really knew your coworkers very closely, was learning to lead others that, you know, I wasn't. working alongside of. And so learning to kind of change my expectations of myself, of what I needed to be able to give to them to help them develop, and then just really try to help them develop and help them grow in their roles. That was new to me. I had always just been the person who was getting help. And somebody above me was mentoring me or helping me. So that was probably the first thing that I learned is how to lead other people. You know, maybe one of the other things That it took me a while to learn. And I think, you know, Jeff Bramble is part of who helped bring me to the company here at Haverkamp. I worked with Jeff for eight years at American Athletic, eight or nine years. And I think he helped me see that being in a leader role isn't about you. And that was probably a tough lesson to learn as a young individual. And just that there was so much more about that role than just myself. And actually, I sometimes took a backseat to the responsibilities or the duties of that role as a leader.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

All right, let's talk about that common connection, that common denominator between you and I, and that is our friend and mentor, Jeff Bramble. So you worked with him, you said, eight, nine years there at American Athletic. Were you in the role of controller when he came on? What role were you on? And then just how you worked with Jeff?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

I was very much in my infancy. So I started there, like I said, in January of 97. I think Jeff came in February of 98. So I had been with the company just over a year, but really in my full-time role, just over six months. So Jeff started with the company in the controller or CFO role. I don't remember his exact title. And I worked with him very closely. We hadn't necessarily at the time, who was my supervisor. She stayed my supervisor for probably another six months to maybe a year. And then I transitioned and started reporting directly to Jeff. So I like to joke and say that everything that I do well, I can credit to Jeff. And if I struggle with something, I blame Jeff. No, that's unfair. But I like to joke. But no, Jeff, Jeff was a great mentor and was absolutely instrumental in my development in American athletic. So having somebody who had the accounting background, Jeff stayed in that CFO role for a short period of time and then actually moved up into the president role. So there was a large portion of those years where there was another CFO that I was working with, but still had a lot of daily interaction with Jeff and his president role. But he was definitely very instrumental in my development and just one of those great leaders in not just the workplace, but just in life in general, how to be as a person, you know, how to be outside of work just really gave me a lot of huge benefit in my development.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

All right. So worked with Jeff eight, nine years. He left, left the company. You stayed with the company, but you still stayed connected, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yeah, we sure did.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Yeah. And so. Through that time period, you mentioned in your story that you left American Athletic and you worked for Hawk. And that time period was how long again?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Three weeks.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Okay, so after three weeks, what happened?

SPEAKER_01 8:38

So I went to work for Hawk. I was very excited about making a change from American Athletic. I had talked about it for three years. Once Cole reached his senior year, I started looking for other opportunities and was super excited about making a change, looking forward to that new professional challenge. I loved what I did at AAI, loved the team, loved the business, but just felt not challenged anymore. Just didn't feel fulfilled from that professional perspective. So was super excited. My first few days at Hawk were very challenging. Jeff was one of my references, obviously. So Jeff and I had kept in touch through that whole transition. I had numerous phone calls with him. Some of those with tears saying, I don't know what I've done. I'm not sure if this is where I'm supposed to be. And it was just a very, very challenging time for me, kind of emotionally making that transition away from what I likened to my home for 24 and a half years. So we'd kept in contact. tucked a few times during that three-week window. I remember the day that Jeff called me and mentioned that this current controller at Haverkamp had given his resignation and that he was going to have a job open. And he started the conversation and said, well, how's today going? And I said, actually, it's going great. I feel like I've got my feet under me. I feel like I'm starting to learn the ropes here and feel like everything's starting to make sense. You know, it's a good day. And he said, well, I have, you know, a little bit of a wrench to throw at you today. And so he told me the news that That the gentleman that was in the controller role had given his resignation and he was going to be looking to fill the role. Would I have an interest in it? And it kind of, you know, kind of caused me pause. I kind of thought through the professional process. professional negative path of resigning a job that you just started three weeks ago. And could I do that? Could I take that risk? Didn't know a whole lot about Havercamp or the industry, but I knew Jeff. And for years, I had always said if I had an opportunity to go back to work for Jeff again, I would love that opportunity. So kind of weighed that, weighed just the feedback that Jeff had given me about the company. And Alan and I had a lot of conversations over a long weekend. and came back and said, okay, I'll make the change. So I called my boss at Hawk. She was very understanding and very polite. I couldn't have asked for a better response out of her and gave my notice. We decided together, mutually, her and I, Jeff was ready for me to come over here as soon as possible. So we decided mutually, hey, no use in continuing to train or continuing to go down that path. So I turned in my computer and equipment there and started at Haverkamp the next day. Yeah,

SPEAKER_02 11:31

you started at Haverkamp the next day. I was on vacation because I didn't get a chance to meet you on your first day. When I came back from vacation and I debriefed with Jeff, how are things going? He talked a lot about needing to spend time with you in that first few days and basically reassure you. Would you mind talking about that? Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

So I thought initially when I took the job at Hawke and was having kind of the emotional struggle or emotional path of did I make the right decision, when I came to Haverkamp, I didn't think I'd feel that way again. And to my surprise, I felt the same way all over again. So I think Jeff and my husband to some degree were probably both questioning their continued support of my new ventures, but they both continued to reassure me, hey, you're where you need to be. Give it time, adjust to it. So I tell everybody I liken the experience to an 18-year-old heading to college. And if that 18-year-old experiences homesickness, I was the 24-and-a-half-year-old leaving American Athletic and experiencing homesickness of where I left. I really think that's what it was. So it took me a week or two to really just kind of settle in and tell myself, hey, this is really where I'm meant to be. And no fault of anybody at the company because the people here are great. The company's great. It was just a hard path for me to transition after being somewhere for 24 and a half years. So I'm in hindsight, I'm optimistic. super thankful that I took the opportunity. I'm super thankful that I kind of made the transition and don't have those feelings anymore.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Sure, sure. That totally makes sense. And I really appreciate the word picture used, you know, liking yourself to like a freshman in college and that first time being away from home. And yeah, you've had you had such long time or tenure there at American Athletic. Totally, totally makes sense. In your story, you mentioned Alan quite a bit. And so I want to ask you to share or whatever you're comfortable with about your family. You mentioned Alan, you mentioned your children. Yeah, talk about them.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Yeah, my family, yeah. I've got a great family. I'm very blessed, fortunate to have all of them in my background. So Alan and I met... Yeah, exactly. at some point through our college career kind of really knew that was probably who we were walking down the path of life with after college and so we got married in june right after i graduated and then started our life together had kara a couple years later had cole a couple years after that and so everything you know just kind of fell out like we thought we would or like we planned that it would so that was great for us um Alan in my corner, I always tell people, Alan and I are opposites. I'm very outgoing, very much a people person, very talkative. Alan's talkative when you get to know him, but he's also very centered, very grounded. And so he definitely brings the calm to my world and definitely calms me down when I need that, talks me through challenging situations. He just definitely is strength in my background for me. And I've been blessed to have that. Speaking of Kara and Cole, both of my kids were pretty easy on us. So I didn't have any challenging stories of raising our children. I somewhat attribute that to the other resource that I had from our family growing up, and that was Alan's mom. So Alan's mom and dad lived just down the road from us. Alan's mom, Connie, provided daycare for our children growing up. So they were getting raised with the same values, the same foundation that we were raised with. And I just attribute so much to Connie's time spent with the kids as they were younger. And it was a great strength for me. I could pursue my career that I wanted to pursue. And I didn't feel guilty. I didn't feel like I was leaving the kids out at home because they were with a great person every day while I was working. So that we really, really have been fortunate in a

SPEAKER_02 16:07

know a little bit about you and your family is now a little bit more than just your two children. Yeah. A little shout out to maybe some other. New family members?

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yes. So in October, we welcomed a second son into our family, Eric Heick. And so Kara, our oldest daughter, and Eric were married in October. And that's exciting. That's been really exciting to see their relationship develop. It was fun to go through all the planning events of a wedding and just watch their relationship and their world together grow now. So it's been a little over six months. And yeah, they're doing great. And Eric, much similar to Alan, and I, I would say Eric is probably Kara's grounding as well from time to time. Kara's personality is very much like mine. She teaches in the West Branch School District and Eric works for Syngenta and then helps with his family farm. And I think he probably is, yeah, very much an anchor for her, much like Alan is for me. So that's kind of neat to see that emulated in their relationship as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Yeah, I know that was just such a big part of your life. And here, you know, around the workplace, you talked about it a lot. So I know it was something very nearing and dear to you, and so I just wanted to give you an opportunity to talk about that moment. Okay, so, also, knowing a little bit about you, I would, correct me if I'm wrong, we're gonna get to the fun part, things that you enjoy doing for fun, hobbies, passions, interests, but one of the things I think you enjoy doing for fun is writing in a semi with Alan.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

I do. And people find that odd. So I think that started back. Alan has trucked almost all of our married life. He started trucking when Kara was a baby. And, you know, I remember we didn't have a lot at that time financially. So I remember his first truck. I remember Kara being in a car seat. And I remember Alan and I using a pencil to stencil DOT numbers on the a paint can and a paintbrush to paint his DOT numbers on the side of his truck. So that was where he started with his trucking. And he's actually done well in building kind of his trucking enterprise. He also farms, but trucking is definitely something near and dear to his heart. And I think when the kids were younger, there were times where I would take a vacation day, hop in the truck with Alan, and it was just uninterrupted time for eight to 10 to 12 hours, depending on what his load schedule was that day. And so I think it became became that quiet, non-distracted time that I just I loved and when life got busy and life got crazy it was just a nice diversion to hop in that truck and travel with him and just connect with him in that time for that day he might tell you nowadays I'm maybe less connected when I'm in the truck with him with our technology of phones but I try to be connected but it is yeah it's just kind of a nice time to hop in and spend time with him in the truck

SPEAKER_02 19:04

I love that about you Tanya as far as who you are. High school sweethearts, you know, married, raised two kids, and you enjoy spending time with each other in a semi truck, you know, hauling grain or whatever it is. So that's fun. That's fun. So what other fun things do you like to do?

SPEAKER_01 19:23

So one of our other fun things that Alan and I love to do. So we we really do enjoy spending time together. And just I'll step back for a minute. I remember back when the kids were very little and I maybe was having a about managing our time together and feeling guilty about taking a weekend or taking a Friday night and spending it away from the kids. please don't ever feel guilty about spending time just the two of you together it was just the two of you before your children and your children have to remember that your relationship with each other comes first and so I thank my grandma for giving me permission if I can view it like that to make sure that I did focus on our time together outside of just spending time with the kids and so here we are empty nesters and we do still love spending time together so one of our other fun things to do is to watch NASCAR racing. So Alan and I both enjoy watching it. We like going to races. We go to the Iowa Speedway whenever we can, and we try to hit the races at the Kansas Speedway whenever we can, just because they're both within driving distance for a long weekend. So just here, Mother's Day weekend, we took off Saturday morning, spent the weekend down in Kansas City and came back Monday and just enjoyed just the two of us. We tailgated before the races, met some people from the area on either side of our tailgate location and just really enjoy that, really enjoy that time.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Okay, I don't know much about NASCAR. But do you have a certain driver that you follow? Does Alan have a certain driver he follows? Do you follow the same driver? I

SPEAKER_01 21:09

would say we have a mix of drivers right now. So I like Kyle Larson. Okay. And I think he's a good guy. Prior, my driver was probably Kevin Harvick, who retired. And prior to him, I was a big Tony Stewart fan for a good many years.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

And Tony Stewart was a little more animated, maybe than some drivers. Definitely more animated than Kyle Larson. But, you know, he was there was something about him that I just really liked. And so that was my driver for a good many years. Alan's usually Dale Jarrett, Dale Jr. in his history. And those are old time drivers. And now he he likes a lot of drivers now, but he does kind of like Kyle Larson, too. So

SPEAKER_02 21:50

have you ever found yourself watching a race together and like cheering against one another because you're cheering for different drivers? Do you get competitive like that at all?

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Not nowadays. Definitely back in the Tony Stewart days. Alan was definitely probably not a Tony Stewart

SPEAKER_02 22:05

fan.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

He didn't hate him. He thought he was a good driver, but I think some of the animation that came with Tony Stewart was not not akin to Alan's maybe core personality.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

All right. Well, thanks. Thanks for sharing that. Okay. Let's talk about future. And specifically, when people ask you, you know, a question about your future at Habercamp, you know, How do you respond? What do you say to them if people ask you that

SPEAKER_01 22:34

question? So now that I've gotten past week one.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Yeah, and you're now four years plus into this, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Yeah, no, you know, I look forward to the future at Haverkamp and I don't know where that future will lead me for sure as a person, but I really look forward to the opportunities that are ahead of us. Our company, everybody talks about, you know, 10X in 20 years. And so I think of, for example, the team that I lead today, roughly 14 individuals. And if we 10X that opportunity, Personnel wise, it probably won't 10x, but even if it 5xs, that's a large team. And so I look at that with maybe a little bit of apprehension, but with a lot of excitement of just the opportunity that we have to impact that many lives, that many lives of our employees. And then I actually asked Dave Hyman this morning. how many tenants do we have that live with us? How many residents call our places home? So we talk a lot about the units that we have under management, but I said, how many people, and we were both kind of scratching our heads on that, not sure if we know the exact count of people, but if you think about all the people that live with us, all the employees that work for us, all the, on the construction side, the subcontractors that work with us, and just that impact that we have on the lives of all of those people, That's just amazing to me. So I think that's what kind of sparks my excitement about the future is just growing all of those lives that we can positively impact as a company.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Oh, yeah. Tanya, you hit a core inside of me because talking about numbers like that. I grew up in a very small town, 1,500 people, and it just blows my mind that we work for an organization that impacts so many different lives. That's 10 times, 20 times the size of the hometown I grew up in. It's just mind-blowing to think about it that way. At the beginning, I introduced you as the Chief Financial Officer, and you talked about coming in as the controller. The role of Chief Financial Officer is new this year. Yes, congratulations on the promotion. Thank you. How has your life changed at work because of that promotion?

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah, it's definitely been a busy start to the year for me. And not that my role before was not busy, but I am definitely in learning mode right now. So kudos to my team who is just running and taking off and handling everything in their areas of responsibility, which I knew they would. But I'm definitely trying to download a lot of information from Paul. Paul is a very knowledgeable individual, and I'll never, ever be able to learn as much as he knows. But I'm certainly trying to learn as much as I can from him to try to add value to the organization in that CFO chair and take on as much responsibility as I can to help him be able to serve in areas that he can. needs to serve in as well. So it's been fun, challenging, exciting, all of the above. So yeah, it's been fun.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

I have the privilege of being able to sit in on one of your weekly meetings. And I remember one of the highlights not too long ago that you just talked about just how this season tax season was different than last year's tax season. You know, talk about that. I mean, the evolution of just how we're growing as a company, how we're just getting better and how it's maybe even becoming a little less stressful for you.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yes. So this year in in larger form than prior years, Sherry and Jordan. So Sherry is our corporate accounting manager. Jordan is our property accounting manager. Those two individuals took on a large portion of the workload of the preparation for the tax season. So working on all the reporting, getting everything right, ready to go off to our outside tax preparer that we utilize. And it's just been great to have kind of that full workload shared amongst other people and to see them grow. They've learned a lot. We all learned some things through the process. I wasn't probably as clear to some degree of really helping them know what that path would look like. And so it was a learning experience for all three of us, really, as we walked down that transition of kind of that workload shifted, divided, and conquered by three of us instead of myself with Sherry's help in the past. So it's been fun. entertaining to see um where i kind of tripped up maybe sometimes i would review reports and maybe there was a key component missing in the aha of oh i i forgot to share that we needed to do this step so it's been learning even for me um but just fun to see those two really rise up to that challenge

SPEAKER_02 27:16

yeah that is that is fun to to experience that and see that in your team members

SPEAKER_01 27:22

um

SPEAKER_02 27:23

What does a day in the life of Tanya look like here at Habercamp? A normal day, if there is such a thing as a normal day.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Yeah, I don't know, since the first of the year, if I would call a day normal, but really, it looks like me trying to download from Paul's level, what are the priorities, what things does he need out of our department, As I've stepped into this new role, we are also working on building our asset management team. So that's involved a decent amount of my time. Jeff currently heads up our asset management team, but we are preparing for the future when Jeff will kind of transition into retirement. So that's exciting. And we will definitely miss Jeff, but exciting to see some new people kind of in that area. So trying to download from Paul, what are the priorities? And then make sure that I'm communicating that amongst the different leaders on my team be it Jeff or Josiah on the asset management side Sherry on the corporate side or Jordan on the property management side and then helping them you know we spent a lot of time last year Sherry and Jordan and myself really working on transitioning additional responsibilities to the two of them and their roles in preparation for the opportunity if I did need to kind of slide into a different role beyond the controller chair so We worked really hard at that last year, but continuing to work on, you know, how does that look? How does that flow as we've transitioned responsibilities to start this year? And we'll continue to transition as we move forward. So I would say partially in the in the receiving and then partially in the kind of transitioning and trying to help lead with, you know, areas that they need to be working on or things that we might need out of their respective departments. So

SPEAKER_02 29:15

culture. Yeah. When you think about culture here in your department, as well as in the organization as a whole, what are some thoughts that come to mind when you think about culture here at Haverkamp?

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Definitely the first one that comes to my mind is the people that we have on the team. So I think we have a great culture at Haverkamp from my perspective, and we wouldn't have that without the people that we have. So I really feel like the people drive the culture. It's something that we can work on at a executive team level or or you and your role, Todd, as our chief culture officer, But without the individuals buying into that and without the individuals living that and helping us live that, we wouldn't have a great culture. So I really think of the people first. Our core values come to mind, obviously. And I personally, my background, how I was raised, the things that I was taught that were important and that became important as I grew in my life really align with our core values. And so I think that makes it fun and easy to work here as well. The other thing that I like about our culture is the EOS that we use here within the company. And I just think that makes the organization unique. it can get cumbersome, especially when you're in growth mode. And I really think that helps us stay centered, focused, and keep everybody on the same page.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Yeah, you hit two things that as I talk to people about culture, first and foremost, people. And, you know, everybody has a responsibility in any organization to contribute to the positivity of the organization through the culture. Then you mentioned EOS, Entrepreneurial Operating System, which we've been running on now for eight years. I think culture is a blend of people and processes. And EOS brings the processes for us to be able to all get on the same page and be going in the same direction. So, yeah, you hit on the two key components that at least I like to articulate when we talk about culture, and that's people and processes. Because you could have the best people in the world, but if you don't have very good processes, those people will leave. And you could have the best processes in the world, but if you don't have the right people, you're not going to function well either. So it's a good blend

SPEAKER_01 31:27

of that. And with EOS. it helps us do both with the right people, right seats, you know, all, all of the, the, that whole system, I mean, just really helps us as an organization, I think move the organization forward, especially as we go through growth mode. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

The purpose statement using EOS, you know one of the, tenants of EOS is to have a purpose statement. For Haberkamp Group, that purpose statement is growing together through real estate. So when you think about that purpose statement, what does that mean to you? How do you use that to motivate yourself or others that's growing together through real estate?

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Sure. So for me, especially in the chair that I just recently moved into, that focus isn't just about internal to the organization. It definitely involves external as well. So we have a lot of Mm-hmm. In my chair and in our accounting team as a whole, accounting, finance, asset management, we really have a large obligation to all of those folks who have said, hey, I want to invest alongside of Haber Camp Group. And it's important that what we do every day is accurate. It's important that we get good information out timely and really can help the organization with data and decision making and everything else to help the properties grow, help the farm. grow, help all of our construction projects, everything down the line just really help it stay on track and grow with the plans that we have in place. And I really think That growing is for us helping from that perspective externally, helping our internal teams grow. So helping develop our next levels of leaders that are going to build within the company and, you know, just really helping even employees that maybe don't want to see themselves elevate within the company, maybe just helping them grow in the current role that they're in then to continue to be better and better. So I really think it's multifaceted for us.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

Well said, multifaceted, very well said. And you hit on something that actually Paul just sent out an email throughout the entire organization about one of our key core values, and that's stewardship. So again, our core values at Haverkamp Group are stewardship, hard work, accountability, results-driven, and integrity. So he talked about stewardship, and that's really what you mentioned on. So let's camp there for a second, specifically on that area of stewardship. You know, after Paul sent out that message, just, yeah, kind of what went through your mind as you, again, think about stewardship, that value?

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Yeah, so I, you know, I'll have a hard time picking a core value, and I know that might be a question I've heard that may come up on this. It will come

SPEAKER_02 34:06

up, you're gonna have to pick one.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

But there are lots of them that are very important to me. And the stewardship value for me, I just think that is super important from our accounting perspective, our finance perspective, our asset management perspective. So we are being entrusted. And if you think about it, we're being entrusted with people's livelihoods. We are being entrusted with their financial rewards. And that's kind of a heavy thought if you think about it that way. And we just want to do everything we can to make sure that we're ensuring the well-being of their assets and the growth of them they you know people did not put assets with us to just have them be stagnant so you know anything we can do in our department to help other departments make better decisions help other departments grow their areas of responsibility as well that's really what we're here for is to really help like that and i feel like that's kind of the stewardship at its whole

SPEAKER_02 35:02

so is that is that your the core value if you had to pick one is that

SPEAKER_01 35:05

the one you're picking i know this is a tough one for me i think At the end of the day, I really struggle between stewardship and integrity. So in my core background, which is accounting, integrity is such a large piece. The integrity of the actions of our team, the integrity of the decisions we make. There are gray decisions all over the world in the accounting world. And so sometimes it's up to us as accountants to make sure that we're not not blurring that gray line, that we're making the right decisions and ensuring that the results we're issuing have integrity built into them as well. So I toggle between the two. Is that a good answer?

SPEAKER_02 35:48

It's an answer. It's fair. It's fair. You know, I wrote down two core values when I think of you. And you're a Sherry type of person. You actually live out all five of the core values. But the two that I wanted to give a shout out to you on is results driven. And that's part of, I think, the accounting world that, hey, you have to deliver numbers. You know, you got to look at these. You want to do it with accuracy. So very much, you know, results driven from that standpoint. And then I did write down integrity. I know that's something that's very important to you and you demonstrate that and always wanting to do the right thing and you're thinking about others and you do a great job of that. I wrote down a quote that I'm sure you heard Jeff say many a times as Jeff mentored me, he would use often and specifically around numbers and spreadsheets and budgets. Numbers tell a story and what is that story telling us? When you think of that quote, yeah, what does that quote mean? Did you hear that quote from Jeff a time

SPEAKER_01 36:49

or two? Yes, I did. And, you know, I think that is important. We as accountants can crank out numbers till the end of the day. Right. But if those numbers aren't meaningful to the person that's using them, it's really just wasted money. It's wasted wages or it's wasted money. time, whatever the case may be. So we really need to understand what is our audience looking for from us, if that's a property manager, or if that's Paul looking for strategic direction for the company. We just really need to understand what is the end goal and make sure that the numbers were given out again, I'll kind of come back to it, A, have integrity built into them, and B, are telling the story that is going to be most useful to that audience member that's looking to make decisions based on that data. So it has been impactful to me through my whole career yeah

SPEAKER_02 37:36

yes yes that quote will live with me forever thank you jeff thank you jeff you've already mentioned several of your team members and maybe you want to circle around and talk about them a little bit more but yeah who in in your view on your team are you maybe even outside your team that is letting their sherry shine who are doing a great job of living out core values

SPEAKER_01 37:55

yeah so i i feel fortunate uh i really do have a great team and many of them have were here before I came and so I can't even take credit for the fact that they're a great team but we do I feel like we have a great team and I'll just kind of hit on all of them okay you know I'll start with Jordan and Jordan started at the company shortly after I did so Jordan came to the company with a property management or property accounting background and he was instrumental in me learning kind of the property management world I came to the company with a manufacturing background so although I had a lot of years of a experience, I didn't have property accounting background. So Jordan was very helpful. You know, just thinking of that, you know, he was very accountable to take responsibility for the information. He worked hard, he made sure we got the results we needed delivered. And while he was doing all of that helped me learn. So he was very instrumental in kind of my start here and has done a great job for our team. Jordan's grown his staff since we've been here as we've grown as a company. And he does a great job job of working with his team and helping them develop to be able to tell the story that we need to tell from our property accounting perspective. So he does a great job. Going on to Sherry from that, Sherry McCann joined us as our corporate accounting manager, maybe a year or two after I started. I think she's been here a couple years. And Sherry does a great job on our corporate accounting side. She's been through some transitions with us. We've had system transitions. She never shies away from working hard to make sure we're meeting all of our deliverables she rolls with us as we change directions which sometimes happens um and sometimes yeah

SPEAKER_02 39:41

quite often probably

SPEAKER_01 39:42

and um and always ensures that the deadlines that we lay out are being met and so she's just really accountable um does a great job again working with her team and just when we make decisions for the organization understands that greater good and what our focus is is to be the best team we can be to support the organization and she's just been great to work with as well I'll shift over to Jessica Schrader she's in our payroll benefit admin area and Jessica started out with us as a property accountant we had a transition with our team in the payroll area and she was excited about an opportunity to kind of jump into a role and do something different she'd spent a good many years with us as a property accountant so she made that transition we asked for some changes out of her developing some of new processes, documenting processes, just all kinds of things. And she jumped right in and just all in, you know, is always excited. And I think, Todd, you work with Jessica pretty close, you know, always excited when we bring something new to her to say, hey, what about this? Or maybe we should look into this. She's just very, yes, very willing to jump in and look into anything. So I've been really happy with them. And then most recently, when I stepped into this position at the beginning of this year, Jeff joined my team. So that was interesting and kind of a full circle moment, I guess, you know, working with Jeff. And I still say working with Jeff. I don't think I can ever say that Jeff's on my team. Jeff's just part of my team, I guess. But yeah, so now working with the asset management, Jeff has been great to try to teach me and help me. And he'll continue to try to teach and help that team through the end of this year and into January when he'll decide to kind of venture onto his full retirement world. But that's been great working with him as well.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

Okay. Any news, anything you want to celebrate, any announcements, anything like that that's on your radar, anything recently or coming up?

SPEAKER_01 41:40

I don't think I have anything, I guess, to think about or...

SPEAKER_02 41:47

Did you attend the ribbon cutting event?

SPEAKER_01 41:50

I did. Want to talk about the ribbon cutting event? I sure can. That was exciting. Yeah. So I went over to Emory North Liberty, one of our multifamily housing projects that we're constructing right now in North Liberty. Phase one is done and phase two is underway. Phase one has been done just right out of year. And so there was a ribbon cutting done with the local chamber in that area on Thursday of last week. And so I went over there and what was really neat about it was Josiah, who's one of our asset management team members, and Sherry and all of her corporate accounting team also went over. So they all got to see the facility. Sherry has an accountant that works primarily with construction. So Nancy works a lot with the phase two project tracking and job costing and all of that right now. So it was fun to have all of us over there, just kind of see the excitement around, you know, celebrating the one year of that facility. It's a beautiful facility and just really neat to see that property level what we're part of, you know, and we get lost in the numbers sometimes. But that just really brings it all to the forefront when you're at the property, looking around, seeing it and seeing the residents. There were quite a few residents in attendance, and that was awesome to see. Talked with a couple of them and, you know, just fun to interact with the property management team that's local at that level, as well as everybody that was there.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Yeah. Circling back to something, you know, we talked about the impact that we have on people's lives. I'm sure for the accounting people who are like in their cubicles, you know, looking at numbers just to have that touch point with these are people that live in these communities of ours and being able to see how, yeah, what we do really is impactful. Yeah. Keep using that word. Any owners there? Did they get to celebrate as well?

SPEAKER_01 43:38

I don't. There were there was an investor there or a couple maybe. OK. I I don't know for sure how many, but I did interact with one I know that was there. So

SPEAKER_02 43:48

just a whole blend of people there. Absolutely. That's fun. That's fun to be able to celebrate. We are going to now participate in Haber Champs, or you're going to participate in it as a contestant. You are guest number four. We have a leaderboard. At the top of that leaderboard, Graydon, is Zach. After last week, we didn't make that announcement necessarily live, but I know you put it up on the scoreboard. So Zach's in the lead. How many? 27 or 28. Directionally close. Don't let the accounting people hear me use that term, directionally close. All right, so Zach's in the lead, then Dave is in second, and then Brent is in third. All right, so.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

So are we doing a top three? Top three. The scoreboard will continue to grow.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Yeah, your name will be on the scoreboard.

SPEAKER_01 44:36

I don't want to bump. the number third person.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

So, well, you can sandbag it and make sure that you score below Brent. You're positioning yourself. I see what you're doing there. All right. So as the game works, you're going to have 94 seconds to get through as many questions I'm going to ask you in rapid fire mode. They're just going to ask you kind of what your favorite is. I know you've listened to the game. You are allowed three skips, but once you get to that third one, no more skips allowed. Nobody's used three skips at all. I think Zach used one last week. So, you know, just you get stuck like, hey, just get on to the next one. Hey, I am the variable here. Sometimes I get stuck in asking my questions, so I'll try to be as fast as I can so I can, yeah, get a drink of water here. I'm going to get a drink of water, so I'm ready to go. All right. And you have 94 seconds. The significance of 94 is we started in 1994, so that's kind of a little bit of a shout out to our origin. And then your score, yeah, it's going to be best based on how many questions you answer. And I don't know if they're going to be right or not. I mean... I know you're a person of integrity, so every answer you give will be correct. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_01 45:48

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Timer? All right. Coffee or tea? Coffee. Morning person or night owl?

SPEAKER_01 45:53

Night owl.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Beach vacation or mountain getaway? Beach. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no?

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

What's your favorite holiday?

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

Would you rather cook or order takeout?

SPEAKER_01 46:05

Order takeout.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset. Dogs or cats?

SPEAKER_01 46:09

Cats.

SPEAKER_02 46:10

If you could time travel past or future?

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Future.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

What's your guilty pleasure snack?

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Any chewy fruit candy.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Roller coasters, love them or hate them?

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Hate.

SPEAKER_02 46:24

Vegetables or fruit? Vegetables. Do you believe in aliens?

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 46:29

What's your favorite way to spend a weekend?

SPEAKER_01 46:32

NASCAR track.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

What's your favorite type of music?

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Country.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

what's the one word that best describes you?

SPEAKER_01 46:43

Pass.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

Favorite Haverkamp core value?

SPEAKER_01 46:47

Integrity.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

Favorite part about working at Haverkamp?

SPEAKER_01 46:51

The people.

SPEAKER_02 46:53

Favorite company event or tradition?

SPEAKER_01 46:56

Quarterly meetings. A

SPEAKER_02 46:57

skill that helps you in your job?

SPEAKER_01 47:01

Pass.

SPEAKER_02 47:02

One thing about Haverkamp that you brag about? The people. Most rewarding part of your job?

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Just enjoying what I do every day and enjoying the team I work with.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

A small daily habit that helps you be productive?

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Probably my to-do list.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

Proudest moment in your career?

SPEAKER_01 47:23

Pass.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

That's my third. One thing. Oh, there you go. Hey, thank you. Thank you. I always want to end on this question. It It doesn't count toward your score, but what's your personal mission statement? Do you have a personal mission statement?

SPEAKER_01 47:37

I do. I don't know if it's the scholarly mission statement. So there's a song that Rascal Flatts sings called My Wish. I don't know if you've heard it, but there's a section in that song that says, always give more than you take. And that's just kind of a phrase out of that song that has resonated with me in all aspects of my life, whether it's my relationship with Alan, my family, work, just trying to always be mindful of giving. And I love to give. That's one of my favorite things. I love to give. So I've just in general trying to give more than I take.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

You are a giver, and that's one thing I appreciate about you. Thank you. Going through your answers, I just had to chuckle a couple times because, you know, when I ask dog or cats, I know there's a cat story that, you know, is out there between you and Alan and what kind of cat food you buy for your cats, that kind of stuff. But, yeah, it's fun to go through these. So as we do wrap up and close things, is there anything that you wish you would have said that you didn't because now is your opportunity?

SPEAKER_01 48:52

I think I covered everything. Thank you, Todd, for hosting me today.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely enjoyed it. And you were a wonderful guest and appreciate all that you do for us. Thank you. Yes, yes. So at Havercamp, we believe the strongest cultures are grown and cultivated and cared for. Culture isn't just one person's job. It's everybody's responsibility. It belongs to us all. So until next time, keep learning and leading.