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know their deals intimately, but occasionally an issue arises that requires significant time to reach resolution. In these instances, whether it’s litigation or a troubled asset, our AM group is able to transition the property to Special Assets who specializes in problem resolution and has the ability to dedicate significant time to one asset. The asset manager is then able to continue to provide quality service to their assigned portfolio. Every month, we meet and review our portfolio and discuss any assets that are ready to transition into or out of Special Assets. We go over the Special Assets transactions as a company in detail so that Asset Managers can easily follow the progress of their transaction. Once an asset is ready to transfer back tous, the Asset Manager will meet with Special Assets to go over any updates, final solutions and be brought up to speed on all aspects of the transaction. You’ve been with CREA for 8 years. What was and is the draw to CREA for you? What is your favorite thing about working here? Initially I was drawn to CREA because of a friend of mine, who had a very similar work experience and background, worked at CREA and always spoke so highly of it. Today, I love working at CREA because of the people, growth and challenge. The people at CREA are passionate, intelligent, driven but laid back, and also know how to make work fun. As I have matured in my role at CREA, the types of daily challenges and learning experiences presented have continued to evolve and keep me engaged. CREA is growing and it’s been amazing to be
a part of this ride. I am excited to see what the future holds! When you aren’t busy working, what do you enjoy doing? My kids are 9 and 11, so my husband and I are enjoying this busy phase of our lives filled with their activities such as football, basketball, cheerleading and piano, to name a few. We know the time we have with them is short so the last few years we have been focusing on traveling and creating fun family experiences with our kids. We also have a 5-month-old Goldendoodle puppy named Oreo who has captured our hearts. My husband and I are also very involved with
EMPLOYEE
SPOTLIGHT:
BROOKE
SOLIS,
CONTINUED
in recent years? We are fortunate that technology and CREA are both growing quickly. As our portfolio grows, we have made it a priority to constantly reevaluate and refine our processes to create efficiencies. We are currently working with our IT group to automate processes that we have historically performed manually. A big process we are working on right now is utilizing robots and automation to improve our processes around first year tenant file management, lease- up, initial tenant file qualification, and credit delivery. We are working with our online database company to create dashboards for our quarterly reporting processes to improve the qualityofourquarterlyreport reviews. We are also researching new site visit applications so that we can more efficiently and effectively conduct site visits and provide reporting while we are still out in the field. In 2019, we will be launching the presence of our first Asset Manager in a Regional office. Samantha Theising, Assistant Vice President in our Stabilization group is planning to move to our Portland office in early 2019. We are excited about this opportunity for our Asset Management team to be closer to our west-coast clients. CREA now has a separate Special Assets group. How does your asset management group collaborate with this group as the properties transition to and from SA and AM? The creation of the Special Assets group has played an important role in the ability for our restructure to be successful. Our Asset Managers
J o i n i n g CREA’s Asset Management department in 2010, Brooke started as
One of the biggest changes we have made is restructuring our department into Development and Stabilized groups. This has allowed our asset managers to focus on becoming experts in a specific area with a goal to better serve our clients. We have also formalized our annual compliance review process. We have created a new Compliance role within our Asset Management group. This person performs the annual tenant file compliance reviews for all of our properties that are less than 120 units. We then outsource the annual compliance review to our 3rd party consultant for our larger properties. We have spent the rest of our time identifying areas where we can create efficiencies or add value and have started working on several projects. How have these changes been received both by your team and your clients? We have been getting positive feedback from clients and our Acquisitions team members who work closely with our clients. Our new structure lines up closely with how many of our developer clients are structured. We are focused on improving communication internally and externally and the feedback we have received has all been positive. The CREA team members have also enjoyed the shift to Development and Stabilized groups. We were able to focus on each asset manager’s strengths and passion and line those up with their new roles.
an Asset Manager. As her career at CREA continued, she took on more responsibility by supervising staff, working on problem assets, creating policies, procedures and department efficiencies with a growing portfolio. Some of her major accomplishments include incorporating a variety of improvements inCREA’s drawprocess, implementing Asset Management worksheets into the post-closing models, policies and procedures such as Audit and Tax Return Procedures, Expected Cash Flow Distributions, standardized reporting and revamping of the lower-tier quarterly reports and review process. By leading most of the significant Asset Management department changes and process improvements, it was a natural trajectory for Brooke as she moved into her new role as SVP. From Napolean Dynamite dance moves to her beloved 90’s fashion, learn about what make Brooke stand out as a CREA employee: Congratulations on your new role! What changes have you made to the AM department in the past 6 months? Thank you! It’s been a very exciting year and we have made some big changes, but also spent time refining our internal processes within Asset Management and how we interact with other departments.
and everyone had to follow it, what would it be? Find something to laugh about and share it with others. What was your favorite 90s fashion fad? Just one? There’s too many good ones to only mention one. Flannels, vests, turtlenecks, Dr. Marten’s, overalls with one strap down, platform sandals and neon windbreakers. But if I HAVE to pick just one, it has to be Hammer pants. If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be? I love music, so this is really hard. One of my all-time favorites is PYT by Michael Jackson. Now, let’s dance! If you could choose your age forever, what age would you choose and why? The age I am today, because life is good.
our church family and are currently serving in a leadership role for our local Great Banquet community.
RANDOM QUESTIONS!
What’s your biggest kitchen fail? The first time we had Thanksgiving at our house with my husband’s family, we decided to smoke a turkey in my brother-in-law’s electric smoker. He didn’t tell us that there was a water pan on the inside that needed filled. The turkey caught on fire and when we cut into it, it was almost exactly like the Griswald Christmas turkey in the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie. What’s your signature dance move? I get all my best moves from Napoleon Dynamite.
How do you manage and keep up with the growth that CREA has seen
If you could make a rule for a day
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