This Group Operations Manager leads with a people-first mindset

Chrissy Beecher didn’t think twice about stepping into an elf costume at the mall she oversees. The Santa group had extra costumes, so she joined the staff in the holiday parade on that winter afternoon.

“I like the moving parts of operations – that you're never doing the same thing day-in and day-out – and there's always something different,” says Beecher, whose favorite part of her role as a Group Operations Manager is being a support system for her teams. The value of which she learned from her manager, Barry Wood.

“His biggest question to me is ‘Are you happy?’ That shows me that he genuinely cares about me,” she says. Thriving in a supportive workplace, Chrissy too sets out to lead with a people-first mindset in everything she does.

Chrissy oversees 16 properties in the East Coast region. Her day-to-day consists of supporting on-site management with the contracted services of the property, such as landscaping, HVAC, security, roofing and plumbing as well as any emergency repairs. She does all of this while keeping the property on budget and ensuring her teams are up-to-date on training from crisis to fire drills.

And where others may look only at the potential legal risks of deferred building maintenance, Chrissy is equally vigilant of the potential human costs. “Say you've got 10 parking lot lights working, and two that are out,” she says. “You may think you don't need them, but that creates a dark area. Somebody could get hurt, so you have to turn those lights on.”

As passionate as Chrissy is about Property Management, her career in the field came about unexpectedly. Chrissy studied business law, criminal justice and finance. While finishing her master’s degree, she applied for a part time job as a marketing assistant at a mall in her hometown. It turned into a full-time role, then an administration role and within a year Chrissy earned a promotion to General Manager.

From leaning on her legal knowledge to calling her family members who work in plumbing, electrical and pest control to confirm vendor pricing, Chrissy always keeps the client front of mind.

“It’s like putting a puzzle together,” she says. “For example, if we switch to LED lights, what are the programs and benefits that give money back to the client?”

Not sure? Count on Chrissy to find out.