Cindy Kaneer joined Cantrell & Morgan Inc., a privately held Jacksonville-based commercial real estate firm, Aug. 13 as senior vice president of property management. She also is president of CREW Jacksonville, a 68-member network for women in commercial real estate.
I am responsible for the property management and I’m going to be helping with build-outs for new retail tenants. I was mostly in commercial office space, so this is a change. Everyone’s talking industrial now. We’re in the market to grow any of those. I have a background in all of it and we’re hoping to put that to good use.
I was working at AT&T Universal Card in the claims department and saw a job posting for a facilities associate to coordinate trash removal, landscaping and maintenance of the vehicles. I thought, are they kidding? This sounds like a dream job. I applied and was hired and promoted to facilities manager and it’s history from there.
I started as a facilities manager at AT&T Universal Card, and they sold us to Citi Cards. Our services were outsourced to Grubb & Ellis. Two years in, my boss said, “You’re going on an interview today.” I said no, I’m quite happy here. He said, “You’re going on this interview.” So I went on this interview with Craig Meek of The Meek Companies and a few months later I was working for him as a property manager. I discovered I had a niche for the business development side. I was there at Metro Square Office Park for 16 years.
I grew up in Yulee and went to school in Jacksonville. I graduated from Stanton High School. My mom and dad still live in the house I grew up in. Yulee has changed tremendously, from one flashing light to traffic jams. The small-town feel is gone, but it’s nice. We drove to town 30 minutes to get groceries or go to dance class, or whatever I was doing as a kid. It was, we have to go to town! Now they are the town.
I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I met my husband and plans changed and I fell into facilities management and I love it. Facilities and properties are full of problems that always need to be solved and I’m a problem-solver. My friends call me the fixer. I like figuring out, why is this happening? Finding the answer makes me feel proficient at what I do.
I love CREW. I had been encouraged by Craig to go and I kept saying, I don’t have time for this, and another friend said, just go and check it out. I went, and it was amazing. It’s inspiring to have these women around you who are successful, accomplished people who are there to help you.
This is my third year at CREW. It is a networking organization to help support women in the commercial real estate industry. They do a great job of it on a global level.
My son just graduated from the University of North Florida and my daughter will graduate from Florida State College at Jacksonville in December. My husband and I have two businesses – we lease refrigerated trailers and we have a trucking business. My son works there with my husband. My daughter decided she wanted to continue her career in logistics and that’s what she’s doing at McKesson Corp.
I’m a runner. That’s what brings balance. I love spending time with my family. We do a lot of fishing and going to the beach.
The economy is great. People are investing, they’re building. I don’t think we’re seeing cranes all over like some of the other cities, but we’ve got a lot going on.