Boyle Talks: Harold Moss Talks Client Relationships and the Obligation to Give Back

Summary

In this series of Boyle Talks, Harold discusses his experience of transitioning to Boyle through acquisition, hi approach to property management, and passion for giving back to the community.

Harold started in commercial real estate in 1984, and prior to Boyle, he worked for Highwoods for 27 years. Through an acquisition, Harold started at Boyle in 2020 and says the most impressive part of the company is the people. Boyle is more than the properties they own. The people and their approach is what makes Boyle a special place to work. Harold encourages his team to think like an asset manager with the goal of enhancing the long-term value of the properties they own and manage. One of the key benefits to being an owner-manager is that we are highly invested in the properties because we own them, and we want to support tenants and make our properties shine.

Harold is also very passionate about charities and giving back to his community. He has been involved in leadership for local charity golf tournaments since 1989, which include the FedEx St Jude Classic and Make-A-Wish Golf tournament. Harold believes every company and individual has an obligation to give back to their community and is very grateful that Boyle aligns with these values.

Transcript

Gary: Hi and welcome to another edition of Boyle Talks.  I’m Gary Thompson, Senior Vice President here at Boyle, and today we’ll be talking with Harold Moss. Harold is a senior vice president in our commercial sales and leasing group. Harold you’ve been here for a couple years now, that’s sort of like a rookie at Boyle, but you’ve done this for a long time.

Harold: I have, thank you Gary. I started in commercial real estate in 1984. So it’s been 38 years. For the last 27 years before I came to Boyle, I was with Highwoods Properties. I came as part of the package when they bought four Highwoods buildings when Boyle bought those and we landed in the best place we could.

Gary: So, what impressed you when you came to work here at Boyle?

Harold: Gary that’s an easy question. The people of Boyle they really welcomed us and and gave us a sense that they wanted us here. And a company is its people. It’s not the properties they own or the products that they manufacture, it’s the people…and Boyle has the very best people.

Gary: So, what are some of the things that that you brought that has helped the team here?

Harold: One of the things that I’ve been trying to do and encourage is to think like asset managers as opposed to merely property managers. Boyle is a long-term holder and anything that we can do to enhance that long-term value is what guides us. What a lot of times people don’t understand is what a third-party manager does versus an owner manager, so it is far better to be an owner manager.

Gary: So, Harold, you mentioned a third-party manager. What’s the benefit to our being an owner operator versus a third party management company?

Harold: Well, there are a couple of differences, Gary. We’re highly invested, obviously, in the properties that we own.  A third-party manager has no ownership stake, and so any any capital improvements that they want to make they have to get approved by the owner. Well we are the owner. Our main focus is to make our properties shine because when you lose a tenant, there’s a huge financial setback and you never recover from that. You can’t recover those lost dollars… you know, it’s far better to keep them than to lose them.

Gary: Well let’s talk about you personally. I understand that you have a great passion for raising money for children. Tell me about that!

Harold: I started working on charitable golf tournaments in 1989 and in 1994 I became a volunteer salesperson for the FedEx-St. Jude Classic. For 27 years, I helped them raise money for St. Jude and then for the past 12 years I’ve been chairman of the Mar Commercial Council Make-a-Wish golf tournament. We hold a little golf tournament and we raise money for Make-a-Wish Mid-south, which ironically is one of our customers…Moriah Woods. And so this year, we were able to raise enough money to donate $100,000 to Make-a-Wish Mid-south.

Gary: That’s fantastic!

Harold: And I truly believe, Gary, that a company as well as individuals have an obligation to give back to their communities. And so I’m very grateful and very humbled by the support that I get from Boyle and to be able to do that. I only have one child…he’s not a child anymore, but my son, he’s 33, and throughout his life he’s been incredibly healthy and so we feel very blessed. And so I wanted to think of a way to give back… and so these families and children that are suffering from life-threatening medical conditions, you know they need a respite from all this, and so Make-a-Wish offers that and I’ve seen the power of a wish being granted. I have an incredible golf committee that helps me raise all this money, so I’m just, you know… I’m blessed to be able to do it and so appreciative of Boyle. You know, I just really enjoy it to see a little child’s face when they’re told that their wish is being granted. There’s nothing better than that.

Gary: Harold, that’s fantastic! Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today.

Harold: Thank you for having me.