While in Dallas, Bolton worked for the Trammell Crow organization where he worked on the finance side of the office and industrial market. While there, he completed his master’s in business administration at the University of North Texas.
“I thought I would stay in Dallas for three or four years and then come home,” he says. “But the real estate market became very difficult in the late ’80s and I stayed to work through a lot of those issues.”
However, in 1993, Bolton was ready to return to Memphis. His parents told him about an article in the newspaper about a local real estate company that had just gone public and was looking for a CFO – that company was Mid-America Apartment Communities L.L.C.
“I didn’t know George Cates [the founder of Mid-America] or the company,” says Bolton. “However, I had gotten to know a little bit of Cates’ youngest son, Andy, who worked for Trammell Crow.”
At lunch one day, Bolton decided to drop a blind letter, introducing himself to Cates, in the mail. “I never said anything to anybody about the letter,” he recalls.
However, when he returned from lunch, Andy stopped by his office and asked if Bolton would be interested in talking to his dad. “About an hour later, George called,” says Bolton.
“We were in the final decision process of picking a CFO when my son Andy said, ‘you have to talk to someone,'” recalls Cates. “We were very impressed with [Bolton], but had already decided on someone else. [He] was very understanding.”
A few days later, Cates called Bolton back and asked if he would be interested in growing with the company in an operational role. “He came aboard overseeing new development and moved quickly into the operational side of the business, where he earned his stripes,” says Cates.
“I had the great fortune of working directly with [Cates] for eight years,” says Bolton. “There’s not a greater guy to learn the multifamily operating side of the business from.”
Now, eight years later, Cates has retired and Bolton is the president, CEO and chairman of the company, and he’s back home with his family.