Ava Goldman
President, The Michaels Development Co.
Even before beginning her career, Ava Goldman had a powerful role model for succeeding in male-dominated fields: her mother.
“She got involved in engineering at a time when being in engineering and being a woman was extraordinarily unusual,” Goldman says. “She was my absolute inspiration.”
Perhaps due to that early influence, Goldman never hesitated to plunge into the business world despite obstacles or gender imbalances.
“I think there’s a lot to be said for just plowing ahead,” she says. “Instead of spending time thinking ,‘Why can’t I do this?’ think, ‘Let me find a way.’ ”
That determination has helped her take an intrepid approach throughout her career. After receiving her master’s in urban planning, Goldman realized it was “more fun to do than to plan” and moved into development. Now, she’s helping keep Michaels busy and competitive, despite funding constraints.
“The industry as a whole is facing real challenges right now in the sense that many of the programs that we know and love are under fire,” Goldman says. To counteract that, the company is diversifying its efforts, by both expanding its affordable initiatives and turning to other markets, such as military and student housing and mixed-use development.
In all of these efforts, Goldman takes pride in helping to satisfy a fundamental need. “We’re taking dilapidated housing and turning that into apartments that anyone would want to live in,” she says. “I absolutely love it when as a result of what we do, it makes a difference in some small way in families’ lives.”
