Aside from the month when he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, J. David Heller has run 150 miles every month and read 150 books each year for the past 10 years.
That may be everything you need to know about what makes the founder and CEO of Cleveland-based The NRP Group tick. He promised himself a decade ago that he would stick to this routine, which he calls “the twin engines of my personal discipline,” and it has been his nonnegotiable source of clarity and energy ever since.
“I strive to be intentional in all that I do,” Heller says. “I’m very purpose driven, and if something doesn’t fit within the purpose, then it’s an easy no. That’s not something that comes easily. It’s a skill that takes a long time to create.”
At a Glance
Company: The NRP Group
Title: CEO and co-founder
Age: 60
Family: Wife Rebecca (married 31 years), daughter Lindsey Miller (Graham), grandchild Joey Miller, son Ben Heller (Rachel), daughter Ellie Heller, and son Sam Heller
Favorite quote: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” —Rabbi Hillel, “Pirkei Avot” (“Ethics of the Fathers”), 1:14
Favorite book: “The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection” by Michael A. Singer. The author shares his journey of letting go of personal control and allowing life to unfold, resulting in unexpected success and fulfillment.
Lessons in leadership: Humility, adaptability, and trust in the process—key traits for navigating uncertain times both professionally and personally.
Proudest accomplishment: “My proudest accomplishment has been building resilient teams capable of meeting profound human needs. In my work at The NRP Group, that has meant creating a team that can build and develop 6,000 apartment units a year for families and individuals. But that principle was tested most deeply when I had the honor of serving as board chair for the Jewish Federation of Cleveland during the COVID pandemic. Leading our community’s response—mobilizing resources and people to protect the vulnerable
during a historic crisis—was a powerful reminder that whether you are building a physical apartment home or a community safety net, the real accomplishment is in the lives you are able to touch and secure.”
Heller has been honing this skill since he was young. When he was growing up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, his father, a partner at KPMG, invited Heller into his work life and introduced him to his friends and clients—some of the most influential leaders in Cleveland and pillars of the Jewish community.
“I was around some of these titans of industry that other people don’t have access to,” Heller says. “It built a level of confidence in me when I was entering the work world. I was able to carry myself in a way that my peers weren’t necessarily able to carry themselves.”
Business magnate and philanthropist Mort Mandel, real estate icon Albert Ratner, and bank president Bobby Goldberg taught Heller “how to navigate the delicate balance of work, family, and community, and that you could be fiercely proud of your success while remaining humble enough to roll up your sleeves and do the necessary work,” Heller says.
Heller applies this wisdom in running NRP every day. Before he takes any action, he asks himself two questions: whether it serves a community-building purpose beyond the business and whether it will clear a path for others to lead.
Investing in People
Heller and Al Scott, who retired in 2014, started NRP in 1994 when Heller was 28 years old. Driven by a clear vision, the partners had no problem selling investors on the concept of building affordable housing in Ohio. The challenge was creating a best-in-class construction team that could fulfill on those commitments.
“Those early years taught us that the most important thing you can build isn’t a building, but a reputation for delivering on your word, no matter how difficult,” Heller says.
NRP has grown into a company with 1,100 employees. The firm has developed and constructed over 63,000 affordable, mixed-income, and market-rate apartment homes, and it manages more than 30,000 units. In the past year, NRP developed its first project in Las Vegas; brought on developers in Arizona, Florida, and Nevada; and opened a new office in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is expanding into developing properties with integrated community services, including Texas’ first Health and Housing initiative in Fort Worth and a community with a state-of-the-art Boys and Girls Club in New Rochelle, New York.
Heller says the company’s success is a direct result of the “A+ players” he surrounds himself with—both in business and in life. “One A+ person is a force, but a team of them creates a culture of excellence that is truly unstoppable,” Heller says. “They provide the support in tough times and the shared joy in moments of success. Choosing who you walk through life with, both personally and professionally, is the single most important decision you can ever make.”
Recruiting and maintaining A+ talent requires relentless discipline and unwavering commitment to constant improvement, Heller says. Whenever someone leaves the company, he and his colleagues are uncompromising in making sure they replace them with someone better. Multiple people meet and interview every candidate, focusing intensely on how that person’s perspective and background would enhance the team’s diversity of thought.
Heller personally interviewed every potential employee NRP was considering until about two years ago, when he stopped interviewing property-level staff because the numbers had become untenable. He still does the final interview with all candidates for regional managers and higher positions and hiring managers in every division.
“David’s leadership is characterized by his investment in people,” says Todd Silverman, managing partner of TriPost Capital Partners, who has worked with Heller since 2016. This approach, Silverman adds, “transcends throughout the organization.”
NRP chief strategy officer Scott Villani, who has worked with Heller for 12 years, says Heller’s collaborative leadership style and commitment to hiring exemplary people bring out the best in the NRP team. “He trusts us to give him guidance and to be the ones who make decisions and push the business forward, and we all feel empowered by that,” Villani says. “He has a unique level of humility where he says, ‘Listen, I’m going to make sure you guys are getting the best people, and I’m going to give you the tools to do the best.’ But it’s up to us to execute and to make good on it.”
Heller learned early on that micromanaging “stifles the very creativity and drive we hire for.” He is constantly checking himself to determine whether he’s giving his team members the autonomy they need to become the next generation of leaders. This is a delicate dance, requiring “a constant balance between engagement and empowerment,” he says.
Living to 120
Naturally, mentorship—both giving and receiving—is expected of everyone at NRP, within the company as well as in the broader communities. “The real breakthrough is teaching that mentorship is a two-way street,” Heller says. “We’ve seen it time and again: The people who grow the fastest here are not just the ones who have a mentor, but the ones who also step up to become a mentor to others. It creates a powerful, organic cycle of learning and teaching.”
Outside the office, Heller emulates his own mentors’ philanthropic legacy through extensive volunteer service. His time on the boards of the Cleveland Foundation, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, and many others has been meaningful, he says, but his current role as national campaign chair for Jewish Federations of North America is the one he will carry with him forever. Since Oct. 7, 2023, he has taken on “the monumental task of helping to lead the North American Jewish community’s response to the single most horrific attack on Israel in its history.”
In the aftermath of that attack, Heller oversaw a campaign that raised more than $860 million to provide trauma care, hospital support, and emergency aid for the terror victims. He has traveled to Israel five times since Oct. 7 and been inspired by “the unbreakable resilience of a people determined to heal, rebuild, and, ultimately, live in peace.”
“It has been the most challenging and humbling honor of my life to serve at such a critical moment in our people’s history,” he says.
In the Jewish tradition, an often-repeated phrase is, “may you live to 120,” which is the age Moses is said to have been when he died. Heller has taken that to heart—so, at age 60, he’s only halfway through. “The concept of retirement, as most people understand it, is a myth,” he says.
He’s emulating Mandel, “who worked with passion and purpose until he died at 97,” and Ratner, “one of the community’s most active and influential forces at 97,” in finding ways to remain deeply relevant and engaged, even as he steps back to create space for others to lead.
“A life of purpose,” Heller says, “doesn’t have a finish line.”
