Bell Partners
The executive team of Bell Partners at their offices in Greensboro, N.C., on Jan. 5, 2011. Left to right: Robert Slater, John Tomlinson, Lili Dunn, Steve Bell (chairman and CEO), Jon Bell (president), Durant Bell, Erin Ditto, Dhrubo Sircar, and Mary Copeland. Photos by Darron R. Silva
Credit: Darron R. Silva
Headquarters: Greensboro, N.C.
Year Founded: 1976
No. of Employees: 3,000
No. of Units Owned: 43,000
No. of Units Managed: 17,000
Market Coverage: Eastern United States, from Boston to Columbus, Ohio, and from Texas to Florida
One of the first steps in this process was a rebranding move: The company changed its name from Steven Bell & Co. to Bell Partners. Next up was building a high-quality team. While other companies struggled in 2008, Bell made itself a desirable place to work, thanks in large part to making sound financial decisions when the market was at its frothiest. Bell had very few construction deals; its markets weren’t as hard-hit as the Miamis and Phoenixes of the world; and it sold $900 million worth of assets in 2007. It is also a generally risk-averse company, preferring long-term, fixed-rate debt and borrowing 65 percent to 70 percent LTV.
The hiring spree began just before the UDR transaction. Bell brought on senior vice president and director of multifamily Erin Ditto from UDR (she had worked for Bell briefly in the early part of the decade). In late 2008, Bell pulled former AvalonBay Communities head of property operations Bob Slater out of his consultant’s role; he would eventually become a mentor to Durant. A year later, the company hired former Birmingham, Ala.–based REIT Colonial Properties Trust executive vice president and chief accounting officer John Tomlinson to take the helm as Bell’s CFO. A few months later, Bell went back to the UDR well, hiring away the REIT’s well-respected chief information officer, Dhrubo Sircar, who immediately assessed the company’s IT systems and began upgrading to broadband connectivity for site-level operations. Sircar is now developing e-payment systems for vendors (which rely on electronic invoices) and doing pilots with online leasing.
The hiring of REIT-level talent continued into 2010 with Lili Dunn, who joined Bell as chief investment officer after a long run as senior vice president and managing director of Alexandria, Va.–based REIT AvalonBay Communities. And most recently, former Marriott senior director of global brand and management learning Christine Gilmore joined Bell as vice president of training. Today, the synergies and strengths of this team are beginning to gel. For example, the company will soon combine Sircar’s technology platform and Gilmore’s training system with a film studio where it can record subject matter experts instructing employees on best practices. Jon Bell says the team has helped in restructuring, implementing best practices, and driving the implementation of core technology such as revenue management, e-procurement, e-invoicing, reportings, and business intelligence.
