Condo Media - November 2017 - 72

Ask a Busy Person
Why did you choose engineering as a
career and how did you get started in
the field? I didn't think I was artistic
enough to be an architect (my first
choice), so I decided the second-best
thing would be a structural engineer.
After graduating from college, I worked
briefly for an engineering company, but
then I was drafted and spent a few years
in the Navy's Civil Engineering Corps.
You've said in other interviews that
your Navy experience prepared you
uniquely for what you're doing now.
How so? They put me in charge of
all building construction at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, because they
thought they were going to close it. But
they kept it open and, with very little
training, I ended up overseeing a huge
backlog of major construction projects.
I learned a lot about construction-
about old and new buildings-that I
never would have learned otherwise.
But even more important, I learned engineering isn't just about buildings. It's
about people and resources and managing both. It isn't enough to understand
your clients' buildings; you have to
understand your clients and their business, too. In fact, part of my job here
involves training our engineers. I don't
teach them how to be better engineers;
I teach them how to do the business of
engineering. How to deal with clients,
how to write a report they will read
and understand. You don't learn those
things in engineering school.
How does working with condominium associations
differ from working with
corporate clients? Corporate executives focus on
the bottom line, and they
have experience with
construction projects;
you don't have to
explain a lot to them.
In condominiums,
you are dealing with
board members,
who may be profes-

CONDOMEDIA

JACK CARR, PE, RS, LEED-AP
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, ENGINEERING,
CRITERIUM ENGINEERS
sionals, but they aren't condominium
professionals. Most have never hired
an engineer. They don't know how to
talk to an engineer. Part of our job is to
make it easy for them to talk to us.
What does it take to work effectively
with a condominium board? You
have to understand that condominium
communities are like people-they're
unique. They have their own personalities and their own philosophies about
governance and management. You have
to understand what makes a community
work and what doesn't. You have to know
which buttons to push and which ones
not to push. Most of all, you have to know
how to listen to clients and how to steer
them gently toward the right decision.
What do you like most about
working with condominiums?
I like that it is so personal. You
get to know people on a personal
level. You sit in owners' kitchens
and eat their cookies and drink
their coffee. You know the president's dog's name; you know the treasurer's son is going to college. That's
another thing that makes it very
different and more refreshing than
working with corporate clients.

What's given you the most satisfaction? Mentoring young people. I've
been doing that for several years now,
working with students at Portland High
School and it's been a wonderful experience. My first student was a young man
from the Eastern Congo, whose entire
family had been wiped out in a genocide. He had spent two years in a refugee camp before coming to the United
States. He had no money and no friends,
but he was very smart. He told me his
goal was "to help my people in Africa." I
coached him in high school and helped
him get into a great school (Colby College) with a full scholarship. He
got his engineering degree, got a
job with a big Boston company,
and last year, he returned to
Africa to work on a project
developing clean water
for "his people." Being
able to make that kind
of difference in the life
of a young person is very
gratifying.
You've served on the Condo
Media board for several years. How
and why did you get involved with
CAI New England? When I recognized that condominiums should be an
important part of Criterium's business,
I knew I needed more education in
the area. One thing that impressed me
about CAI is its focus on educating its
members. The emphasis on education
was a perfect fit for me-because I'm
an educator at heart. I gravitated naturally toward Condo Media because it
is dedicated to educating people in all
areas of the condominium world.
What's the best advice you ever got?
My father told me never to invest in
anything that rusts or eats oats. He also
told me in the business world, never do
a favor for a client without letting them
know what you've done. This is partly
self-serving. Clients need to know they're
special and you're taking care of them.
Knowing you have their back gives them
peace of mind.

Condo Media - November 2017

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