I left Philly on a plane to Dartmouth set on playing lacrosse, graduating with a major in economics, and going to New York to work in Investment Banking. Freshman summer I worked for an investment group in the wrong side of the state (my parents had moved to Pittsburgh), and after that internship Investment Banking was out of my plan. Trading paper just didn't seem real and wasn't for me. So I went back to Dartmouth for my sophomore year to play lacrosse and study economics. Well, following fall trimester a doctor took one look at my knee and said "if you want to play outside with your kids when you are 35, then your lacrosse career is over." Now I was down to economics. Fast forward a year, after 3 major knee surgeries, I was studying at Villanova majoring in Finance. The summer came, and I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I found an ad in the newspaper for a carpenter assistant, called the boss man, and worked that summer trimming out houses, installing cabinets, replacing roofs, and building additions. I like building, and I like being able to see the results of my work and others' work. Building is tangible; a far cry from trading bonds and equities on a screen, not seeing or feeling anything that makes up and secures these. The next two summers I did the same thing; sweating in the summer heat for 8 hours a day outside swinging hammers and shooting nail guns. But wait, it was time for me to pick a career. My Dad had met someone from Clark Construction the prior fall. I had a few high school friends in DC. I ended up being offered a job, accepting it, and the fall of 2004 I found myself working in a new 550,000 square foot building on a 250,000 square foot tenant fit out. With Clark, I could've been placed in any number of departments, and it turned out I was fortunate to have been placed in the field with the interiors group. Why? The building was Boston Properties' new trophy building at the time, and by asking questions and forming relationships with folks at the firm, I suddenly learned about an industry I had known nothing about: commercial real estate. And this industry consisted of everything that excited me: construction, finance, people, and strategy. One Saturday, I was in Boston Properties' new office making punch list items disappear, and there was one other person in there that morning: Ray Ritchey. Ray asked me what I wanted to do with my career, and I told him that I loved construction, finance, and working with people. He said well that is development. Boom, I had found my calling and now saw a path to take. I moved on from the contracting side and onto the ownership side. After a stint with an owner/developer in Bethesda, where I learned a lot including how not to run a company, I was fortunate to have been hired on by First Potomac to oversee projects in Maryland. Then I moved into their Northern Virginia portfolio, and into DC when they started making plays in that market. For almost 5 years I planned projects, structured and customized lease work letters, and oversaw all types of builds.