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What defines life-work balance for you?
. . . I work “9 to 6” days. My wife starts working early – I normally drive kids to school in the morning. Hobbies - I love photography, both landscape and close-up photography. I collect briar pipes. I rarely if ever smoke them, I just like to collect them.
What do you lose sleep over, what do you worry about?
. . . unpredictability. People who’ve not lived through a business crash have an unbridled optimism. People who have – know that the economy is cyclical. Housing industry is very local in nature. It is a supplier to the demand created by the economic conditions. We procure this demand. I worry about what might happen if major pipeline projects don’t go ahead and people in the oil and gas industry get laid-off. Our business, like any other business is driven by opportunity. There is a lot of talk on all levels about municipal growth, its costs, benefits, challenges. Some say it is all bad, some say it is all good. I don’t believe it is all that black and white though. Municipal growth is like a precious eco-system – disturbance in one thing usually leads to unintended negative consequences in other things. I learned a lot about tolerating and understanding opposing views during my term with the Development Appeal Board (2005-7) and through the past 15 years of working with Calgary communities.
I asked Naum how he sees business over the next 90 days?
… Comparable, albeit slightly increasing production levels for our firm – and for the industry most likely.
. . . and over the next 5 years?
I see a 10-year horizon that could be relatively flat with housing starts being timid, unless some significant positive shifts happen with the global and local economy in the next couple of years. As a company, we need to look into other things to maintain our market share and diversify our revenue sources. There will be new entrants in the market places where we operate – they will try and win their own market share at the expense of existing players. Of course, there is the question of how the Plan It Calgary initiative unfolds and how it will affect the business of all Calgary homebuilders. Our company is diversifying, doing several partnerships with investors and open to new partnership relationships.
Who or what influenced you most – that has made a difference in your life?
… my mother and grandmother (my father died when I was 6 months old), my lovely wife, who has to tolerate MY opposing views on everything for over 25 years now. Several mentors through my career – Alexey Fedorchuk, my hydraulics engineering professor at the university, Les Sawatsky, a senior engineer at WER Engineering, my first engineering job in Canada, Terry Gowing at Urban Systems, Len Schienbein at Qualico and, now, Monty Kendall here at Homes by Avi – they’ve all been a tremendous help to me. And Avi Amir himself is a great role model, an understanding and caring person – down to earth, smart, witty, calm. Homes by Avi invested in me by sending me back to school as soon as I joined them in 2010. I now got my dual MBA degrees from Cornell University and Queen’s University – a lot of early Saturdays and Sundays!
What are you reading?
. . I read a lot. Lots of research, 3 newspapers a day, New Yorker magazine, everything Malcolm Gladwell writes.
His ride?
. . . nothing fancy – Nissan truck, I’ve got a big family and two dogs to fit in it.
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