FACILITYCalgary

 

 

July 29, 2014

 

No conversation with him stays on track without a diversion to talk about their portfolio. What began as a boardroom chat with a pad of paper and bottle of water quickly morphed into his power-point presentation on the Telsec portfolio. Without doubt, he’s always marketing.

 

In answer to questions about their investments in Saskatchewan, Weyburn in particular: “We did well, we made money”, but the conversation quickly returns to a Calgary focus – and what’s on the agenda next for his Douglasdale-centric employer, mostly SE Calgary office, industrial and mixed use developments.

 

Sean Flathers began his relationship with real estate early. Retail real estate at least – touring stores early on Saturday mornings before they opened with his dad (recently retired Co-op legend Darwin Flathers). 

 

A south-east Calgarian all his life – Sean attended Lord Beaverbrook High in Calgary, played sports. He says he was a bit of a jock in high-school. Hockey and baseball were big. He and his younger brother had a stay at home mom and a dad who worked his way from the bottom of the Co-op organization to its upper eschelons. Having a career for life was an expectation, one that started out with a five-year stint as an account executive with UPS. Things were going well and the future career path within that militaristic structure in a multi-national corporation seemed just the ticket . . . 

 

While Sean admits to being a director of leasing and development at Telsec Property Corporation, he emphasized that they have areas of responsibility – but aren’t big on titles. They just work together. This wasy, no doubt, a culture shock from his previous work in the UPS organization where his career began after graduating from the University of Calgary with a B.Comm from the Haskayne School of Business. His school and hockey buddy Chris Van Grieken didn’t give up each time he offered Sean a job – eventually prying him away (on the third try) from UPS where he saw a long and happy career path. He admits to feeling he has a long and happy career path now, albeit in a much smaller and less structured organization. 

 

His last work on that move from multi-national giant UPS to Telsec in 2004: “Deals are very fluid. I love it. I’ve never looked back. I can’t imagine doing anything else!”