Charting the Course: Manager's Meeting 2021

Last month, our Springs Apartments Community Managers gathered at our 2021 Manager’s Meetings. In order to implement a safe experience for our teams, our Manager’s Meetings were spread out into six smaller gatherings based on geographic location. Senior leadership, including Vice President of Operations Heather Riggs and Executive Vice President of Operations Paul Seifert, met with our Community Managers in small groups to spend time reflecting on challenges of the past year and discussing future goals to be met this year.

The theme of the 2021 Manager's Meeting was “Charting the Course”. It is without a doubt that 2020 brought several challenges for the multifamily industry, but our Springs Apartment managers demonstrated true leadership and successfully led our onsite teams through a difficult time. 2021 is the year of celebrating our leaders and continuing to move forward past these challenges.

An important part of the Manager's Meeting is the annual awards ceremony. Meet our 2021 award recipients below:

Community Manager of the Year - Jillion Volz

Jillion is the Community Manager at Springs at Weber Road in Romeoville, IL. Jillion was the only leasing team member at Springs at Weber Road for three months in 2020 and managed to lease 52 apartments and grow revenue on her own. Throughout the past year, Jillion has demonstrated superior leadership and teamwork skills by holding training sessions for her peers. Jillion’s can-do attitude helped her achieve the highest CNOI in the company. Congratulations, Jillion! She is pictured here (left) with Regional Manager Jenny Armer (right).

Steve Hildebrand Award - Frank Aguilar

Steve Hildebrand, a Springs Maintenance Supervisor, sadly passed in November of 2017, but his energy, drive, and aptitude for customer service have lived on. Steve always had a strong work ethic and a “do whatever it takes” attitude. Above everything, Steve was hardworking, compassionate, and always strived to do it better than it had been done before. This award is given annually in his honor to an employee that exemplifies these values.

Frank is the Multisite Maintenance Supervisor at two communities in Southeast Florida - Springs at Hammock Cove and Springs at Six Mile Cypress. Frank’s problem-solving ability has helped these communities achieve great success. Frank broke his Achilles heel in December of 2019 and was out for three months after having surgery to reattach the Achilles. The doctor had recommended six months before getting back to work, but Frank was so eager he was released early on sedentary work and helped our leasing team in the clubhouse! Frank could have just stayed home, but instead, he came and helped during the busiest months in lease-up and leased 5 apartment homes. Frank goes out of his way to help our residents. Frank's quick thinking was instrumental for a positive outcome during a resident medical emergency at the community. In addition to going above and beyond for his team and residents, Frank is always looking to drive success to the community performance. Way to go, Frank!

Rising Star Award - Aaron Dupras

Aaron is the Assistant Community Manager at Springs at the Reserve in Wyoming, Michigan. At Springs Apartments, we value collaboration and agility among our teams; Aaron demonstrates just that. He has always been willing to step up and help his community succeed in any way, including shoveling snow early in the morning, helping the maintenance team by completing a work order, or working extra hours to assist residents. Aaron has worked hard to advance his development and is seen by his colleagues as a sound leader. Congratulations, Aaron!

Community of the Year - Springs at McDonough

Throughout 2020, the Springs at McDonough team worked to reduce vendor expenses by learning how to perform work orders that would normally be outsourced, in-house. In addition, Community Manager Remika and Assistant Community Manager Crystel maintained constant communication with residents throughout the pandemic, rolling out a payment plan initiative to help residents through the difficult time. The entire Springs at McDonough Team, Remika, Crystel, Tiara, Gerardo, Derrick, and Chris have worked to deliver the best-in-class resident experience and be a great example for their colleagues. Way to go, team!

Celebrating our Leaders

At Springs Apartments, we value teamwork, leadership, and accountability, and we are fortunate to have the best and the brightest team members to achieve just that. We are looking forward to accomplishing more successes together in the future. If you are interested in joining our Springs Apartment team, check out our open maintenance, leasing, and management positions here.