Click here for Part I, Part II & Part IV

Kairos Real Estate Partners founder Stephen J. Gleason says he took a long time before taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. But once he got in there’s never been looking back.

His regional real estate company scours the commercial, residential, cultural and institutional markets for value. After buying up the right kind of assets, notably in the suburbs, it redevelops them through leasing, hands-on asset and property management, and repositions the property to maximize value.

“That’s kind of our recipe,” Gleason told citybizlist’s Edwin Warfield in an interview. “We’ve completed two (properties), and we’re well on our way with the third property.”

A cum laude graduate of Harvard College, Gleason received an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He then spent 18 long years at Amerimar Enterprises, overseeing their portfolio of office buildings, before embarking on Kairos – which, incidentally, is Greek for an opportune time. Before business school, he had stints with LaSalle Partners in New York, and Laventhol & Horwath in Philadelphia.

In the interview, Gleason recounts the timing of his entrepreneurial journey, the fortuitous partnership with a senior professional, the philosophy that drives Kairos and the art of the deal.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Can you tell us about your involvement in Christo Rey and the Cristo Rey model?

STEPHEN GLEASON: I really feel fortunate to be involved with Cristo Rey Philadelphia High School. I got involved through my friendship with John McConnell who is the founding President and still the current President of Cristo Rey. At the time of its founding, Cristo Rey Philadelphia was the 25th school in a network of college preparatory schools. The first one was founded in Chicago in 1995. The unique part of Cristo Rey is their work-study model. The students go to school, a longer school year and a longer school day, and what that allows is for them to go to class four days a week and the fifth day they have a real-world work-study internship with great corporations.

In Philadelphia, they can work at Comcast or Independence Blue Cross. They can even work at the Philadelphia Zoo, Children's Hospital, or even in the Mayor's office. Cristo Rey has really been embraced by the business community and we are very fortunate to have their support. The work-study model does two things. It allows us to provide a world-class college preparatory education for children from families who otherwise would not be able to afford it, because instead of paying the students, the work-study companies pay Cristo Rey and those payments fund 60% to 65% of our annual operating budget. Unlike some independent schools, which have to rely 100% on philanthropy to fund their annual budget, we get a head start of 65%, so it allows us to fund the school and to really provide an excellent education.

The second thing that the work-study program does, it gives great real-world experience to our students. By the time they have graduated, each Cristo Rey student will come up and hand you a business card with their name, just like a regular business card, and you turn it over and it lists the names of the four companies with whom they’ve interned in four years so, they really have great experience. For many of the children, they had never been out of their neighborhood, much less worked at Comcast or Independence Blue Cross, and by the time they graduate they have four years of work experience, which helps them prepare for college and that makes them work ready for when they graduate from college. That is really the goal, is to have all of our students not only get into and attend college, but graduate from four year colleges in four years.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Can you tell us about Cristo Rey’s work-study partners?

STEPHEN GLEASON: We have had great support from our work-study partners. Comcast has provided the highest number of jobs, up to 10 in any given year; and the jobs since they are shared by four students that means that there are 40 children at any given time working at Comcast. Other companies that have provided multiple jobs include Independence Blue Cross, Deloitte, most of the major accounting firms. We also have students at several law firms, Saul Ewing, Cozen O'Conner. We also have several students placed with hospitals and health systems, Children's Hospital has been a very generous supporter as has Mainline Health; and we really try to match up the jobs with the interests of our students, so anything a student can imagine they would want to become, we want to try to provide them real world experience, while also paying for their education in high school.

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Sponsored by:

ABOUT NEWMARK GRUBB KNIGHT FRANK

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF's 14,100 professionals operate from more than 400 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF's strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF's full-service platform comprises BGC's real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC's common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer  Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit http://www.bgcpartners.com/.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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