After leading ZRS Management for three decades, Steve Buck is stepping down as CEO with president Darren Pierce being named as his successor. Buck will remain involved with the third-party property management firm as a member of the board of directors and in an advisory capacity.
“I’m not leaving. I’m staying on the board and will spend my time as I have over the last year. Darren has been president for three years. When he moved forward, I made myself move back,” says Buck. “A lot of my role has been helping the executive team, who I have worked with for years, and working with Darren. That largely will be the same. I’m connected to the company, but just not working the way I used to.”
Buck joined the firm, then known as ZOM Residential Services, in 1994 when it managed two multifamily properties and employed 17 people. Under his leadership, he helped transform the company that grew its management portfolio to over 30,000 units in 2016 when Pierce joined as vice president. Buck, along with Pierce who assumed the role of president in 2022 and the rest of the leadership team, tripled the portfolio to over 90,000 units, ranking No. 19 on National Multifamily Housing Council’s list of top 50 managers in 2024.
“ZRS was a blank slate for me. It was a chance for me to create a place where I wanted to go to work every day,” Buck says. “I’m happy to have spent my career in one great place.”
He adds the company hasn’t changed that much since he started, with a continued strong focus on culture and people.
“Darren will be here in 20 years leading this company—two CEOs over a 50-year period. I’m particularly proud of how this succession has gone,” says Buck. “When I hired him, it was for this moment. I believe in him. I saw how smart he is and how he treats people.”
Pierce echoes the people-centric sentiment, pointing to the tenure of the many long-term employees.
“Steve has a unique ability to find people who will be excellent at the company and will be here for a long time,” he says. “Steve has been there to back me up, be a sounding board, and has gotten out of my way to take over the role as president and now CEO.”
Pierce notes that ZRS is fortunate to have an ownership structure that thinks in terms of decades.
“We don’t chase quarterly results or unit count metrics. It’s about taking care of our employees, clients, and residents and to ensure that 10, 20, or 30 years from now ZRS feels exactly the same as when Steve joined the company 30 years ago,” he adds. “We are a small part of the entire executive and leadership team. When you take care of people internally and externally, good things happen.”
Pierce is gearing up for the coming year in his new role.
“The past year has been a time of helping clients with new deliveries that have been at an all-time high. We opened 60 lease-ups in 2024, which is double what we typically see,” he says. “However, as the bid-ask spread continues to narrow, we expect transaction activity to pick up in the second half of 2025, and our attention will turn to assisting clients identify and close on new opportunities.”
