It’s undetermined if it was a flyer or fate (or both) that brought MFE’s 2024 Rising Star Katie Davis into the multifamily industry. While washing clothes in a shared laundry room at her apartment community, she noticed a flyer from the property management company saying it was hiring.
It was 2008, and Davis had just graduated from the University of Virginia. Like most college graduates at the time, she had no job or prospects. So, she went to work for the student housing company.
“I didn’t expect to fall in love with the work that we were doing, but what really hooked me was working with the incredible people,” Davis says. She leapt right into working side by side with the service team and the maintenance team for a couple of months as she learned the ins and outs.
“I was glad to be on a team. They were so diligent and would do whatever it took to get the job done to get a home ready for the next resident. As somebody raised in a military household, it was like I found my people again.”
Adding to the contagious energy of turning residences within a tight period for the next school year, Davis enjoyed the marketing side and getting to meet new residents. She loved being a guide to the housing and the campus, she says. “That was a great feeling to watch people light up and relax when they felt like they were in good hands. And, for me, that was really rewarding, and I never looked back.”
Opportunities for Growth
That laundry space flyer brought Davis to her role as an assistant marketing manager and then a marketing manager before transitioning to Windsor Communities in 2011 as a property manager. Her years as a property manager gave her perspective and understanding for not only the residents but her associates.
Leaving her role as a property manager in 2021, Davis started as a regional training manager for Windsor’s Mid-Atlantic region before moving into a director of program development position within the firm’s learning and development (L&D) department.
However, the newly appointed Windsor president had other plans for Davis in 2022. “When Tom Sloan first came to Windsor, he was doing his rounds, meeting everybody as our new president,” she reflects. “I met him in South Florida, and I had just joined the L&D team. We chatted for about five minutes, and he said, ‘I’m going to bring you over to operations.’”
Davis told Sloan she had just got the job and loved it, but he said he would see her soon. Sloan says, “When I first met Katie, I was impressed that she possesses a rare ability to connect the dots of business needs and how business change impacts teams.”
Surely enough, Sloan gave Davis a call a year later telling her it was time. And since March 2023, she has been the assistant vice president (AVP) of operations for Windsor Communities, the wholly owned property management company of GID.
“I realized she was being underutilized in our L&D shop and that her talents reflect innate business leadership abilities. Our entire leadership team would agree that Katie has since proven my assertion right. Katie is going to make a terrific difference in multifamily leadership,” he adds.
As AVP of operations, Davis spearheads change management efforts for Windsor and supports associates as they adapt to new processes, technologies, job roles, and organizational structures.
Taking Feedback
A large part of Davis’ duties includes funneling associate feedback as changes and processes are implemented. She considers this process to be highly impactful to the company.
“My success as a property manager and in learning and development was mainly because of the collaboration from many members of our team,” Davis says.
“It has guided my philosophy in my position as AVP—to always have a collaborative environment that is feedback focused. And that’s welcoming feedback, all types of feedback, and knowing that by gathering it in a trusted environment, it’s going to yield a better result every time.”
This collaborative mindset is infused into Windsor 2025, a multifaceted companywide initiative that is investing in its people, processes, and technologies. Windsor’s leadership knew that Davis could lead the effort in change so that associates, customers, and stakeholders can thrive.
“Katie possesses all the intangible qualities of a great leader. Her presence, confidence, and strategic thinking are backed by an extensive knowledge base and genuine care for others,” says Jamie Gorski, who worked with Davis at Windsor Communities.
Onward and Upward
Davis explains that every associate at Windsor really has a hand in the Windsor 2025 process. She says, “We did this by launching six peer advisory groups with representatives from each region at multiple levels of the on-site roles. They have diverse roles and backgrounds, including leadership or no leadership experience and new or veterans to the company. They’re helping review every initiative, every process, and they’re giving feedback. They co-author job descriptions.
“They’ve been such an amazing voice in this process to keep even the leadership team grounded—saying let us tell you how this is actually going to work on-site.”
The collection of feedback for this initiative is almost constant so that Windsor can make the best decisions possible and support its associates to deliver “bigger, better jobs.” Davis says, “We’re ensuring our associates feel good during this process and they feel supported and heard. That their feedback has action.”
Staying true to Windsor’s values—accountable, inclusive, energizing, and courageous—Davis appreciates the investment the company makes in its employees’ growth, a quality that made her gravitate to the company over a decade ago. So far, the peer groups, with Davis as lead, have reinvented 10 roles at Windsor, leading to 26 promotions and positively impacting 600 associates.
A part of the transformation included the launch of a remote sales team in connection with Windsor’s vice president of sales Andi Simoes. “This has given our teams, who are very busy, the opportunity to focus on the tours and building those relationships by spending more time with our residents,” Davis says. “It has had incredible success so far. We’ve seen our pre-tour follow-up metrics improve by over 6%, which across our portfolio size is significant. It has given back hours to our on-site associates.”
With deep improvements underway, Davis looks ahead with enthusiasm. When asked, “What’s next?” She says with certainty that as a company it will continue to evolve.
“We’re going to continue to change. We’re going to continue to get better. We’re going to leverage better technology and focus on our customers’ expectations. And as those change, we will change—that’s never going to stop for us.”
These values of change and betterment are also evident throughout Davis’ personal day-to-day commitment to Windsor’s people.
