Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, founder and president of JNI, LLC, knows something about hard work and commitment. As the son of Cuban immigrants who instilled a great deal of patriotism in their son, for his new country, Jesus attended West Point and served in the United States Army for five years. Entering the private sector, Jesus immediately began to excel in the world of business turnaround, where business are acquired and streamlined to reach their maximum potential. Jesus points to the mentors under which he was able to work as helping to shape him for his future, individual endeavors.

From 1999 through 2001, Jesus began to look carefully at his own opportunities, but never closed a single independent deal. This proved fortuitous when, after 9/11, Jesus felt obliged to serve his country. In two years at the United States Treasury, Jesus advanced to become the CFO of the Treasury, overseeing account volumes the likes of which most businessmen never see. He calls the numbers “humbling.” After two more years of public service, Jesus once again entered the private sector, this time with a better grasp of economics on a global scale.

Now, Jesus has taken JNI from a startup to a multi-million dollar company, completing his piece of the American dream: an immigrant family, whose son serves his country, then enters and dominates the business world. “If you work hard enough, and long enough,” Jesus says simply. “You will achieve your dream.”

Bill Gallagher likes to build things, and build things he has. His company, Oakmont Senior Living, is one of the largest developers in all of Sonoma County in northern California. The father of five is casual in tone, humble in contrast to what might be expected from a man so successful. At this point in his career, Bill is focused on the development of senior housing, and finds satisfaction in providing for the older members of the community. Bill likes to build things, but more he likes the entire process of development. Perhaps this explains his adopting three children after his own children were grown.

At 19, Bill Gallagher hitchhiked most of the way across Canada; he had no money and wanted to take a trip. Along the road, he was taken in by some travelers who had adopted children after their own had grown. Years later, Bill followed suit, and has relished in the opportunity to love and nurture his children.

Although still stressful at times, success has brought to Bill precious time to spend with his wife and five children. Bill is not a gambler, but rather uses his family minded mentality to calculate risk. But that calculation he does not suggest to someone without obligation.

“Whatever you want to do, really go after it. Really go for it. Don’t go for security before it’s necessary. Do your own thing and create something.”

Simple words from a simple man who has simply made it big.

When Phil Rapoport found his way into commercial property management in the 1980’s, he brought many of the things he had learned in hotel management with him. At the time, this was considered quite revolutionary, if not a little nonsensical. His bosses were hesitant about a tenant feedback survey, much like the comment cards left in nearly every hotel in America.

Why, his bosses wondered, would we leave ourselves open to criticism in that way?

This “hear no evil” attitude has been exactly what Phil has worked to eliminate from the commercial properties he has managed, including San Francisco’s Pyramid Center, where he currently serves as the General Manager.

After graduating from the University of San Francisco, Phil had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. A trip to Hawaii with his family inspired his career in the hospitality world. Phil could not, however, have imagined that his management of hotels would lead him today to be the GM of one of San Francisco’s most recognizable monuments. He made it this far because he acknowledged the importance of the little things, and continues to imbue his management team with similar values. These little things are what truly distinguish Phil from the stereotypical landlord.

Side note: We received an exclusive tour of the Trans America building, San Francisco’s signature building. We went from the security station to the tippy top of the building. It was sweet, and was capped off with a free hat giveaway.

On our first day of the trip, with the RV puttering along the I-8 freeway between Phoenix and San Diego, Daniel made the desperation call to Aunt Patti at 8pm our time, 10pm Chicago time. Our original plan was to stay in the RV that had broken down twice and guzzled $300 in gas already. But since we needed to get some rest and get out of the vehicle we’d been housed in for twelve hours (and would be staying in for the next month), Daniel decided he’d ask if we could stay at Aunt Patti and Uncle Jerry’s beach house in San Diego.

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On a rainy day in the middle of summer in New York City, huddled under the umbrellas that we bought on a street corner for $2.99 each, we made our way to the CBS building at 51 W. 52nd Street, the home of Cushman and Wakefield. Cushman and Wakefield was founded in 1917 in New York City, and is the world’s largest privately held real estate firm. Since its inception almost eighty years ago, it has now expanded to doing business in 192 cities in 58 countries, with over 11,000 employees. One of those employees that is about to take the world by storm is Andrew Ackerman.

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