Hi, I’m Pat Crosscombe, Founder and CEO of BoardSpace. You’re listening to my podcast, the Sidelight: a series that explores the knowledge, history, and a little bit of the magic behind condo and not-for-profit boards.

So, hi, it’s Pat again. I’m here with Adam Nasrallah, who is a director on CCC no. one. We’re still at the celebration, so why don’t we start with you telling me a little bit about your history with the Horizon.

Here is what we talked about.

1. Introduction
2. Adam’s history with The Horizon (CCC No. 1)
3. Family ties: sister and father move in
4. Why join the board
5. Emotional & financial investment in good governance
6. Culture of the board
7. Concerns that sparked change
8. Rebuilding after a near-empty board
9. The learning curve
10. Partnering with a competent property manager
11. Governance foundations
12. Results: capital projects & building improvements
13. Advice to owners
14. Closing

Listen to the podcast or read the transcript. 

Adam: Sure. Well, I moved in here, I guess it was April or May of 2011. And I stayed here myself for about three or four years, but between my arrival and my departure, my sister had already moved in here. She lived here for a year or so before me, and an apartment came up for sale, and we decided we’d move our dad in here too.

So for a little while, this vertical village was also kind of a family homestead. And my dad encouraged me to get on the board of directors because it was an election year. So I think that it was 2012 when I did that. And I’d been on the board since, continuously.

Around 2014 I moved out and moved on. I stayed on the board because my dad was here and my sister was still here, so I was invested in the building. And my dad is still here, so I remain invested in the building and for the foreseeable future, I’ll hang in on the board.

Pat: That’s—even though you don’t even live here, you’re still…

Adam: Yeah, well, I mean, there’s an emotional investment here and there’s the family tie, and frankly, there’s a financial investment too. And one of the things that you’re probably well aware of with condos is that if they’re mismanaged, your money can disappear pretty quickly.

Pat: You got that right. I’ve been there. Yep. I’ve been there. So how did your dad manage to convince you to actually invest the time and serve on the board? I mean, it’s a huge commitment.

Adam: It’s a huge commitment, but it’s not as onerous as some people experience. And I could attribute that to the fact that this board is very functional. Everybody here has a really good relationship. We have good relationships individually, and we work well collectively.

So there’s no drama whatsoever. It’s not even a little bit of drama. There’s just a great collegial mutual respect. So that it’s not really a big deal. And we’re lucky in that regard. But my dad, he’s a persuasive guy and he has a good insight into people and situations.

He saw some things that he felt weren’t being communicated forthrightly here to the members. He thought that things weren’t going as they were being represented. And he said, you know, we need some new blood. He was only three or four months into being a resident here, but he sees through things.

So I said, all right, I’ll take you at your word. I ran. And at that time, unfortunately, the previous board had been more than decimated. It was just one poor, unfortunate fellow. He was running the ship by himself and he was ready to give it up. He was tired. He’d been there for a long time. So we needed an all-new board. And I was one of the new class members that came in in 2012.

Pat: So you all had a steep learning curve to figure out the ins and outs of condo legislation, et cetera, if there were no other experienced directors there to help you along. So how did you figure out what to do?

Adam: Well, some of it came from working with experienced property managers. We had a good look at our portfolio of services and service providers, made some changes. We changed the property manager.

As it turns out, the property manager was somebody that I had known from a recreational pursuit for almost 10 years. So I was pleased to see a familiar face, and I knew him to be competent and forthright and hardworking and honest. So I had no problem engaging Apollo, which is our management company, with him as their representative.

And so he flattened out that learning curve for us. And the rest of it comes from—we have a good mix of personalities. People have worked in governments, people who have worked in various organizations that follow standard codes of conduct and Robert’s Rules of Order and such. So a lot of us were well acquainted with the way meetings should be conducted and the way that motions are moved and seconded and followed through on, how actions should be duly taken once they’ve been resolved in the meeting.

So the curve was steep with regard to the specificity of condominium living. But in terms of general administrative competence, we started out running.

Pat: That is so important. And not every condo board gets off on the right foot. And it is a huge learning curve to figure out what to do. So now you’ve been on the board, you said?

Adam: It’ll be seven years this September.

Pat: Seven years. That’s starting to be a long time.

Adam: Yeah, there have been long days, but it doesn’t feel like a long time. Like I said, I have great respect for the people that I work with on the board. And we’ve just in 18 months accomplished probably more in the history of this building than had been done in the 10 to 20 years prior.

Pat: You know, you’d mentioned the pool, but that’s just a bit of it. We’re sitting out in our west lawn now, surrounded by a brilliant new fence that runs the whole perimeter of the building.

Adam: Parking lot’s been repaved, the plumbing’s been surveyed and passed, the electrical’s been surveyed and passed. There’s been ventilation work done, windows changed, gardening, major capital projects, things inside the walls and behind the floors. And so we’ve done a lot.

Pat: What advice would you give to a condo owner to encourage them to serve on the board?

Adam: I think it’s the same advice I’d give to somebody who, whether they rent or own a home: this is your home. Have pride of ownership. And when you’re in a condominium, it’s no longer just a home of one or a family of four or five—you’re a home of a hundred or 200 or 300.

And so that pride of ownership is, you know, if you don’t do it, somebody else is gonna do it for you or on behalf of you. And they may not do it as well as you think they should. So if you care about where you live, get involved. Your voice may be drowned out from time to time. You may feel that people are being unfair. Sometimes they are. But get on there and push through and do what you know to be right.

Try to be fair, try to be objective. Try to be honest with your colleagues and the people that live in the building and do the right thing. You know, it’s worth it.

Pat: That is great advice. I love it.

Adam: Yeah, it’s tough, but it’s worth it.

Pat: Oh, I know. It’s tough and I definitely agree with you. It’s certainly worth it. Well, I don’t want to keep you from the party, so I’m gonna say thank you and let you rejoin the party. Thanks for your time.

Adam: Thank you.

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