Chris started his life’s journey on May 19, 1978 in Houston Texas and was a precious bundle of joy to his two loving parents. Unfortunately, his father lost his battle with cancer when he was only 16 months old. Chris says, “I look back at photos and feel the love that my father had for me”. After his mom got remarried, they moved to Northern California. His parents instilled a hard work ethic in him and he was always taught to work smarter and not harder, and that is how he has lived his life and career by that motto.
At the age of 19, Chris purchased his first business when he acquired a commercial janitorial franchise and cleaned/ serviced 5 commercial businesses. It was then that he learned his niche was sales/ customer service. He interviewed at a Home Mortgage Company not knowing anything but how to talk with people and was given a job on the spot. He quickly excelled and worked his way to the top of the company learning about real estate, and how the mortgage industry worked and breathed. He took that knowledge and opened his own brokerage firm and employed a few friends and did quite well.
It was a close friend of his (a neighbor actually) that was in the Oil and Gas industry that got him interested in Oil and Gas and project management. He decided to take the jump, load up his pickup truck and make the drive from California to Midland Texas and start a career in Oil and Gas. After working on a few projects for big named Oil companies he was noticed and offered a position where he excelled quickly as a Land Acquisition agent. He soon became the project manager/ office manager of the Pennsylvania office where he oversaw 11 lease buyers and 3 office staff. Chris says, “That would be one of the most satisfying positions I have held in my life, as I was given a $50 million dollar land budget and told to go buy/ lease up land to explore for Natural Gas.” It was in this position where he was introduced to corporate meetings, meetings with Town Mayors, State Representatives, and town hall meetings. He spoke to 100’s of land owners about the pros and cons of leasing land for Oil and Gas Exploration.
After his 2-year contract was up, he was offered the opportunity to sit in a corner office at the corporate Oklahoma office. Chris declined this offer, kindly telling his boss that he felt he had to spend some much-needed time with his family.
His daughter was now approaching 4, and the only place he could see himself was with his daughter and family. Unfortunately, after being gone for years and only seeing his family a few days a month, he and his daughter’s mother called it quits. After being emotionally lost for over a year, he received a call asking if he would come back to work and they would see that he had plenty of home time to see his daughter as this job was back on the east coast, which was about 2,700 miles from my home in CA.
In 2015 after the passing of his step father Chris decided to resign from his Oil and Gas career of nearly 12 years and move back home to California to be close to his mother. He held a few positions as an account rep for a fuel recycler for a major rental car corporation and as a sales director for a high-end auto reconditioning detail shop. After dealing with the Covid aftermath for nearly 2 years, he decided he was done with California and moved back to his birthplace state of Texas.
A short while after arriving in Texas he was cruising around on the internet and found a job posting for a property manager position in Tyler Texas. Although he did not have any particular experience working in the mobile home industry, he decided he would apply. Our company, The Firm is certainly glad he did. Chris has been a huge asset to our company. His strong work ethics and friendly personality is a perfect fit for our beautiful community in Tyler Texas. He has put forth great effort to make Pine Creek Ranch a premier and safe community that the residents are proud to call home. Chris says, “Every day I try to do my best to make Pine Creek Ranch the best it can be, while keeping the Firm Inc happy with my duties as property manager”. As the Director of Sales and Occupancy, I am fortunate to be able to work with Chris on a daily basis as his energy and friendly personality is contagious.
Chris says, “In his free time he enjoys riding dirt bikes/ motocross, tries to stay healthy by hitting the gym every night and spending time with his daughter.”
By: Gina Cheatham
Director of Sales and Occupancy/The Firm Inc