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Dara Nicholson: Why I Give
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Dara Nicholson Principal, Commercial Property Management Consulting
When Dara Nicholson moved to Atlanta with her family, she was just looking for something to keep her busy while she took care of her children. What she found was an award-winning, 40-year career in commercial real estate. Not only is Dara Nicholson a Huey Award winner, but she was also awarded lifetime membership into BOMA International. While she recently retired, she still represents some of the best BOMA Georgia and beyond have to offer.
A 40-Year Career
Dara grew up in a small town near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It had one high-rise building. When she moved to Atlanta and started looking for a job, she thought working in a high-rise would be the perfect way to embrace her new city life. She was hired by John Portman & Associates and was quickly recruited to the property management team. It was then that her mentor encouraged her to join BOMA Georgia.
“When I was coming into the industry, no one planned to go into commercial real estate. You just fell into it,” Dara said.
Starting from scratch, Dara was always looking for new ways to learn, meet new contacts and get training. She had started in construction with Portman, so she didn’t have a management background. However, she knew that this was a path she wanted to pursue and she knew she needed to learn. At the time, she was one of the only women in her position, so she was looking to find more connections.
“BOMA helped me develop all the good foundations of understanding how to manage and get my RPA at a time when there was nobody else to teach you property management,” Dara said. From Portman, Dara moved to Cousins Properties where she worked for 27 years. When Nicholson served as senior vice president of property management for Cousins Properties, her nationwide portfolio ranged from 15 to 21 million square feet of Class A office properties, providing service to more than 1,500 tenants, and she was responsible for expense budgets totaling more than $150 million. She then became the director of property management for Jamestown in 2015 before retiring this past year.
Dara has been an exemplary leader throughout her time in BOMA and in her professional career. From Portman Properties to Cousins Properties to Jamestown and even in retirement, Dara is always looking for new ideas and lending a hand. During her time at BOMA, she was also involved at the international level, serving on the BOMA Southern Region Board of Directors, the Regional Owners Council, the MixedUse Network Committee, and the Local Association and Membership Development Committee.
Dara made the most of her time at BOMA since joining in 1980. Not only did she go on to serve as the second female president of BOMA Atlanta, but she also served on several committees including membership, TOBY and volunteer. She was an advocate for the TOBY awards and won 77 local, regional and international awards during her career. She also championed BOMA Georgia’s first trade show, which has gone on to become the largest commercial real estate trade show in Georgia. Her passion for property management and the BOMA organization made her not only an incredible leader, but a prolific one.
Dara also credits much of her success to the education she was able to take part in through BOMA Georgia and beyond. She said earning her RPA was a huge milestone in her career and one that transformed her work. Dara said that the classes and scholarships made available by the BOMA Georgia Foundation are essential to the longevity of a professional’s career and can create new opportunities.
Joining BOMA also helped Dara foster mentorships throughout her career. She found leaders she admired for their listening skills and commitment to their team. Those mentors helped her to new jobs, new opportunities and a long-lasting career. She also was able to pass along that knowledge to those she mentored herself and create a lineage of knowledge. She said that BOMA is a great place to find mentors both within and outside of your organization.
Not only did Dara find professional success in her career and within BOMA, she also found personal connections. She said that she always knew that whatever market her career took her to, she knew she had someone from BOMA to call. The contacts and friendships she cultivated through BOMA committees, social events and business were more than fleeting interactions.
