The Dermody Properties Team
Michael C. Dermody joined the firm in 1976, becoming President and CEO in 1983. Under his leadership, the company’s portfolio grew from 2.5 million square feet to more than 7.8 billion square feet under management. Utilizing the team management concept, he led Dermody Properties from being a local real estate developer to a fully integrated, national industrial warehouse owner and developer. Dermody Properties’ keen focus on customer service has allowed the company to maintain its close client relationships as the company has grown dramatically into a nationally recognized organization.
Although the company began as a family business, under Mr. Dermody’s leadership it quickly grew into a dominant national industrial development organization through its alignment with institutional partners such as Lazard Freres, CalPERS and CalSTRS. In 2007, taking advantage of an unprecedented real estate market opportunity, the company sold its 25 million square foot portfolio to Prologis in what was heralded as one of the largest portfolio transactions in industrial real estate. Mr. Dermody continues to sign every lease.
Today the company has returned to its entrepreneurial roots through a select national team of development partners in key markets with an excellent land base. With more than 78 employees, it has invested in more than 110 million square feet of buildings and has nine regional offices throughout the country. The new partner model creates an alignment of interests that allows the company to react quickly and stay focused on its core business of leasing and developing industrial real estate.
Born in Reno, Mr. Dermody attended schools in Reno and graduated high school from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. He studied in Switzerland and France, including the University of Bordeaux, and he obtained his Bachelor of Science from the University of Colorado in 1972 and a J.D. from Gonzaga University in 1976.
A cornerstone of his career has been a deep commitment to community service and charitable giving. In 1985, Dermody established The Children’s Cabinet, a non-profit agency which serves the needs of 12,000 at-risk families in northern Nevada annually. In 1988, the Dermody Properties Foundation was created; it is solely managed and directed by the employees of Dermody Properties and benefits the families of the communities in which the company does business. In 1998, Mr. Dermody founded Sage Ridge School, an independent secondary school with a uniquely integrated core curriculum, ranked in the top 50 nationally. In 2004, Dermody Properties became a sponsor for its first Habitat for Humanity house. In 2007, the annual Thanksgiving Capstone Award was created as a means of recognizing the most significant charity each year in a selected community in which the company does business.
Mr. Dermody and his wife Tammy live in Reno and have four children and five grandchildren. He enjoys grandparenting, woodturning, traveling with his wife, skiing and fishing.