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Article from Northern Nevada Business Weekly: Michael Dermody, In His Own Words
In His Own Words: Michael Dermody of Dermody Properties
Northern Nevada Business Weekly: Tell us about Dermody Properties and the duties of your position.
Michael Dermody: Dermody Properties is a privately held, fully-integrated national industrial development company. Over its 50-year history we have developed and leased more than 35 million square feet of high-quality industrial/distribution facilities to many Fortune 500 companies and other well-respected firms. As a start-up company, we presently have more than 3.5 million square feet of industrial space that is 90 percent occupied. The company has offices and partners in Philadelphia, Chicago, Reno and Portland.
My duties are to supply strategic guidance to the company.
NNBW: How did you enter this profession?
Dermody: I joined my father’s two-man company in 1975. He taught me much about our profession and instilled in me the need to build relationships and satisfy customers.
NNBW: What’s the most important thing you have learned in your career?
Dermody: Treat others as you would like to be treated, work hard, be thankful for your blessings, help others, and stay healthy.
NNBW: What’s changed about your job with the recession?
Dermody: My direct involvement increased significantly because I am the one with the most experience, and I’ve been around the longest! I also listen to customers even more.
NNBW: What’s your closest brush with failure in business? At what time were you most worried that you would not be successful in business? Why?
Dermody: I have never really tried to be successful; I just tried to do the right thing every day by my customers, my employees and my family. To me money does not make success, integrity creates success.
NNBW: When do you see development returning in strength to Northern Nevada? Dermody: It will come back in small steps. The boom years of 2005-2007 will never come back. The stable years of 1973-2000 will be the “new normal,” hopefully.
NNBW: Dermody Properties divested its 25,000,000-square-foot portfolio of properties to Prologis in 2007, a short time before the recession took hold of northern Nevada.
NNBW: How did you know the time was right to sell?
Dermody: I didn’t foresee the economy, but the dynamics in our company at that time was such that it was right for the shareholders. However, there was one key event. In early 2007, in Chicago, there was a big sale that caught my eye, and I predicted a good cap rate (it was the Cal West 25,000,000-square-foot portfolio, and it sold for a 4.8 percent cap). That is why we moved so quickly to market and closed within 90 days.