Sam Kolias defies easy categorization, First, he is an engineer who does not practise his profession. Instead, he and brother Van - sons of Greek immigrants - have built Calgary-based Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust into an apartment rental titan with 36,700 units in 260 buildings across Canada.
Yet, at 48, he remains a bright-eyed idealist who believes you can keep your moral and religious compass in a rough-and-tumble world. Throughout Alberta's booms and busts, he shows it is possible to build a business and to keep it safe.
You were trained as an engineer, but never made a career of it. What happened?
I failed to get a job as an engineer. I tried. It was 1984 [during an earlier recession] and I applied for hundreds of positions. I did get really close. I just about got a job with Petro-Canada. It was in Three Hills northeast of Calgary and I said 'Nah, I didn't really want to live in Three Hills.' I guess I didn't want to move. So that's why they picked the other guy.
So in a recession, you had to find something else?
You had to make a job, really. It's very European. There are very few jobs in Europe and that's what my parents had to do - make their own opportunities.
So my father said to me and my brother, "you guys have education and you've got great experience." We had worked for my father - he was in the apartment rental business in a very small way. He recommended we go out on our own and he would sign for our credit. He had faith in us.
Did it help to start your business in bad times?
We started with next to nothing, which was a whole lot more than everybody else. There was a [real estate]bust and a lot of owners and developers were in negative-equity territory because their debt was higher than their asset values. So in starting a new company, you've got a big advantage because you are not underwater like most of your competitors.
Isn't your Alberta business a captive of the oil price, now about $80 (U.S.) a barrel?
We absolutely are. It took a long time for the energy complex to come back from the 1980s, and it went through quite a few gyrations. When it first corrected everybody thought that was the worst - oil was between $30 and $40. It dropped to the $20s and everybody said 'I think we have seen the worst.' Then later, oil was under $10.
That's why I am sensitive right now about making predictions. We've gone through times when everyone says the worst is behind us and then it got worse. You just don't know.
You're using this downturn to buy back your stock. Aren't you planning to expand?
No, we're actually contracting. There is a shortage of customers. So what we would like to do is balance that shortage with a smaller amount of good quality rentals with great associates and service. We are doing well this year - we've reported record results to date.
Are you still heavily into philanthropy?
We continue to contribute in a significant way - in these economic times, especially, because of the difficulties people face. I serve on the Calgary Homeless Foundation, and there has been great breakthrough. The government of Alberta has made a huge commitment. We have a plan that we believe will solve homelessness in 10 years - or at least, put a significant dent in it.
A Montreal researcher studied U.S. cities, and found that some homeless people, once they were given a home, reduce their burden on health care, emergency, police calls and other services by hundreds of thousands of dollars. It costs about $30,000 or $40,000 to house somebody, and the financial savings to the community were multiples over that. It was kind of a breakthrough. That study showed that being community-minded is good for our character, but it is also good for the economy and public budgets.
Don't you approach this issue as a believer in the Golden Rule?
It's more of a faith base. I was raised in an environment where you help your neighbour and you treat them like you want to be treated. That's our No. 1 rule as a company. It's in our policy manual and we ask everybody on our team to always think of the other person like they want to be thought of themselves.
Our company was one of the first partners in a program where we provide reductions in rents for people we are housing and who are coming off the street. Even though they lack credit and finance, we work in partnerships - Community Services, the government and ourselves - to help people find homes and we house them.
How many people are getting that kind of help?
Recently, there have been hundreds of new customers that way. In total, it has been in the thousands over the years.
The statistics are exactly what you would think. There are people who have money who have problems, and there are people who are homeless, who are on drugs and have alcohol problems. It doesn't really matter if you are rich or poor - you're going to have problems, or you are going to be good, too.
It's a fraction of one per cent who are high-damage, problem customers. Whether the person comes from solid financial footing or not, the statistics are the same. It doesn't matter if we have or don't have money, we are who we are. Money isn't something that makes someone good or bad - it's an exchange for goods and services.
Are you the No. 1 apartment landlord in the country?
We now want to focus in on being the friendliest landlord. We still are the largest but we hope somebody is going to get bigger than us one day. It would be okay.
Do you have trouble being a CEO and being religious?
It is always a constant struggle. For example, we had to have a policy to regulate ourselves in Alberta. The pricing of rent is dictated by the free market. Many years ago, as a result of working with the homeless, we learned how difficult and harsh rental increases can be and how life-changing they can be if excessive.
So we brought in rent control for ourselves. We brought in another policy that if a customer couldn't afford even the reduced amount of rent increase, we would waive that too if there was evidence of hardship.
That was originally considered charitable and, 'Gee, that's nice to be nice with shareholders' money.' (My brother and I represent a quarter of the ownership.) But we honestly believe this policy is better in the long run. Because of self-control we've retained customer and occupancy rates at very high levels. Our rents never got to the higher amounts that the market reached. So the market rate climbed and then it went right back down. If we had raised everybody's prices as quickly as the market, we would have very high vacancy now.
Some believe we missed an opportunity. But we are actually better off now, making more stable revenue than if we had followed the market extremes.
Was there a turning point when you decided to lead a good life?
My parents were really good examples. But there was a time in the early nineties when growth and business success were more of a focus for me.
It was a turning point. Today I absolutely understand how important it is to be balanced. And that's only possible with a very solid team.
Was it one particular event?
I was working really, really long hours, up at 4 or 5 in the morning, and probably in bed by midnight or one. It was very bad diet, very little sleep and really exhausted.
I did that for two or three years.
I went through a period of imbalance and I thought 'this is wrong.' Everything about it felt bad. I hit the limits physically and mentally. We all have choices - and those choices do have a big influence on what our lives are going to be.
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Sam Kolias
TITLE: Chairman and CEO, Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust, Calgary
Born: July 16, 1961, in Calgary
Education: 1983, Bachelor of science, civil engineering, University of Calgary
Career highlights:
1984: Boardwalk founded as a private company in 1984 when Sam, 22, and brother Van, 17, buy a 16-unit walk-up in Calgary.
1994: Boardwalk Rental Communities goes public on the Alberta Stock Exchange.
2004: Boardwalk becomes a real estate investment trust.