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I must confess talking about this stuff is not my strength. I was present twenty years ago at the beginning of what is now COCM. I was coming off a terrible career decision which led me to my first experience with unemployment. I needed a paycheck, an identity boost, and I needed to feel successful again. Joining Capstone offered the challenge of creating something that did not exist in the marketplace at the time. A management company focused exclusively on managing on-campus student housing. How hard could that be, I asked myself? After all I had spent 20 years doing that job while working for universities.
Fast forward 20 years, and I mean FAST. I could have never imagined what COCM would become. As a retiring President of a startup company, I could go on and on about the challenges, sacrifice, drama, and accomplishments experienced along the way.
Retiring Presidents often do that you know. But when I needed to announce at a board meeting 6 years ago that my wife was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) and my ability to lead COCM may be compromised from time to time, the support I got from our leadership team was pure gratitude.
So, as I depart COCM I would say to everyone, continue working for COCM because the opportunities offered here are limited only by the passion you have for what you do each day. Never stop looking for opportunities within or outside the company and never be discouraged by temporary failure. There is grace in every workplace but especially in those with leadership who welcome it. I once had a mentor who said, “support the people that work for you, and they will take you to the top”. I am living proof of that. You all have prepared me well for what comes next.
Doug Brown
President
