Gary Kirkman, our Director of Compliance Training, started out his professional career as a 911 operator in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He didn’t know it then, but the experience that he gained from taking and directing emergency calls would prepare him for his career in property management and affordable housing compliance.
“When taking calls at 911, I was paying attention to the details and I would listen to what people would tell me. I would memorize the information and pick up on stuff really fast. I think that’s actually what’s helped me in my career.”
Helping people and being kind to others, particularly those in need, was a trait that was instilled in Gary at an early age and helped create him into the person he is today. He grew up with a tight-knit family, being one of four brothers, with a deeply moral mother and father.
“Growing up, my mom raised four boys and she would always tell us that what we do today is going to affect somebody’s tomorrow…so go do good always.”
Discovering a New Industry and a Purpose
Gary’s life and career have been anything but linear; it’s been a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but all moving him towards where he is now.
“I think that I probably would have wanted to get into the housing industry a lot earlier than I did, but I’m also a firm believer that God has a reason for everything. So the path that I’m on is where I should be.”
When Gary started in property management, he quickly advanced with the first company he worked for. He’d applied for a Regional Property Manager Trainee position, but instead of being being offered the trainee role, he was hired as a Regional Manager. He was immediately given a whole portfolio and a huge plate of responsibilities. This included tasks like putting together USDA Rural Development budgets, learning all about a multitude of funding programs, and quickly learning a new industry, which he had never been apart of before.
The details of the multiple funding programs, the complexity of the requirements, and the variety of the work caught Gary’s eye immediately. But there was something else that let Gary know he’d just found his career, his industry, and his calling: learning just how much this work affected real people he had found a whole new form of 911 and answering the call to assist people.
Gary recounts a story where he realized just how much helping people really affected him:
“I ran into this lady who was sitting in one of my rental offices. She was signing her lease, which was multiple pages because it was a rural development lease. (And they’re long, OK?) So we’re going over the lease together and I remember she was sitting there crying. And thinking to myself, what’s wrong. I asked her “Why are you crying?” She looked up and said ‘because now I’m able to move me and my girls out of my car.’ That did it. That gave me my whole purpose in housing right there.”
Adding Entertainment to Complexity
As the Director of Compliance Training, Gary works with companies all over the country, training housing professionals involved in all types of management and oversight roles. Gary, a long side of our other trainers, work with attendees from a wide diversity of professional and life experience, with some attendees being new to the industry and others who have decades of experiences.
For years, Gary has focused on combining his deep dive into education working with housing professionals with his love for education and the rewards it can bring. Gary was the first in his family to attend college and later graduate college with honors, no less. His time in college instilled a deep respect and passion for education in Gary, that would later greatly affect his career.
“Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to be, you know, “something”. I mean, I was the very first in my family to graduate high school. And I was the first to graduate college. …. In my classes now, I always say that knowledge is power, and to learn as much as you can.”
Teaching has been part of Gary’s spirit since an early age. He learned to teach complexity, starting with teaching people how to clog (an American folk dance). Whether it was teaching clogging or handling complex housing regulations, Gary has always had a teacher-like spirit.
“Looking back and everything, I used to teach clogging all over North and South Carolina. So I was always traveling on weekends and putting on these conferences and workshops and, you know, participating in that. So I’ve always been kind of in front of people teaching.”
A Different Kind of Compliance Training
Learning the complex rules, and even more complex exceptions to the rules, can be difficult for anyone, but having a great trainer can make all of the difference.
Amanda Lee Gross, VP of Compliance for US Housing Consultants coined the phrase “Entertrainer” for Gary, which describes combining communicating often difficult topics in a way that is entertaining so that the knowledge gets through to students easier.
Working along side Amanda, as the Director of Compliance Training with US Housing, Gary has an integral role in developing a curriculum which will bring people to the best of affordable housing compliance training, including detailed and entertaining presentations delivered with passion, heart, and soul.
Compliance training seminars can be about the importance of fair housing, the ever-changing impact of HOTMA, or a multitude of other affordable housing compliance topics. Yet throughout all of it, Gary works hard to connect with people, just like he did when he was a 911 operator and supervisor. The stress of dealing with complex funding programs and intense and arcane requirements can often feel overwhelming to those working hard to keep up.
As the changes keep coming, as the rules keep piling up, and as the affordable housing industry becomes more and more complex, the one thing we know is that Gary will be there to take the call and help it all make sense.
