Around the World with Rob Bagguley

In the coming weeks, we're bringing you short articles (as usual) on leaders of the  top 100 real estate companies in Chicago. Transwestern's resident Welshman Rob Bagguley sat down with us yesterday to chat about business, our fair city, and the Olympics.

 
Transwestern was named the best place to work in Chicago this year by Crain's, beating out powerhouses like Google and Microsoft. Rob, center, with Gary Nussbaum  and Fred Ishler cites diversity of ages within the company, a culture that allows open participation, and spectacular office spaces with floor-to-ceiling windows and casual breakout spaces. Rob tells us he spends 20% of his time just walking the office, working out problems. Also, he's glad that during the recession, very few Transwesternites have lost their jobs (despite salary cuts), although focus has shifted since no buildings have sold in the CBD office market this year.
 

Rob's great Sean Connery accent is real (and still gets a smile from Tamara Kos). He grew up in Wales and his first job out of college was finding branches for Royal Bank of Scotland. He also worked on the west coast and in Asia before coming to Chicago in 2000, where he became an avid Olympics advocate, aiming to show off Chicago as a world class city. (We assume he's the one who got the 2012 Games to London, so we're glad he's on our side.) Though unlike some of his countrymen, Rob's favorite sport isn't soccer: he's hoping to see more Formula One racing.

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