Photo: Vicki and husband Dustie in Beaver Creek, CO, for Christmas.
Position: Managing SVP of Management Services Operations, Transwestern
Location: Houston
Responsibilities: Providing support and resources to Transwestern’s property management professionals across over 300M SF of managed properties, including office, industrial, retail and healthcare.
How she got involved in property management: Totally by accident. I had a catering business when my children were young, but when I became a single mother I needed a more consistent source of income. A friend had just started his own business developing office buildings in Houston and asked if I would help run the office. It was during the early ‘80s—Houston’s “heyday” for office development—and within two years, we had built, leased and sold two high-rise buildings. My friend retired, but I had so much fun that I decided to make property management my career. That was over 30 years ago, and I can honestly say that I’m still having fun.
Industry and life extracurriculars: Active in IREM, BOMA and USGBC; teach continuing education classes in property management; and volunteer with Young Lives, a ministry to teenage mothers.
Daily habit: Giving thanks, because I have so much for which to be thankful.
Favorite book: It’s Not About Me by Max Lucado.
Favorite music: I tend to default to the best music era, the ‘60s: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Beach Boys, James Taylor. However, I must admit to a current fondness for Maroon 5!
Favorite movie: The Godfather.
Favorite restaurant: Limoncello, a little Italian restaurant in Boston’s North End. I try to fit in a dinner whenever I’m there on business.
Favorite vacation: The trip of a lifetime to South Africa, Paris and London with my grandchildren (above, with them at the London Eye). It was an adventure full of priceless memories.
First job: Stamping and routing copies of policies for an insurance company in New Orleans while I was in school there. Very boring, but helped pay the tuition!
Job in another life: Writer. I’ve always thought there was a book inside of me that just wants to get out.
Item on bucket list: I’d love to go back to South Africa, but the really adventurous side of me would like to do a tandem parachute jump.
Person you'd like to meet, dead or alive: Katharine Hepburn.
Family life: Married to Dustie Hollon for 30 years. We met in an elevator at a building that I was managing. He worked for the construction company that built it, and I worked for the building owner. It was my career in property management that led me to my husband! We have four grown children between us and four fabulous grandchildren.
Startling fact: An interest in my family history, and a cousin who traced our genealogy, led to discovering that my ancestors left Hingham, England, in 1642 on the sailing ship, The Diligent, and were some of the first families to settle in Hingham, MA. I was able to visit Hingham, England, a few years ago and saw the church where my ancestors were baptized and married. Even though I’ve always lived in the South, I fell in love with New England long before I knew that I had roots there.
