As a military brat from Virginia (her father was a Marine Corps officer), First Capital Realty CFO Karen Weaver knows about hard work and discipline. And she's glad they now matter more than gender.
Now it’s just a question of competence. The men just want to know if they are going to get FCR’s business, she tells us, laughing. We snapped her in a boardroom at FCR offices in Liberty Village; its core business is grocery-anchored, urban shopping centres, and Liberty Village is one of the company’s more prominent developments.
Before joining FCR in 2004, Karen was CFO at Brookfield Properties and Gentra. (Her mentors include Brookfield Assett Management senior managing partner Bruce Flatt, above, and FCR CEO Dori Segal.) Just as her father worked his way up from bootcamp—something she admired—she also climbed the ladder, starting as an accountant. (There were fewer push-ups, we would hope.) Brookfield, she adds, gave her a breadth of experience in terms of how a large real estate company operates, in areas including management, acquisitions, and financing.
When asked the age-old question about the life-work split, she tells us, "I don't believe in balance, I believe in integration. The real question is: How do we balance the changing needs of the employer with the life cycle and growing needs of the employee?” She adds, “Some companies view people as expenses. I view people as assets.” Karen enjoys spending time at her Georgian Bay cottage during the summer and skiing during the winter with her husband Doug (pictured at the annual Ontario Science Centre Innovators' Ball, where Karen is on the board) as well as visiting her son Andy and her husband’s daughter Rochelle, both in their mid 20s.
FCR, with over 400 employees, now owns 164 properties in seven urban Canadian markets, with a focus on developing high-quality assets into 24-hour communities (like Liberty Village, above). Managing the workload is "all about the brain candy,” Karen says. “I work with really great people, smart people, good real estate people, and I love our strategy.” Across King Street from where we sit, Karen points to a mixed-use site FCR is developing in partnership with Urbancorp as a case study in how the company is growing. Kingsclub will feature 638 condominium suites and multi-level retail; numerous amenities (all the major banks, Metro grocery store and a future Loblaws, 24-hour gyms, coffee shops, restaurants, and other retail) are within walking distance.
