In this episode, host David Abrams is in conversation with Rob Kumer, CEO of KingSett Capital. Rob shares his journey to commercial real estate. KingSett is a private equity real estate investment company focused on Canada, both the equity and credit side of the business and all asset classes. After graduating from the Ivey Business School, Rob began his 20-year career journey in CRE. He started as an analyst, then moved to the investment side of the business and became President in 2021, and more recently assumed the role of CEO. Rob acknowledged his extraordinary relationship with KingSett’s founder and Executive Chair, Jon Love, who is also a two-time guest on the TEN podcast.
Rob believes that aligning to a set of core values has significantly contributed to his success and that there is always something to learn from other people. He shares some of his insights from the early days of the pandemic, including this comforting sentiment: “It is never as good as you think, and it is never as bad as you think”. I loved hearing Rob reflect on the pride he feels about KingSett’s collective determination to navigate and overcome the crisis the CRE industry is fighting.
Our conversation continues with how the use of spaces is changing, which is necessitating more amenity, meeting, and touch-down/collision spaces, and fewer private offices and exclusive workstations. As some businesses rethink their space requirements, more often than not, the actual footprint has not changed significantly. Rob notes that companies are looking for more amenities, shorter lease terms, and access to fully outfitted facilities, like KingSett’s program ‘Ready, Set, Go’ spaces. As well, there is a greater emphasis being placed on moving buildings to ZERO carbon and KingSett is taking a leading position in this effort.
Rob shares his 3 pillars for success in the office category and speaks about the importance of experience and the technological advances impacting all asset classes. KingSett is very focused on decarbonization, and energy management including deep water cooling and implementing new lighting systems. Customer experience is driving many new initiatives that save time and provide more convenience, from pre-ordering a coffee when arriving at the building to using destination dispatch on the elevators. We close the interview with several questions that provide an opportunity to get to know Rob a bit better on a personal level. Get ready to picture him in coveralls giving your car a tune-up!