The first day of April is most commonly associated with April Fools’ Day, but for Ruby, it is April Hines Day—the start of her career with the firm. Ten years ago, Ruby joined Hines’ property management team as a Management Assistant in Greenwich, Connecticut. With a background in business, she quickly absorbed the Hines standards and successfully completed six years in operations.
In 2013, Hines restarted a development project in Midtown Manhattan. Recognizing her excellence and versatility, Ruby was called to join the team.
“This was an opportunity of a lifetime,” Ruby explains. “I had no experience on the development side, but was nonetheless up for the challenge.”
As the management assistant, Ruby supports business, finance and construction operations for the 610 Lexington project. Her daily responsibilities vary based on current activities in the field, but often include document preparations and submissions, log maintenance, financial requisitions and project draws. As the project nears completion, she is also learning management of close-out documentation.
Having worked in property management and development, Ruby has had the opportunity to experience two of Hines’ core business functions.
“I enjoyed property management and dealing with tenants and service providers; however, with development—witnessing a design vision become a tangible reality provides quite a thrill!”
A regular patron of community theater and Broadway shows, Ruby is also a functional member of the OneHines Women’s Network, established to engage employees in a firm-wide conversation to create new opportunities for networking and mentorship, and increase the volume of female applicants and percentage of women in leadership at the firm. Ruby serves in the administrative group, which aims to promote team building.
For anyone interested in pursuing a career in property management or development, or moving from one role to the other, Ruby’s words of wisdom are: “Learn as much about your project or property as possible and take initiative. Be involved and be noticed.”