Industry Forward – Jack Rybicki
Industry specialization at CLA is the real deal. Listen to this series of inspiring conversations to hear firsthand how it advances our clients’ success, our professionals’ careers, and our firm’s competitive edge.
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Transcript
Industry specialization at CLA is the real deal. Listen to this series of inspiring conversations to hear firsthand how it advances our clients’ success, our professionals’ careers, and our firm’s competitive edge.
Narrator: It was 2003 and Jack Rybicki was asked to build our Tampa office from the ground up. He had three staffers, a few referral relationships, and zero clients. Today, Tampa is 70 people and $10 million strong and Jack is handing over the reins to head up our real estate industry practice and create exciting new opportunities in the market. Listen to how he used his entrepreneurial grit to achieve great things and what lies ahead for someone whose vision of success knows no limits?
[00:00:31]
John: Welcome, CLA family, to “Industry Forward,” a podcast designed to tell the stories behind the CLA promise. We exist at CLA to create opportunities. We create opportunities when we live the CLA promise. We promise to know you and help you. Today we’re gonna focus in on the power of the individual entrepreneur and how that individual entrepreneur builds an industry, which leads to sustainable growth.
To help us tell that story, we’ve invited Jack Rybicki, our new MP of the real estate group and former MP of the Tampa office to the microphone. Jack has been with the firm in one way, shape, or form for more than 20 years, and during that 20 years, he’s had opportunities to build the Tampa office, lead a group of people, assemble some who came in via merger or acquisition as well as key hirings, and now is taking on a new endeavor.
So let’s dive right in. Jack, welcome. Can you tell us just a little bit about your story?
[00:01:36]
Jack: Sure, John. Yeah, I was fortunate, following a career with Anderson and then a three-year stint as a CFO at an e-commerce company, I was fortunate enough to join Chastang Ferrell at the time, and Les Eiserman and Lori Sims and Larry Chastang took a bet on me that I could come and open up a marketplace for them in Tampa, and so we were able to come over to Tampa with a brand new office, me and just a couple staff people, and grow that business to over $1 million in three years back in 2003.
It was an exciting time, it was a, you know–wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, get back into industry or what, and–but the entrepreneurial opportunities to come in and open a new market for a firm that hadn’t been there before were very appealing.
[00:02:33]
John: So wait a minute. 12 years of experience, you were hired, we took a chance on you and put you in a brand new office location? How did you feel on the first day?
Jack: It was daunting. I mean, you know, walked into the office, met two staff people I had never met before, and asked them what was going on and what clients we had and learned that there was nothing there at that point, that we had a couple attorney referral relationships, and that was it, and so it was definitely scary.
John: So no clients. Tell us about the first client. Can you remember?
Jack: Yeah, the first client actually was a non-profit, which I really don’t work in very much, but it was the Westshore Alliance. We started networking. That was a business network in the area. We got, you know, heavily involved right out of the gate, and within a month or so, we were able to bring them on as a client for the firm, ’cause they were in a transition period, so just immediately starting to network in the community started paying dividends for us.
John: So by the time you joined–the firm joined CLA, that was 2006.
Jack: Yep.
John: About $1 million, so that was a pretty fast ride to go from no clients to $1 million. How do you manage that period of time? ‘Cause it would have been business development, client service, and hiring people at a rapid pace.
[00:04:05]
Jack: Yeah, we went to about eight people during that period of time to do that, and there were some key hires along the way, and a couple of those folks are actually still with us today in principal roles, so it’s been great to see them join us as staff or seniors at that point in time, very early on in our career, and to now see them in the principal role leading practices of their own.
It was challenging. I mean, the balance between going out and developing business, and then, when you don’t have a full team behind you, you have to then, you know, service those clients as well, so the ebb and flow of practice development and doing assurance and tax work, you know, was quite a pool.
[00:04:29]
John: There are few things more gratifying than seeing careers develop for people to take advantage of their opportunities, and it sounds like that’s been a pivotal part of building the Tampa–so how big is Tampa today now as you pass this baton to Jeff Bonick and the rest of the team that’s there?
[00:05:09]
Jack: So today, Tampa sits at right around 70 people from a headcount perspective, and including the revenue from our firm’s telecommunications group, which sits in Tampa that joined us about 2 1/2 years ago, we’re gonna do right around 10 million this year.
John: So real estate. Why on earth are you leaving this terrific platform that you’ve had an opportunity to lead and move on to our national firm-wide real estate efforts?
[00:05:38]
Jack: Really kind of is being driven by our need to industry specialize. I’d worn a couple hats in Tampa from a service perspective, and in both our technology practice and in our construction and real estate practice at the time, and with the desire to focus more on one of those as we built out our team, we’ve been able to move people into leadership roles in other industry groups, so I’ve been able to pass on my tech practice to another principal now.
We’re working on transitioning the construction practice to another group, and so that has really allowed me to focus on the real estate, which has always been a large part of my client base, but never anything I was able to focus on 100%, so I always felt like I was just brushing the surface there and underachieving in what I could have accomplished, and so as I’ve peeled back the layers of what real estate is, it’s really intriguing, and I learn more and more each day about what we should be doing for our clients, and that’s what kind of drives me to really want to do more for them at this point
[00:06:48]
John: That leads to a host of questions, so let’s start with this first: what’s the opportunity in real estate when you look at it as an industry?
Jack: It’s–I mean, with what’s going on in the marketplace right now, there’s just a tremendous opportunity for us, and we do a lot of events around the capital-raising side of real estate, and that is the lifeblood of the industry, and CLA is really uniquely positioned in the marketplace to capitalize on that with the fully integrated services that we have and the wealth advisory capabilities, and so, when you look at that, we’re about a $35 to $40 million practice right now.
It would surprise me if we don’t double that or greater in the next three to five years because of, you know, the opportunity out there.
[00:07:29]
John: So what are some of the services we might use to help our clients?
Jack: There’s a lot of the traditional services that they have to have, right? So the assurance and the tax–tax is a huge driver in the real estate industry. It accounts for almost 70% of our industry revenues right now. Specialty tax obviously can make a difference in whether or not a deal works or doesn’t work in terms of tax credits, and 1031 exchanges and, you know, just making sure you get the most out of the real estate.
But there are some other things that we can do that other firms just can’t do, right? And that’s really where we’d like to focus, and so we’ve developed a fund administration platform that will help, you know, new funds right out of the ground so they can focus on what they would like to do, which is identify deals and do deals and not have to worry about dealing with investors, and then that pain point of capital, which is usually the constraining factor.
CLA wealth advisory and alternative investments platform and some of the, you know, real innovative things that Tony Hallada and Dominic Zamora are looking at right now in terms of being able to provide capital to our business partners. It’d just be a game-changer in the industry.
John: So what will make us truly different in the marketplace, or how are we approaching it?
[00:08:56]
Jack: We’ve identified a number of sub industry groups. You know, we had a great visioning session last year, and our goal in each one of those is to be different than how it–how firms are currently serving, you know, those sub industry groups, so obviously the investor side is one of those, and we’ve really got a differentiated platform there, helping end to end from outsourcing to capital-raising and compliance in the middle. We’re gonna do that in all of our other sub industry groups as well, so on the developer-owner side, with our land baking and homebuilding, our commercial office and industrial, multi-family practices, affordable housing, and even hospitality, and each one of those, we want to get that end-to-end solution that will allow us to, you know, serve our clients in a different manner.
[00:09:43]
John: So what does success look like?
Jack: Success to me looks like what we’ve already achieved in a number of other industry groups in the firm. I look at healthcare and our employee benefit plan practice and, you know, nonprofit. CLA is synonymous with the pinnacle of service and the go-to resource in those industry groups where we want to play, and that’s what we want to be on the real estate side, is identify our market niche and then be the dominant player so people know that if they want the best team to work with, the team that’s gonna give them the best chance of success, that they’re gonna need to work with CLA.
[00:10:21]
John: So what are you gonna do first?
Jack: You know, right now there’s a lot to do, and we’ve got a great team assembled. We’re gonna be working on a lot of foundational elements this year. As I mentioned, you know, we’re doing around 35 to 40 million, but we only have five offices that say they are real estate offices right now, and those offices only account for about 40% of that revenue. So, you know, making sure that our existing team that we’ve got out there that’s already serving real estate clients is doing a great job and has the resources they need to really be able to service those clients well, and then that they can grow their careers with CLA too, so building that foundation of expertise, go-to resources, training for our people, and then the infrastructure for growth is really where we’re going to spend our time.
The other big part is that sub industry focus and developing out, you know, who are our target clients? How are we gonna be differentiated in the marketplace? And then who’s gonna build all that too?
So, you know, this is a tremendous opportunity for people around the firm that want to get involved, because there’s no shortage of projects, you know, that need to be done in order for this to be successful.
John: So, Jack, you’ve proven that you can sell, obviously, that you’ve been able to build business. Now you got the microphone. It’s your chance to recruit people from CLA. Why would somebody want to join the real estate group, and how would it help them build their career?
[00:11:55]
Jack: There’s a number of offices around the firm that are already doing a million, $2 million in revenue with nobody in those offices saying they’re focused on real estate, and so when I look at markets like that, the opportunity for somebody to consolidate all that work and truly become an expert in that area and a resource to both the community and to the other people in the office, so developing our careers for our younger folks, it’s just tremendous, and so we’ve been working with the MPOs around the country in a variety of different markets now to identify those potential leaders, and we’re looking for people that are passionate about this, and John, you know from your experience in the healthcare when you guys started that off, we’ve got a small core right now of very passionate individuals, and so when I get on a call with Ben Darwin or Luke Pope or George Kotridis and we start talking about tax issues and how we can bring value to our clients or get [inaudible] more involved, there’s an enthusiasm that comes across in their voice, and you can hear it on how they’re passionate about talking to our clients.
It’s a lot different than when we’re doing the administrative stuff of billing and worried about our numbers. When we get in front of those clients, you can feel the passion come out, and that’s what we’re looking for, and I think that’s what you need to be successful in an early stage, and so those are the types of folks that we’re looking for, and I think that’s the market opportunity, and all over the firm is endless there.
[00:13:33]
John: So, Jack, I want you to go back in time a bit to a young Jack Rybicki, and I’m sure you got some great advice from some people as you were wading into this uncertain territory, making your way to start the Tampa office, grow the revenues, and I’m sure you’re seeking some counsel from some of those today. But now turn that to the people who are listening to this podcast who are considering what you just said, that invitation.
What advice do you have for them as they consider this opportunity?
[00:14:00]
Jack: Yeah, I was very fortunate. You know, Denny was down in our office a lot early on, because he has a place down there, and he managed that part of the country as what was then a CPO-type role for the region, and so, between Denny and then Les Eiserman, who’s always been a real great mentor of mine, I really learned that you can’t be afraid to try these new things, right?
To go into a new marketplace, to go into an industry group, and particularly with the the CLA family around you, you’ve got that support structure that you need to be successful, and so, you know, not being afraid, and going after things that, you know, can fulfill you professionally is something that I didn’t always feel I could do at other organizations, but the CLA environment, you know, encourages that and is really–it’s an empowering feeling when you embrace that and you realize that it’s okay to not succeed all the time, but, you know, you learn from that and you move forward and, you know, we’re gonna reward effort and results.
Ultimately we need results, but there’s a great support structure behind you.
[00:15:15]
John: Well, there you have it. Jack Rybicki, entrepreneur, builder, and leader of the Tampa office, and now taking on a new endeavor, speaking a word to all of you who are listening to this.
That’s the story of CLA. We exist to create opportunities. You just heard about one; now it’s your turn. Let’s move industry specialization forward at CLA, let’s pursue the opportunities that are in front of us, and let’s do that by living the CLA promise. Thank you for listening. Have a great day.
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John is chief industry officer for CLA, and firm-wide leader for the private industries. He is a passionate ambassador for the CLA Promise. CLA exists to create opportunities – for our CLA team, our clients, the industries we serve and our communities. CLA is successful when we fulfill the CLA Promise – we promise to know you and to help you. As a member of the leadership team, he is also an enthusiastic promoter of our position as a professional services firm delivering seamlessly integrated wealth advisory, outsourcing, and public accounting capabilities.
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