Late last year, Midwest Real Estate News ran its first Hall of Fame issue, honoring the top commercial real estate professionals in the industry. Since then, we’ve run select profiles on our Web site. Here is another, a look at Ora Reynolds from Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development.
Ora Reynolds Position: President Company: Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development Location: Kansas City, Mo.
When Ora Reynolds arrived at Kansas City, Mo.-based Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development in 1991, she came armed with ideas. This was perfect: The company had hired Reynolds to serve as its manager of new business development. Her job was to find new expansion opportunities for the company.
Reynolds performed this job well. She helped the company expand into the residential development business in 1993. Because of this, Reynolds earned her first of many promotions at Hunt Midwest; she became the company’s manager of residential development.
This was just the first step up the ladder, though, of what has become a steady rise through the ranks of one of the Midwest’s most important development companies. And it’s typical of Reynolds’ career: She always turns in stellar work. And it gets her noticed.
A quick look at her performance at Hunt Midwest is proof of this. In 1996, Reynolds earned another promotion, this time to director. Two years later, she rose again, this time taking over the role of general manager. Just one year later she took on the position of vice president and general manager of residential development.
Eventually, on Jan. 1 of this year, Reynolds became president of Hunt Midwest. It’s a role for which she seems ideally suited. Today, she leads the company’s industrial/commercial and residential divisions, directing the development, marketing, sales and leasing of the industrial, commercial, retail and residential properties owned by Hunt Midwest.
Thanks in large part to Reynolds’ leadership, that portfolio of properties includes some impressive real estate. Hunt Midwest’s assets include SubTropolis, a 1,150-acre underground business complex; the Hunt Midwest Business Center, a 1,000-acre surface business park and 12 residential commuities with more than 6,000 platted lots.
Reynolds has had a busy and successful career. But that hasn’t stopped her from serving her community. She serves, for example, on the board of directors for the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and is a graduate of its Centurions Leadership Program. She is also a board member for the Northland Regional Chamber and past chair of its Planning & Development Committee.
On the industry side, Reynolds is a member of the board of directors for the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City and the National Association of Home Builders. She also sits on the National Association of Home Builders’ Land Development Committee.
This busy schedule is typical of Reynolds. Remember, she’s not one to stand still for too long. There’s too much work – too much stellar work – to be done.
