Bio
David Roodberg is President of The Menkiti Group, where he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the business including development, capital, commercial real estate, and strategic planning. He was formerly the CEO and President of Horning Brothers for over 20 years. He serves on the boards of Greater Washington Community Foundation, Urban Land Institute Executive Committee in DC, Wesley Housing Development Corporation and University of Maryland Masters in Real Estate Advisory Board.
Mr. Roodberg has also been appointed by the Mayor to serve on the Housing Production Trust Fund Board for Washington, DC setting strategies for the City’s investment in affordable housing. Mr. Roodberg has a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Show Notes
- Two decisions: 1. To leave Hornung Brothers and 2. Join The Menkiti Group (5:45)
Origins & Education
- Grew up in suburban NJ in Closter, NJ outside New York (6:15)
- Dad worked in the garment district in NYC
- Dad focused on family and did errands more than other fathers (7:00)
- Mom taught nursery school (7:30)
- In sales selling women’s undergarments (8:00)
- Demerest HS in New Jersey (8:30)
- Focused on academics
- Interested in medicine initially
- Attended Duke University intending to be in pre-med (9:30)
- Took early pre-med courses and realized that it wasn’t for him (10:00)
- Transitioned to computer science because he liked math and programming (10:50)
- Used punch cards and terminals (11:20)
- Counselor in Duke computer camp and was a TI in computer classes (12:00)
- Subsequently attended the Ross Business School at the University of Michigan (13:30)
- Liked the concept of business and finance (14:30)
- Strong school willing to take students right out of undergraduate school
- While there he interviewed tech companies in California and failed all 11 interviews he had with prospective employers and felt it was a lesson in learning interpersonal relationships (16:00)
- Called it a “good failure” and learned from it (16:30)
- Took Dale Carnegie classes to overcome
Career Start
- Found a job with EDS in Dallas, TX and quickly learned this was not a career he wanted to pursue (17:30)
- Started in Dallas then moved to Detroit and finally Rockville, MD (17:45)
- Hated his job (18:45)
- Subsequently joined Perpetual Savings Bank in various roles for over two years (19:00)
- Realized then he wanted to something other than banking
Combined Properties
- Heard about the opportunity with Combined Properties in real estate from a friend (20:45)
- His boss when he first started asked him to do a CAM reconciliation (21:15)
- Ron Haft was the President then and is now the Chairman of Combined Properties (22:00)
- Was there for 11 years beginning as Financial Analyst then promoted to Treasurer (22:10)
- Became CFO in 1991 an...
