Join us in celebrating Ashton Villeneuve, Property Manager at The Apex at Crossgates, for reaching her five-year milestone with United Group!
Ashton joined United Group in 2019 as Assistant Property Manager of Schaffer Heights before transferring to Property Manager of Glenmont Abbey Village and then to Communications Manager within the corporate office.
With a love for sales and operations, Ashton was thrilled to return to Property Management and become an integral part of one of United Group's newest developments, The Apex at Crossgates. As Property Manager for the developing site, Ashton is responsible for connecting to potential residents and forming strong relationships with outside partnership groups. Ashton's creativity, kindness, and go-getter attitude are admired throughout United Group, and we cannot be more delighted to celebrate her.
To learn more about Ashton's journey within United Group, read her Q&A below.
Congratulations, Ashton!
Questions
1.) Take us back to day one! What was it like? What do you remember about your first day?
I don’t actually remember one single thing from my first day, but I do remember going to Schaffer Heights right after applying for the APM role so that Mike Malpass could show me the property to “see if I liked it” haha. At the time, I had just moved to the area and was working a job where the only task I was trained to do was scan people's tax documents into a database for eight hours a day, so I was very excited for the opportunity. I guess the one thing I remember about my first day was not being nervous at all, just excited! And thrilled that I had my own office!
2.) Walk us through a typical workday!
I know everyone says this, but there is truly no such thing as a typical day in Property Management. I always tell the story of when I was excited to leave GAV the Friday before Labor Day Weekend, only to have my maintenance supervisor come in to tell me we had a pinhole leak in one of our water heaters and the technician couldn’t get to us until Tuesday! He and I ended up taking turns coming in over the weekend to check on it and empty the bucket under it lol. But right now I am in the throes of a lease-up, which means I typically start my day with clearing the dashboard, bothering Ken Nitz and Jonathan Kaplan with my anxiety-riddled questions, conducting tours, creating content for social media, eating food court Chinese, and taking the occasional mall walk.
3.) What is your favorite memory (so far) from your time at UGOC?
I have two. The Parasol Melbourne Grand Opening—so much hard work and planning in a short amount of time resulted in many stressful days and panicked phone calls, BUT it was such a great example of teamwork and seeing our communities at their best. I just loved the energy of the entire week leading up to the event and although it was stressful at times, like driving to the chair and table rental location only to find out that none of the 5+ vehicles we brought could fit the tables, OR printing the wrong version of Mike DiGiacomo’s speech so many times that I * slightly* raised my voice at him, it was something I’ll always remember fondly. Another favorite memory of mine was my time at Glenmont Abbey Village. I transferred from Schaffer Heights to GAV in March of 2020, so it was a rough start, but I truly loved my 2.5 years there. I loved forming relationships with my residents and team and enjoyed going to work every day.
4.) What advice would you give yourself reflecting on the last 5 years?
Say yes to as much as you can. Some of my favorite work memories were because I agreed to travel and put myself out there!
5.) How has your role changed over the years? (If at all possible)
I started as the Assistant Property Manager at Schaffer Heights in 2019 and then transferred to Glenmont Abbey Village in 2020. Although I remained an APM, because the properties were so different, my day-to-day changed so much! For example, I went from organizing a few activities a week to suddenly organizing multiple per day and planning monthly WOW Dinners (thanks MD) where the PM and I would prepare dinner for up to 150 residents once a month! It was a lot haha! I was then promoted to Property Manager in 2021 and then transitioned to Communications Manager in 2022, a true 180 from what I had been doing in operations. Most recently, I moved over to Apex, a multi-family luxury lease-up!