♪ [Opening Music] ♪
>>> This is Michael Stoler
with James Simmons, who is
the CEO and managing partner
of Asland Capital Partners.
This last week, we spoke about
Jim's youth, growing up in New
Jersey and going to Princeton.
And now we're going to talk
about how he decided quickly to
decide to go into engineering as
opposed to pre-law or pre-med.
Jimmy you were
talking about that.
>>> Yeah.
Michael, you know any one
of my vintage will probably
tell you certainly any person
of color of my vintage who
went to college, particularly
a highly selective college
would tell you that you had
three choices of professions.
You could either be a pre-law,
pre-med, or an engineering
major and that was it.
I can look at my class or the
several classes ahead of me and
several classes behind me and
say that probably 80% of the
African Americans fell into one
of those three professions or
in preparation for one of those
three professions while they
were at Princeton based upon
the necessity to earn a living
and a substantial living for a
couple of reasons Number one,
to pay off student loans, which
were quite substantial for the
overwhelming majority of us.
And secondarily to be able
to own, to earn a significant
amount of income to make
going to those universities
worthwhile as well as to be able
to uplift your entire family.
So if you have a family, there
may be only one kid out of
however many children or a
part of your family who makes
it into that rarefied air so
you have to capitalize on it
and be able to give back and
share with, with your family.
>>> What about
investment banking?
When we were talking about that,
when you were Princeton at that
time, people didn't think about
investment banking, correct?
>>> Oh, people did
just not people who
weren't exposed to it.
So I personally didn't know
about investment banking until
I was about a junior in college.
And again, being fairly naive
and sheltered and such from
Jersey and going to a school
where most of the parents
were middle-class but you
know not a means and, and not
that, that you know, worked on
Wall Street, it was something
that was very new to me.
So once I figured it
out and understood what
it was about, it was something
that did interest me ultimately.
But while I was selecting my
major and deciding where I was
going to take my first job,
it wasn't an option for me.
>>> Let's talk about the
four years in Washington
with GE.
>>> Yeah, it was, you know, as
I said, I was in an engineering
program, but the thing about
being in DC with General
Electric at the time was GE was
was one of the largest defense
contractors in the world.
And that was one of the
visions where I did a
couple of rotations.
And in order to do that, you
needed to have clearances.
And in my particular instance,
you needed to have very,
very high-level clearances.
And so at a very young age,
I was exposed to the defense
industrial complex and,
and what it does to protect
the nation and all the good
that comes, good and bad
that comes along with it.
But I can say that it, it,
it provided me a worldview
and, and an understanding
of how governments work,
how decisions are made
in sometimes the best
interest of, of the, of the
country and sometimes not.
But overall the best thing
about it was that I was young
and I had the opportunity
to learn about business and,
and government in a way that
I would not have otherwise.
>>> Okay.
Let's talk about the home
for the holidays trip and
Thanksgiving and what happened
over there with a recruiter?
>>> I had been in Washington
DC with GE for three years
or so, and again, I grew up
in central Jersey, so I would
come back home to my parents
house, every holiday, so
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter.
And when I was there, I
would spend some time with
my friends in New York City.
And at that time I had
several friends who were
at investment banks.
And so as we started to
talk about what they were
doing it interests me, what
also interests me was the
amount of compensation that
they were getting relative
to what I was getting.
And quite frankly, the
wealth that they were able
to amass at a young age.
And so I talked to one of my
friends and he said, banks
are clamoring for people with
technical degrees and you have
two, because at that point in
time I was just about to, or had
graduated from Virginia Tech.
And so I was home for
Thanksgiving at the time,
I extended my stay by a
couple of days, I met with
this headhunter on a Monday.
He set up some
interviews on a Tuesday.
I got back to DC.
I had multiple offers when
I got back on Thursday.
Ended up deciding to take one at
Bankers Trust, which I started
Jan 1 of that following new
year, so that was the beginning
of my transformation from
engineering to finance and my
introduction to Bankers Trust.
>>> So, how did you decide
that you needed another
degree to go out to Chicago?
>>> That's an
interesting story.
So while I was at Bankers
Trust, I met some individuals
who are on the trading desk.
And I'll say guys, ‘cause
at that point in time,
they were all men on the
trading desk, unfortunately.
And a couple of them, and
I'll say this, I've been very
fortunate in my career where
I've had people who took the
time to explain to me what they
were doing, the career path.
And one really sat me down
and said, listen, here's the
path that you need to take
in order to become a trader.
And he introduced me to the
person who ran the program
that admits people into sort
of the trader-training program.
And I said, I'd
like to be in it.
And, and she said, well,
in order to be in it,
you have to have an MBA.
And I said, well, I already
have a master's degree.
And she said, no, you have
the wrong type of masters.
You need an MBA.
So she suggested that
I apply, which I did.
I got into a few.
Ended up deciding that
Kellogg at Northwestern
was the best place for me.
At the time it was the
number one business
school in the world.
And so I went back to
that individual who ran
the program and I said,
thanks for the advice.
I'm actually, you know,
I'm leaving in a fall
to go to, to Kellogg.
And she said, wait, what, what
do you mean you're leaving?
She said, you should say, and we
want you to be in the program.
We'll pay for Kellogg.
You can do it part time.
You can come back here.
But at that point in time, I
had made up my decision to go.
And so I left and did my two
years at Kellogg and ended up
graduating and actually getting
a role on a trading desk.
>>> Right.
And during that summer,
you had an opportunity
at Merrill Lynch, right?
>>> I did. I did.
I did Merrill Lynch
in the summer program.
So what happens at the
investment banks is that the
summers in between first and
second year of business school,
they bring a whole host of, of
summer interns in from business
schools around the world and you
rotate from desk to desk and you
get a flavor for what each desk
does and hopefully you like the
job, you liked the firm and they
liked you and offers their made.
I ended up not
working at Merrill.
I ended up going over
to Salomon Smith Barney.
But what I can say is I
formulated some really deep
and strong relationships, one
of which being Stan O'Neill,
who later ascended to be
CEO, but was running the high
yield desk at the time where
I didn't even rotate to his
desk but I made it a point to
put some time on his calendar.
And again, he very graciously
spent about two hours with me,
you know, not knowing me other
than the fact that I was a
summer intern and really gave
me some, some really good advice
which sticks with me today.
>>> Okay.
So July of 1996, you joined
Salomon Smith Barney on the
emerging markets
derivative. That's great.
>>> Kind of. Wasn't that direct.
I mean, you, you have to,
they again, they bring you
in as a class and you rotate
around and you have to find
a home so someplace that you
like, and that likes you.
And that was in my
estimation, the best desk.
And I was lucky enough
to be on that desk.
And, and that's where I landed.
>>> You know, we were talking
at the beginning of the show
last week that your parents
instilled with you the idea
of owning their own home.
What happens when a good friend
of yours takes you to something
on Manhattan Avenue and 108th
Street in the brownstone?
>>> Yeah.
So when, when I graduated
from business school I had
my mind set on buying a
brownstone in Harlem and
that idea was cemented by a
couple of my peers actually.
So, so these were people who
had, they were professionals,
but of, of different industries
who made the decision that they
weren't going to live downtown.
They weren't going live
on the Upper West or
Upper East side, but they
wanted to live in Harlem.
And so there are a couple
of very established
enclaves in Harlem, one of
which where I live today,
which is Hamilton Heights.
And they bought their
brownstones a couple
of years before me.
And I ended up going to a
house warming party for one
of my good friends and I
made a decision that I was
going to buy a brownstone.
So in order to accomplish
that, I had to save every penny
that I made over the first two
years when I was at Salomon,
which I did and in order to do
that, I lived in a brownstone
on Manhattan Avenue, which was
owned by the father of one of
my friends from Princeton whose
name is Garland Wood, who has
passed since, but Garland was
the first African American
partner at Goldman Sachs.
And Garland would have us over
to dinner at his mansion on
Manhattan Avenue and would
extol the virtues of living
within your means, not have,
not following the crowd,
investing in communities in
which you feel comfortable not
so much that other people feel
comfortable, and where you
can help effectuate change.
So, so Garland not only owned
his property, but he owned many
properties within his micro
neighborhood and uplifted the
neighborhood just by himself.
And so he instilled that in his
kids and by extension in me.
>>> So how does the kid who's
really been now in investment
banking get an opportunity
to work for the Upper
Manhattan Empowerment Zone?
>>> So, so when I, when I
decided that I wanted to buy
a house in Harlem there was
a, a good friend who was two
years older than me, Roy Swan,
who had left Morgan Stanley
to go work at the Empowerment
Zone, really to help set it up.
He went to work with Debbie
Wright, who was a visionary
in setting up the Empowerment
Zone, but he was going to
go back to Morgan Stanley.
And so I called him
and I said Roy, you've
been working in Harlem.
Can you give me an idea
of which neighborhoods
I should look to buy?
And he said, I'd work up here,
but I don't live up here.
I'm going to introduce you to
my boss and she'll fill you in.
So she and I had lunch, long
story short, she decided
unbeknownst to me that I
would be a good candidate
to succeed Roy when he went
back to Morgan Stanley.
And then she would request
me to take a leave of
absence from Salomon
Brothers to go work with her.
I told her no way would
I want to do that.
I said that I worked really
hard to get this seat at Salomon
and that besides that she
wouldn't be able to compensate
me at a level that Solomon did.
Well, she was very persistent.
Dick Parsons was chair
of her board at the time.
I remember when we had lunch
it was around my birthday,
which is in October.
So I get a call after
Thanksgiving but before
Christmas on the trading desk
to go have a meeting with
Jamie Diamond and Sandy Wilde.
And the request was that I
do a favor of them and Mr.
Parsons and Charlie Wrangle,
all of whom knew each other and
go work at the Empowerment Zone
for a year or two,
but it started with
a year, to help out.
And so that started
my path at the Upper
Manhattan Empowerment Zone.
>>> And subsequently become
the Chief Investment Officer
and the head of the Upper
Manhattan Empowerment Zone.
>>> Yes.
I started as a senior VP doing
investments and I became the
chief investment officer and
then ultimately the CEO within
a three year period of time.
>>> And when you were at
the Empowerment Zone you
were involved with Harlem
USA, a number of the other
developments that were taking
place during that time.
>>> Yeah, it was, it
was a really, really
interesting period of time.
I don't want to say that
Harlem got put on the map then,
because Harlem has always been
on the map, but I will say
that people have defined it as
Harlem's second Renaissance.
And our mandate was broader than
just Harlem, by the way, it was
Washington Heights, Inwood, East
Harlem, but the nexus of Upper
Manhattan is arguably Harlem.
And during that period
of time President Clinton
located his offices there.
Harlem USA got done.
The revitalization of
125th Street really
kicked into high gear.
Goods and services that had
departed Upper Manhattan based
upon the exodus to the suburbs
during the sixties, seventies,
and eighties were reappearing.
So if you think about this
Michael, when I was at the
Empowerment Zone, when I started
before Pathmark arrived on 125th
Street, Upper Manhattan if it
were a city, would be a city
the size of Denver at the time.
There was not a single
full service grocer
North of 96th Street.
You can take Fairway out
of that equation because
Fairway is very high priced
and on the West Side highway.
But accessible to the general
populace, there was not a
single full service grocer.
So this was before the term
food desert was even coined.
That's what we were trying
to change while I was
at the Empowerment Zone.
>>> Let's you know, with a
couple of minutes left, before
I talk about your career at
Apollo areas and now Asland,
I want you to talk about your
family, your wife, and the kids.
>>> Those are the individuals
that certainly keep me grounded.
My wife and I met
through a mutual friend.
We have been together,
married fifteen years.
We dated first too long prior
to that for her definition.
But we have two beautiful kids.
My daughter is 14, my son is
10 and we get a tremendous
amount of enjoyment seeing
them grow and thrive.
>>> Let's talk a little bit
about today with Asland and the
projects, you know, that you've
been happy about and proud of.
Lafayette Estates,
Park Lane and Riverton.
>>> Yeah.
So when I joined Apollo,
when I left the Empowerment
Zone, I really didn't have
a job per se or mandate, but
I did have a business model
in mind that I shared with
both Bill and Richard Mack
who are the two people who
brought me into the business.
And that model was predicated
on being able to really
create the best in class,
middle income and affordable
housing product in areas
that have been disinvested,
disinvested over time.
And so we started acquiring
those assets, improving
them, and creating real
value and changing micro
neighborhoods around us.
And so the first real
substantive transaction I
did was Lafayette Estates,
which is 1800 units in the
Southeast section of the Bronx.
We did the first income
stratified affordable
co-operative ever in
the state of New York.
It gave residents that have been
there for a long period of time,
the ability to acquire their
assets at a very low basis and
generate wealth over time for
themselves and our families.
Most recently we've
done the Riverton.
We've done Park Lane.
We've done Heritage at
Old Town, but all with
a central core theme.
And that central theme is
based upon the preservation
of affordable, moderate,
and middle-income
housing, the creation of
additional opportunities
for mixed income housing.
One of the things that's very
important to me is our assets.
I should be as happy to
live there as I live in
my own house, number one.
And number two, I should be
able to live there, given my
salary, as well as someone
who is making 30% of AMI.
And at the intersection of
those two creates a healthier
community, because I have skills
that I can bring to the table.
They have skills that they
can bring to the table.
We have perspectives that we
can bring to the table such that
they can understand my world to
say that is what is achievable.
If you're a kid, you can
say, Hey, I can be him.
And the same is true in terms
of someone who, who is very
much invested who's been at a
building for 30, 40 years and
wants that to be their home
and saying, I grew up here,
I want to stay here, and I
want to see my life improve.
>>> And I think you have
helped people's lives improve.
I'm happy that you
had great roots.
You know, your late father
and your mother training
you and you know what?
I'm happy you left
engineering and you kept
involved with real estate.
And thanks for being here
today and see you again.
>>> Thank you, Michael.
I just want to dedicate
this to my dad, as you said,
he passed fairly recently.
So thank you for
mentioning him and be well.
>>> Thank you.
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