NEW YORK CITY-At first glance, some people in power seem ideally suited to their positions, as if their education and prior work experience were a perfect fit for their present job. The polar opposite has been true in the career of Annemarie DiCola, CEO of Trepp, who spoke about her career at a NYCREW Network breakfast Wednesday. Yet the fact that she has taken a somewhat unconventional path to the C-suite is exactly what led to her success, she said.
In 1990, “on a hot, sultry summer day,” after graduating NYU Law School and working at a firm for seven years on CRE deals—with her eyes firmly fixed on making partner—DiCola realized she was about to lose her job in the wake of a recession. She researched the areas of demand in the legal field and re-positioned herself as a bankruptcy attorney, which led to several offers. But she also reached out to an industry friend and former client, Rick Trepp, who offered to hire her as general counsel.
DiCola has been at the firm for 23 years, and in year 15 when the CEO position opened up, she threw her hat in the ring. “In both cases, I put aside my title and focused on my experience and the judgement I had applied,” DiCola said. And she was praised for such thinking during the CEO search. “They [the decision makers] said 'when we looked at eveything you've done, transforming from a CRE attorney to working for Trepp, and CREFC'—which was a side project, 'we love your adaptability and flexibility.' It's not the black and white that matters, it's how you handle the gray.
“Even as you run a company,” noted DiCola, “you have to ask yourself if the company should stay on the same course. You can't be so convinced of being right in your own thinking that you don't see the writing on the wall.”
That lesson applies to more than job searching, she added. “It's fair to say there are many people in business who want to be on certain projects or deals who don't get picked. If you want to take a different step, even within your company, think back to my story. I took a step back and worked to not pigeonhole myself and to connect the dots. No one was going to do it for me and tell me I could apply for other types of jobs, I had to figure it out. Your title today doesn't have to limit you. It may limit others but you have to connect the dots for them.”
DiCola has had help along the way though, she admitted, particularly from Rick Trepp. “My first day working for him, he told me 'you are of greater value to me when you disagree with me.'” That relationship, and others in her career, have made DiCola a proponent of mentoring, in some fashion, and of networking.
Trepp helped DiCola just by sometimes taking her aside after a meeting and revealing what she did right and wrong during the confab. “Even a piece of advice is mentoring, it doesn't have to be a formal relationship,” she noted. DiCola advised those in attendance to keep up their networking efforts, noting that in the days of her 1990 job search, there was no Internet or smart phones.
“Technology is great but don't over rely on it,” she said. “Relationships are all about meeting people, and staying in touch in meaningful ways, like sending an article or providing referrals. Every time you refer business or help another woman in the industry, you're doing your part to change this sector.
“I think we all can do things every day that help women,” DiCola said as she closed out her motivating talk. “It's the beginning of a sea change in CRE, and I look forward to it.”
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
