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LISTMAKERS
Michael O’Shaughnessy
Prudential Carolina Real Estate Partner
This issue, Prudential Carolina Real Estate is at the top of the Business Journal’s list of residential real estate companies (ranked by number of licensed agents).
Prudential Carolina Real Estate was founded by Michael O’Shaughnessy’s father in 1969, and 20 years ago he took charge of the company himself. In 1992 the company acquired Coldwell Banker, and merged with Prudential in 1999.
Why did you choose a career in residential real estate?
I have a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and was a commercial fisherman, but I broke my back in a car wreck in 1977. I couldn’t continue to do strenuous work, so I went into real estate sales.
What is the best—and the worst—aspect of your job?
The best part of the job: the people. The worst part: being in an office.
With so many agents working for you, how are you able to maintain a personal touch and stay connected?
Being connected to each other is important to us. Our competitors like to equate large with impersonal, but the reality is that it comes down to the values of the organization, not size. A company can be large and highly personal while another can be small and impersonal, and we all know examples of both.
Many of us have worked together for 10,15, 20 or more years. We’re friends, and friends don’t have to work at being connected. We do many things to get everyone together—sometimes it’s business, often it’s just fun. For instance, we took our top producers to Bermuda last year and to Paris the year before that.
We also believe in being available and responsive within the organization. We celebrate the good things, and deal with problems head on.
John Tarkany
DesignWorks LC
Partner
This issue, DesignWorks is at the top of the Business Journal’s list of landscape architectural firms (ranked by number of landscape architects).
Ten years ago three men brought their expertise in landscape architecture and design together to form DesignWorks. Since then, partners John Tarkany, J. Steve Dudash and W. Scott Parker have worked on a number of large projects and have grown DesignWorks to a staff of 25.
What is your mission and who are your core customers?
We do a lot of master planning for new communities. We also specialize in urban design, campus design and resort planning. I would say 50% of our work is on large-scale master plans. We’re working on Daniel Island, Seaside Farms and Kiawah Island.
What is the greatest challenge facing your company or the industry as a whole?
It’s about doing wiser smart growth planning. We’re trying to fight sprawl and uncontrolled growth. It needs to be smart, sustainable, and sensitive to the environment.
Landscape architects in school are trained to be stewards of the land, to study the environment and the land’s properties and characteristics. We have to determine what the best use for it is without being totally destructive to the property. There are challenges and compromises when you’re developing.
How has your company grown and to what do you attribute that growth?
It’s the area and the economy. It’s the building business, and the fact that interest rates are low.
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