Appraisal Project Manager Great American Group, Woodland Hills Age: 28 Cowan specializes in appraisal and retail liquidations at Great American Group, a subsidiary of B. Riley Financial Inc. The company has worked on closures for chains including Toys R Us Inc. and Bon-Ton Holdings Inc. Biggest Accomplishment: Graduating from UCLA by the age of 20. My greatest professional accomplishment has been the rapid growth in my career and in my role since joining Great American Group seven years ago. Success for me is defined by the personal relationships that you’re able to build throughout your career. Anyone with enough time and effort can get a task completed, but to deliver on that in a way that builds trust and keeps your colleagues and clients wanting to come back and work with you, that’s when you’re really succeeding at something. Most Interesting Aspect of Job: We conduct appraisals for more than 1,000 companies each year, and our retail liquidation division works with some of the largest brands in the world. The most interesting part of my job is the variety of companies that I get to work with and learn about. I’ve been exposed to every industry imaginable. Personality on the Job: I always try to make conversations with company executives a little more fun and engaging than your typical business meeting. At the end of the day, we’re trying to understand as much as possible about these businesses, and by forging deeper businesses relationships, you can learn a lot more information than you otherwise might not. Biggest challenge? We’re usually communicating between several parties, including a company’s executives, the bank’s lending team and private equity groups, as well as our own internal sales force and review board. All of those parties may be looking for different results in our reports. Trying to manage all of those competing expectations can be incredibly challenging. The best solution is just to communicate early and often. Most Memorable Experience: I’ve gotten the inside tour at a well-known rocket company; I’ve seen the actual future of robots at a major automotive manufacturer; and I have watched yachts get made from absolute raw product to climbing on the finished boat. And that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of all of the exciting experiences and interesting people I’ve met while traveling on assignments. Attraction to Career: I’m not sure if anyone starts out attracted to inventory appraisals. Our Chief Executive Mike Marchlik calls it “the best job no one’s ever heard of.” So like many others, I kind of stumbled into this profession. But what’s kept me here are the people we work with and the variety of work. Career Advice: Working for good people means everything and can’t be overvalued. Be honest with management about your goals and expectations. Your work should always speak for itself. If you have to explain why you did a good job, then it wasn’t good enough. Most importantly, have fun with it. Very few careers are a matter of life and death, so for most of us, it’s OK to smile and laugh a little and try to find humor in what we do.
