Cover Story
Leading development
How Mark Addy grows Phillips Edison & Co. by creating an environment where people thrive
By Meredyth McKenzie
Smart Business Cincinnati | August 2008
Page 1 of 4
Two years after joining Phillips Edison & Co., Chief Operating
Officer Mark Addy helped oversee the purchase and integration of
25 shopping centers that doubled the size of the company.
Addy, the top executive at the Cincinnati-based headquarters
(CEO Jeff Edison and President Mike Phillips work out of the
Baltimore and Salt Lake City offices, respectively), knew the 2003
acquisition meant significant growth challenges for the organization.
As a result, the management team began working on ways to
make sure the $176 million company was prepared to face current
and future growth as it continues to redevelop grocery-store-anchored shopping centers across the nation.
“What you find as you expand and grow ... you need to continue
to grow your people because you need a lot more quality people to
run an organization that’s twice the size it was two years ago,”
Addy says.
The company had about 35 employees in 2003. It now has 175, with
135 of those in the Cincinnati office. With that kind of growth rate, you
need to prepare to grow your infrastructure so you can handle it and
make sure you have the right people and systems to take your company to the next level.
“Whenever you’re building a platform of key people, what you find,
if you create a culture and environment where people learn and live,
then what they’re going to do is foster an environment where that carries on to all the other associates,” Addy says.
