Jerry Earnest

Having grown up in a family involved in a variety of small businesses, I have a strong entrepreneurial background. My father was a home builder and a land developer. I started young, eventually building homes during college. You might say that the entrepreneurial spirit is part of my DNA.

 

I love building teams and helping to inspire confidence and success in others. I like to lead by example through my work ethic. And I like to be hands-on.

 

Around 1992, I partnered with a buddy of mine to build a real estate business at the height of the recession. He was starting over. I was starting over. There was no salary – just a desk and a phone. We took a leap of faith, had only each other to depend on and I really found my stride.

 

We have great chemistry, and we support one another. We’re all partners, pulling toward the same objective: success for the company and each other. To me, the great magic is that EPR has a foundation of good people. And even though we’re large in assets, EPR is agile and entreprenial.

The very best kind of are; I have doodling from my daughters on the whiteboards. One of my daughters recently camped out with me in the office.

 

My son is a great kid, and he has just terrific instincts. Over the years, he’s taught me to trust my intuition. My kids are each an inspiration to me. They’re my perspective and balance.

 

I guess I’d have to say tennis. I played competitive tennis as a teenager and was 16 years-old, traveling on my own to out-of-state tournaments, staying in hotels. I think that experience gave me a great sense of self-reliance at a really young age.

 

I’ve had several mentors over the years, including many friends and colleagues. However, my father was my best mentor, sharing a strong ethical foundation with me, and providing a strong sense of right and wrong. He taught me about humility, about accepting people where they are in the world and life, and about finding the richness in business through the relationships we form.

 

I’m definitely an Eric Clapton fan. Maybe that dates me, but I really get into the blues and guitar work, the variety, the blend of styles. Even my daughters are getting into him!

 

We do a lot of stuff together as a family. All of us ski, and we like to hike together. We recently climbed Mount Vesuvius, and hope to hike Kilimanjaro together in the next couple of years.

 

Recently I was tasked with building a deeper understanding of the charter school business for our team. As I’ve traveled to these schools, I’ve had the opportunity to observe the tremendous impact these schools and the teachers are having on students. These kids are able to escape the challenges of their neighborhoods for 8 or 9 hours a day, interact with teachers who genuinely care about them as an individual, and gain benefits far beyond the classroom. This business is about making a sustainable investment in the future of America. Charter school programs really give these kids hope and even more importantly, belief in themselves. That’s truly inspiring.