Paul Smith Chief Administrative Officer
Co-founder, Shareholder and Director - DMS Group
Qualifications: Bachelor of Applied Science (Mech. Engineering) - U of T; Masters of Business Administration - U of T; Professional Engineer - Province of Ontario; Faculty Lecturer - U of T Facility Management Program; Chair - Greater Toronto Apartments Association Member - Federation Rental Housing Providers of Ontario
Paul Smith is a real estate professional with over 30 years of experience in design, construction and management of large facilities and property portfolios. His background includes Consulting Engineering, Contracting and Property Management in various roles leading to his current position as Co-Founder and Chief Administrative Officer with The DMS Group, one of Canada's leading Property Management organizations focused on delivering innovative solutions to clients in the private, not for profit and public sectors.
Paul has co-led the growth of DMS over 20 years in service lines including: Multi-Residential Property Management; Student Housing Management; Commercial Property Management; Land Management; and Project Management. In prior roles Paul was Director of Business Development for Profac Management Group and Sales Manager for Honeywell's Performance Contracting division. Paul has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA both from the University of Toronto. He is actively involved in the apartment industry as a member of the Board of Directors and past Chair of the Greater Toronto Apartments Association and is a regular speaker at industry conferences.
Robert Watt Chief Operating Officer
Co-Founder - DMS Group
Qualifications: Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical), McGill Master's of Engineering (Management) – University of Western Ontario, Professional Engineer (Ontario)
Mr. Watt has 30 years of experience and has worked as a technical and operations leader in the real estate sector his entire career. With a focus on implementing technical solutions to develop efficiencies and optimize operations, he has successfully transitioned, transferred and managed large scale building portfolios in both the private and public sector. Manages a staff of over 350 operations personnel in over 100 staffed locations across Ontario. Responsible for site based property management, maintenance and project management. Co-founder of the DMS Group of companies which includes: DEL Management Solutions Inc., DMS Property Management Ltd. and DELCOM Management Services Inc. Manages, or has managed, the successful delivery of property management, project management & technical services for portfolios valued at over $3B. Examples include public sector clients such as Infrastructure Ontario, Ottawa University, Toronto Community Housing, The National Capital Commission, Metrolinx, Waterfront Toronto and the City of Cobourg as well as for over 75 private and institutional portfolios. Led the implementation of computerized information systems solutions for large real estate portfolio clients in the areas of maintenance management, utilities management and asset management. Managed the start up and transition for many large scale outsourcing initiatives including determining staffing levels, coordination of building commissioning and developing ongoing operations strategy. Responsible for a project management team currently managing in excess of 400 individual projects, for over 50 different client groups from Ottawa to Windsor, covering a broad range of construction types and project complexity. Developed proprietary operations measurement tools to monitor and benchmark contract compliance in the areas of lease management, rent collection, rental marketing, property maintenance, and statutory and regulatory compliance.
David Russell CPM Candidate - Director Non-Profit Division
Qualifications: Over 25 years of multi family management experience in social and Nom-profit housing.
Experience: David has worked for DMS since 1999 managing a wide variety of social housing and non-profit housing portfolios up to 10,000 rental units. David is a subject matter expert in the delivery of property management services to the social housing sector in Ontario.
Imraan Lachporia Director of Project Management
Qualifications:Over 20 years of Project Management experience
Experience: Imraan has worked for DMS leading our capital project management Division since 2008. With specific expertise in hi-rise residential building renewal and restoration, Imraan oversees a wide variety of projects across the DMS manged portfolio of over 60 institutional and private landlords. Imraan also leads 2 large property management/maintenance contracts for DMS covering commercial and industrial real estate assets.
Lucy Gates Vice President - Multi-Residential & Commercial
Qualifications: Over 15 years experience managing multi residential rental portfolios in Ontario.
Experience: Lucy has worked for DMS in progressive positions culminating in the overall lead for Multi Family Property Management. Lucy is an operations expert with a focus on revenue optimization, property tech implementation and expense management. Lucy leads a team of Property Managers, Leasing and Marketing professionals and site based personnel.
Randy Rubio Controller, Property Accounting
Qualifications: Over 20 years of finance and property accounting experience.
Experience: In his current role, Randy provides leadership to the DMS accounting team for all public sector and private multi-residential contracts. He is responsible for ensuring that control procedures are in place, internal and external audit requirements are satisfied and for client reporting. The DMS team of accounting staff manage over $350M per year of transactions, as well as banking and reporting for over 150 rental properties.