Bonner McDermett, Highland Capital Management
2015 Young Guns Casino Night Chair
Where were you born and raised?
I was born and raised in Dallas.
What is your favorite thing to do in Dallas?
As a sports fan, I love watching the Cowboys and Rangers, especially in the good years when everyone pays attention. I love looking back on Dirk’s career – his development from the early 2000s, Kings and Spurs games, the stinging Finals defeat in 2006 and the Mavs finally reaching the summit in 2011. But none of those are my favorite. No, my favorite thing to do in Dallas, as it has been for 20 years, is watching the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center.
If you could play a round of golf with three people, who would invite and why?
I’m more of a basketball player, so I’ll list a starting five.
1. Jonathan Gray, Global Head of Real Estate at Blackstone: He is the leading mind in one of the industry’s largest and most impressive real estate companies. He blew me away when I heard him speak this year.
2. Michael Jordan, GOAT: Who else would start at the two on an all-time team? As an inspiration during my childhood, his thoughts on hard work, passion and the love of the game would be interesting to say the least.
3. Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway: Another popular pick – sitting on the perch of that empire, he has quite a view. His annual stockholder letters are must-reads and he’s one of the most philanthropic entrepreneurs of our time.
4. Malcolm Gladwell, best-selling author: With such a unique ability to intertwine seemingly independent subjects and make thoughtful analogies, I’d love to hear his perspective on various topics.
5. And I’ll hold down the middle at number 5.
What is the best advice you have received and from whom?
Finishing school, I wasn’t over eager to start working. I wanted a career in commercial real estate, but I also knew I had the rest of my life for work. One day that summer, I met Jon Altschuler, founding principal at Alt + Co and a former neighbor of mine, for coffee and in my mother’s mind, for advice or job leads. Jon and I didn’t know each other well outside of an occasional football toss at the annual block party, but he insisted the key was to simply get busy and schedule as many meetings as possible. There weren’t any profound words, but what I’ve learned since is that ambition and passion mixed with a healthy dose of proactivity can be a compelling combination for success. No doubt Jon is a smart guy, but Da Vinci might give him a run for his money in summarizing the message: “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
What has surprised you most about your involvement in TREC?
Definitely exposure to major players in the industry and current topics. Joining as a Young Gun is great on a number of levels.From an educational perspective, TREC hosts informative events centered on current topics or active developments that give young professionals insight into the DFW commercial real estate market. I’ve heard Jack Gosnell, CBRE/UCR go into detail about the Farmers Market transformation, toured the Gables McKinney Avenue project with Katy Slade, Gables Residential and just recently toured the entire CityLine State Farm, Raytheon, Whole Foods mixed-use project in Richardson with GFF, KDC and Ridgemont Construction.From a philanthropic perspective, serving on the Casino Night Fundraising Committee last year and chairing it this year, I’ve seen behind the curtain and now appreciate the nitty gritty all TREC and our partners do to help the community. And the best part is, there are so many ways to contribute. TREC really helped me to appreciate the giving back, as much or more than the education and networking.
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