Carter's Peterson Shares 'Best Years of Career'

ATLANTA—As chairman and CEO OF Carter USA, Bob Peterson is responsible for setting the overall company strategy and providing executive oversight of all aspects of the organization. He joined Carter in 2001 as a principal owner and executive vice president and in 2002, assumed the role of chairman and CEO.

Since then, Bob has led the transformation of Carter from a full-service commercial real estate company into a highly-focused real estate investment, development, and advisory firm. In September of 2011, Carter sold its brokerage and property management divisions to Cassidy Turley. 

Under his leadership, Carter has invested over $1 billion in the acquisition and development of multifamily, office, mixed-use and student housing real estate since 2004. In 2010, Bob led the Carter initiative to form a publicly listed, non-traded REIT, Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT, to acquire single-tenant, net-leased assets in the data center and healthcare sectors across the US. To date the REIT has invested in over $2 billion of assets. 

GlobeSt.com caught up with Peterson to discuss his start in commercial real estate, as well as the key turning points in his esteemed career, in part one of this exclusive interview series. Be sure to stay posted for part two, in which Peterson will discuss his biggest career challenges.

GlobeSt.com: How did you get your start in commercial real estate?

Peterson: After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1974, I moved to Atlanta and began working for Arthur Rubloff and Company in their industrial real estate division.  I started as a leasing specialist, but soon realized that I was much more interested in investment property sales. I spent most of my time bringing buyers and sellers together, which helped me to appreciate and understand the motivations and concerns from both sides.

GlobeSt.com: What was the key turning point in your career?

Peterson: I think there were three that are equally important. Starting my own business, selling my business and working for a public company, and becoming CEO of Carter. 

After working at Arthur Rubloff and Company for five years, I left and opened Peterson Properties in 1980. I was 28 at the time, and we had just one other associate. By the time we sold the company 17 years later to Carr America, a NYSE REIT, we had developed over 30 industrial and office projects totaling 4 million square feet.

At CarrAmerica, I became president of the development subsidiary. Since we had properties in every major US market except New York City, I was able to gain a national perspective about investing in real estate.

I was also fortunate to be a part of a brilliant and fun leadership team. My three years at CarrAmerica were some of the best years of my career.

Becoming Carter Chairman and CEO in 2002 was also a turning point. I have learned more in the last 12 years than I did in the first 30.