From U.S. Air Force to Group Operations Manager for JLL Property Management.
Jason McKee returns to retail as problem solver and team builder.
Jason McKee has always been a tinkerer, finding new ways to put the right pieces together, be it codes on a Commodore 64 computer or teams to manage and repair buildings. And that’s helped propel him through a diverse career from the military to facilities management to shopping center operations, management and leasing to overseeing a portfolio as Group Operations Manager.
As Group Operations Manager, Jason oversees the facilities of 15 national properties, “all with their own successes or pain points,” he says.
“I work a lot with Union Station in Washington D.C., which is on a whole new trajectory with leasing opportunities in the post-pandemic era. They’re on a great path right now and it’s great to help them,” he says.
On any given day, he can be ensuring that operation teams are doing their jobs safely, contributing his expertise on preliminary construction and capital expenditures for new properties, finding the right contractor to fix a broken elevator, ensuring JLL’s high standards for housekeeping and maintenance are met, and reinforcing relationships with vendor partners.
Jason has been a “fixer” and team builder from childhood, one of those kids who was always taking things apart and rebuilding them. As a communications major at Western Illinois University, Jason gravitated toward the technical side, working the sound board at the college radio station, and as an assistant manager at McDonald’s to support a young family. But seeking more financial stability, Jason enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and put his background to use.
“I went into ground radio, air traffic control and audio engineering, even doing it for air shows,” he recalls. Stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command, he worked on the equipment that sends emergency action messages.
“You learn a lot about electronics and antenna fields,” he says. “We had to learn how to build and install repair circuits.”
Deployed to Saudi Arabia for six months during Operation Desert Fox, Jason learned HTML and pioneered building websites, while studying remotely at the University of Maryland and eventually completing his degree in electronics at Southern Illinois University after returning to civilian life. From there his career turned to facility inspections, focusing on code compliance and fire and life safety suppression systems for a consulting company and then at a local hospital, which added a new level of complexity.
An admitted “old mall rat,” Jason returned to retail as the operations manager for The Shoppes at Grand Prairie in suburban Chicago. Again, he found himself fixing a problem and creating something new.
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“The general manager and the company had had some bad luck with operations people. They didn’t know what they needed,” he said. “So, I built my own role, and it came to match the JLL standard when they took the property over.”
Jason’s background in operations and management led to a promotion to General Manager (GM) at the property, where he unexpectedly had to build something new — a team — and learn something new — leasing.
“My marketing manager left shortly after I got the GM position. But Kelly Smith is an amazing Regional Marketing Manager for JLL, and she and Christie Sparks as Regional Specialty Leasing Manager helped immensely for my first four months,” Jason recalls. “I got my broker’s license and even did some deals. I then recruited Megan Otto, the former Victoria’s Secret manager on the property, as the on-site Marketing and Specialty Leasing Manager. She really completed the best property team ever and was just promoted as the new GM at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie!”
But Jason’s first love is operations, and when an opening came up for a Group Operations Manager, he grabbed it.
“As GM, you learn so much,” he said. “For me, it’s learning new things and meeting great people.”
And he’s still learning about the pieces and how to put them in place to solve the latest puzzle. “I’m kind of an old-fashioned operator,” he said. “I have a lot of knowledge and am good at connecting the resources. I’m going to get to the answer.”