Supermom of four excels in property management
Megan Vaughn's organizational skills drive success in real estate
Visitors to the Baltimore Global Headquarters of a well-known sportswear company might be a bit surprised to see someone, carefully examining every square inch of the 900,0000-square-foot campuses. The goal — to find the little problems before they become major crises.
Of course, it makes perfect sense once you know that Megan Vaughn, General Manager, was once an elementary school teacher and is a mom of four young children. Anticipating issues with the utmost of organization and warmth is what she does — and always has.
“Managing kids and parents is not dissimilar from managing and balancing the needs of tenants and vendors,” Megan observes with a laugh.
That means lots of 10,000-plus-step days at the office, beginning when she arrives at the building at 6:30 a.m., a start time that allows her to participate in her children’s school activities in the afternoon.
A native of the greater Washington, D.C. area, and the daughter of a D.C. police officer whose parents took her and her younger sister “everywhere,” Megan loved school and her goal was to teach. But even there, she was known for her ability to get a lot done, attending sorority activities while pursuing her bachelor’s degree and teaching afterward.
“I taught elementary school for five years,” she says. “But then I wanted a new challenge. A family member recommended I go into property management.”
She trained with a small company, learning the ins and outs of facilities management, and earning her real estate license. Seeking greater challenges, she joined JLL in 2016 as an Assistant General Manager of various retail and office facilities in central Maryland. She was hired by and still works with her outstanding influential mentor Kelli Rivera, now Senior Vice President and Group Manager.
That brought her to the Global Headquarters of a well known sportswear company where, instead of working with multiple retail or office tenants, Megan spends her time making one very big client happy.
“We see a bit of everything, and every day is different,” she says.
She deals with thousands of little details while managing a team of nine people. The group handles some 18,000 work orders internally and with various vendors yearly, tackling everything and anything for the client.
The former teacher remains ever a student, as Megan works closely with Senior Chief Engineer Josh Farmer, who has become a trusted instructor for someone who likes to be hands-on with her building.
Megan Vaughn and her family.
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“I want to understand what the engineers are talking about, so I shadow and interact them a lot. Josh is one of the best out there, willing to go to the ends of the earth for our client and always willing to teach me,” she says. “There’s no delineation of roles here. We’re just one big team.”
She also has continued a more formal education. Already the holder of a master’s degree in human resources, she became a LEED Green Associate with help from JLL’s education programs so she could further understand the needs of her client and the property as it becomes more sustainable.
“We’re not involved directly in the efforts, but it has helped me navigate some higher meetings,” she says.
Megan also is involved with JLL’s Compliance Excellence Program and Operational Compliance Program, which helps professionals to run their properties, and is a member of JLL’s Women’s Business Network as Chairperson of the local Mid-Atlantic Chapter, recently hosting an event for 40 people for International Women’s Day.
However, despite her busy schedule, family comes first. Her other volunteer work includes serving on the board of her children’s local lacrosse league, as a Vice President of the Parent-Teacher Organization at school and on the advisory board for Parks and Recreation for Carroll County.
“I’ve never felt I’ve had to miss out on family — JLL as a company is devoted to that idea,” she says. “And I make time for the things I want to do.”