President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, EASTGROUP PROPERTIES
Speaker Spotlight | Marshall Loeb
Join student Molly Inhofe as she talks with the president, CEO, and director of EastGroup, Marshall Loeb. Loeb is a Culverhouse ...
About Marshall Loeb
In a September 2020 interview, Marshall Loeb discussed his career path and leadership approach. Loeb, who studied accounting at the University of Alabama and earned an MBA from Harvard, said his accounting background provided a "good head start towards business." He described his career as unplanned, noting that he had "struggled and thought I had my career planned, and it looks nothing like that." Loeb said he returned to EastGroup Properties in 2016 after the shopping mall company where he served as chief operating officer was acquired. Loeb discussed EastGroup's financial strategy, stating that the company's target debt is 35% but was "down below 19% today" because "if you're at 35% and things get bad, you're not going to stay there." He said the company had been "over-leveraged in the last downturn like '08" and responded by bringing in joint venture partners, raising equity, and having senior management take a pay cut to avoid layoffs. Loeb described leadership as "almost like being a professor" and said he finds it rewarding to "help people build their careers."
Transcript (35 segments)
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Molly Inhofe0:00
Welcome to the Speaker Spotlight series. I am Molly Inhofe, I'm here with Marshall Loeb, President, CEO, and director of EastGroup and Culverhouse alum.
What brings you to campus today, Mr. Loeb?
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Marshall Loeb0:20
I got invited to come and speak to real estate class, which just finished up, and then the real estate society today. So, it's fun being back.
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Molly Inhofe0:28
So, when you were an undergraduate you studied accounting. How did that shape your career?
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Marshall Loeb0:34
Great business background. I was an accounting major here, went to work with Ernst & Young in Birmingham, and it gave me a good foundation. Great training, great people, a lot of fun. It gave me that foundation, then I went back and got an MBA, and realized I had a passion for real estate. But accounting gave me a good head start towards business.
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Molly Inhofe0:56
And you got your MBA at Harvard, correct?
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Marshall Loeb0:59
Correct, another Crimson and White school.
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Molly Inhofe1:01
Yes, what was that transition like, from a state school to an Ivy League?
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Marshall Loeb1:06
It was probably a bigger transition going from a small town in Alabama, Tuscaloosa, or a small town in Mississippi, which is home, to Boston with kids from all over the world. So, it was a great experience in terms of eye-opening and meeting people from everywhere. But after a little bit of time, I realized I was overwhelmed at first, and everybody felt like they had gone to a big prep school or Ivy League school and worked on Wall Street, and I'd been from Birmingham up and down I-20 most of my life. But as we started getting grades, I had okay to good grades in my classes. And then Alabama gave me that foundation that Harvard wasn't as big a transition as I'd made it out in my mind to be.
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Molly Inhofe1:52
Yeah, for sure.
So, what is your fondest memory of your Culverhouse experience while you were here?
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Marshall Loeb1:59
Probably like everybody, people. Great friends that I still stay in touch with. Walking across the quad to come to classes, and great professors. So, it was a fun four years here.
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Molly Inhofe2:12
Definitely. So, I want to talk a little bit more about your career path.
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Marshall Loeb2:16
Okay.
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Molly Inhofe2:17
How has serving in multiple executive positions at various companies shaped your perspective on leadership?
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Marshall Loeb2:24
I've been lucky in that I've worked on different types of real estate and different geographies, so I've gotten to travel. I still get to live in the South, which is home, but I travel all over the country. As your career moves along, you go from being hands-on to managing people. At first, most people miss the hands-on because you got into real estate 'cause you like real estate. What's been rewarding is it's almost like being a professor; you can help people build their careers. From the leadership perspective, it's more fun to see the successes they have and the success as a public company. We get lots of immediate feedback in terms of our stock price. But it's been fun to see the success there and feel good for our shareholders.
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Molly Inhofe3:22
Yeah, for sure.
So, with managing a company and people, you're going to face obstacles. Tell us about a time you were faced with a difficult company decision and how you addressed the situation.
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Marshall Loeb3:35
Probably that's two answers. One, at some point, you're not going to have a great economy your whole career. We were over-leveraged. I was at a retail REIT, enclosed malls, open-air centers. We were over-leveraged in the last downturn like '08. So, we brought in joint venture partners, raised equity, senior management team, and decided to try not to lay off many people, all took a pay cut. You just live and know that's going to happen and wait for the economy to turn. Probably the hardest part is just realizing sometimes you may have people mis-slotted. It's an easy decision to figure out, but because we're all human, it's hard to let someone go. I have to tell myself, 'Look, that's why I'm an employee here too.' Sometimes you just have to make decisions. It feels terrible, and you get through it, and hopefully you try to be humane and help them find the right fit.
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Molly Inhofe4:51
And how have challenges like those shaped you?
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Marshall Loeb4:56
Through the downturn, it's helped me. At our company, we've issued a lot of equity. Our target debt is 35%; we're down below 19% today, because you realize if you're at 35% and things get bad, you're not going to stay there. From the people side, I think always giving feedback. I kid our team, it goes both ways. Diplomatically worded, polite, constructive criticism is welcome anytime. Don't just come tell me I'm an idiot, but say, 'Hey, can we look at things a different way?' Hopefully, if something doesn't work, you've tried about everything along the way. Most people, myself included, don't like conflict, so you put it off until the very end, and then people are surprised, and it's just not healthy for anybody. If you can manage your way through it, a lot of times you can avoid the bad outcome, and somebody moves to a different position on the team and it works out great.
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Molly Inhofe6:03
And after working in multiple companies in different capacities, what made you return to EastGroup in 2016?
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Marshall Loeb6:10
I got really lucky. You'd love to say your career is planned, but the shopping mall company I was at, I was in Columbus, Ohio for about a decade. We used to kid with our CFO that the day we get bought out is the day we know we've done our jobs. So, we were getting bought out. I was their COO. The people acquiring us had two CLOs, so I figured the third probably wasn't the charm. I was with my son at college orientation. I'd interned at EastGroup between years in business school, and my old boss called and said, 'Hey, I'm retiring, why don't you come back.' It's not often you get to start as an intern and then go back to your former company. Putting my president letter that year felt like a Disney movie. So, I got lucky and it's been a fun chance to come back.
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Molly Inhofe7:08
Yeah, I bet that was nice being able to return to that.
So, tell us about the opening of EastGroup's western regional office and your role in that.
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Marshall Loeb7:18
We were all based, and still today our headquarters is Jackson, Mississippi. I had Arizona, California, which is about as easy to travel to from Jackson as you would expect. Four planes later, if they were all on time, I'd make it. It was also my job to help us grow in those markets. One day our CEO, the one I just mentioned, said, 'We're getting so big, we're going to need an office out there.' I saw that as my window, and the kids were little, so we moved to Phoenix, found temporary then permanent office space. I told a good friend I was working with, John, that I was leaving, and he said, 'That sounds great. I want to go with you.' So, six months later we figured out a way for him to be our number-two person. For a few years we had Arizona and California. It was like a well-funded startup to go out there. Great experience.
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Molly Inhofe8:21
That's so cool. So, you sound like you really enjoy your job. What makes you look forward to the work week?
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Marshall Loeb8:29
I do like my job. I'm lucky I like the challenges. Real estate's fun. Every city is different, every part of every city. You picture Tuscaloosa north, south, east, west, you're going to see a little bit different buildings. The people, real estate attracts a lot of larger-than-life colorful personalities. Some you'll like, some you won't. But it's been a fun cycle. And I like that if I tie it back to Culverhouse, I realized after working at Ernst & Young that I liked accounting, but you get more and more specialized. I felt like I was going through a funnel: I started as an accountant, became a tax accountant, then specialized even within tax. In the first year of my MBA, it was finance, marketing, accounting — every course I took at Culverhouse all in one industry. It took me a bit to realize I was a generalist, and real estate's a great generalist industry. We do construction, manufacturing, marketing, negotiating. It fits my interests, which are more broad than deep. You get a good variety out of it.
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Molly Inhofe9:58
Yeah, you jump around. You do a little bit of everything in any given day depending on what phone call or email you get. That's great! What do you like to do in your free time?
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Marshall Loeb10:11
I've been a bad golfer for decades. Read, run, keep up with my kids. Follow Alabama athletics. All that's fun.
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Molly Inhofe10:22
All right. And last question. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself when you were a student?
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Marshall Loeb10:32
I think as a student you feel pressure to have that answer — as a senior, 'What are you going to do when you graduate?' I felt that, and it was probably undue pressure. Your life opens opportunities, and be flexible. I love the South, but I've lived in Ohio, Boston, Phoenix. Be open for new opportunities. Your career is probably not going the way you plan it now. I probably struggled and thought I had my career planned, and it looks nothing like that. But it's worked out great, and you never know when it's going to make a left or right turn. So, be open to that flexibility.
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Molly Inhofe11:24
Yeah, as a student, that's great to hear. Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
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Marshall Loeb11:29
Thank you.
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Molly Inhofe11:31
And thank you for tuning into the Speaker Spotlight series. Be sure to follow us on social media at Culverhouse UA.