He is the global head of real estate of Canada's largest pension fund, with more than $48.5 billion in property assets, but Peter Ballon's first job almost came down to $500.
Freshly graduated from McGill University in Montreal, the London-based managing director with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had an inkling he might want a career in real estate. He had two jobs on the table.
"I landed a sought-after analyst position with Canderel," said Ballon, admitting he had done barely any homework about the Montreal company founded in 1975 by Jonathan Wener, which has since gone to over $20 billion in transactions.
"But I had two offers, the one with Canderel and one with a company I won't name, but everybody will know," he said. "Canderel was an amazing job, and the other one highly bureaucratic. I didn't know the difference between the two, but the other one offered $500 more."
He tried to negotiate with Wener, who asked for the name of his competitor for Ballon's services.
"He said, 'if you don't know the difference between Canderel and [them], I don't want you anymore," said Ballon, who quickly stopped any negotiations attempts and apologized. "Canderel turned out to be a highly impactful start to my real estate career. I discovered how much I loved real estate."
The job was at the bottom of the company in a windowless inner office with other people.
"I don't think there was much fresh air, and someone was always smoking at the time," he recalled, remembering just one month into the job, he was part of an assembled group being asked their opinions on a significant project.
The new kid was scared to give his opinion, and Wener scolded him a bit. "We are all investors, and I expect each of us to think like it's our own money," said Ballon, who takes that lesson today as he manages a portfolio expected to provide for the retirement of Canadians.
The lesson he learned from that first job sticks with him today. "I listen to the young people in our office because there is much to learn from them. At a minimum, you are teaching them to be better investors," he said, who manages a team of 80 people in seven countries worldwide.
Does he ever feel the pressure of investing for an entire country that is mandated to make Canada Pension Plan contributions?
"I take that responsibility very seriously. It is important to invest in people's retirement, and we are very public, so people know how we are doing," said Ballon
He credits a university course led by a real estate industry person, a developer, rather than a professor that brought the industry alive to him. "It was real examples and case studies," said Ballon.
"My first job [in real estate] was a great job. I got very lucky. It shaped the rest of my real estate career."
R É S U M É
Peter Ballon | Managing director and global head of real estate at CPP Investments
Hometown: Montreal
Current city: London, U.K.
Years in industry: 30
Education: Bachelor's from McGill University and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business
Advice to those starting out in the industry: "Invest other people’s money as if it’s your own."
Everyone in commercial real estate had to start somewhere. First Job explores where careers began.