Property management exec proves to be dogs' best friend

So you're heading home from a business trip when you get a phone call from the local animal shelter.

They know you have a soft spot for Great Pyrenees dogs, and they have one that's been deemed so mean they are going to put it down unless you want it. Your flight is late, and you know you'll never make it to the shelter in time. What do you do?

If you're Jeannie Redinger, the answer is simple: You call your husband, Michael, who readily agrees to pick up the animal on his way to getting you from the airport. And that's how you end up with a coal-black Great Pyrenees named Bear.

Redinger, a Reno native, is the regional director of northern Nevada for Terra West Property Management. She's been with the company since April, and opened the Las Vegas-based group's first Reno office in May.

Responsible for overseeing the office, plus a small portfolio of homeowners associations, Redinger relishes her fairly new position.

"I love taking associations that have had some issues and working with them to run smoothly. I like the fact you go in, and you basically have muddy water. You organize it, you solve problems and clean it up," Redinger says.

Problem-solving is a skill Redinger has used throughout her career. She's been in the property management business since 2002. Before that she spent more than 20 years in banking, working her way up from teller.

Working for Pioneer Citizens Bank, she found herself learning about property management when the chief financial officer asked her if she'd be interested in helping build the banks' branches. She wound up looking for land, submitting for regulatory approval, working on bids, and she oversaw construction as well. Pioneer was acquired by Nevada State Bank, which had some homeowner association projects, so she started doing that, too.

When she moved out of banking, she was well-versed in property management and well-poised to take over Terra West's Reno operation.

But that's just her day job.

Redinger's problem-solving has extended to her rescue and care of dogs. She currently owns a couple of big dogs Gabrielle, an 80-pound Great Pyrenees puppy, and Xena, a 170-pound Newfoundland.

"You can play with them, wrestle and not hurt them," she says laughing.

She fell in love with the Great Pyrenees breed when she saw an ad on TV with one in it. After some sleuthing, she figured out the breed of the dog she's seen, and she bought one, Misha, sight unseen. Misha, had health issues but Redinger took care of her and loved her until the dog died in her sleep.

In the meantime, Redinger got another one, Cinder, who had been abused. Cinder had been so terrorized it took about 18 months of work by Redinger and her husband before Cinder would learn to accept men around her.

And then came the call about Bear. Arriving at the airport, Redinger remembers walking up to the car where her husband was waiting.

"I look in, and all I can think is 'He's black!' Pyrenees are usually white. But I just threw my arms around him and gave him a big hug," she says. "He wouldn't socialize with Cinder and he was never good with people being at the house, but otherwise he was great dog. We had him until 2004."

If she won a lottery, Redinger says, she'd open her own animal rescue agency. She's grateful for their unconditional love, and says "They're family."

Family is also a reason Redinger is so happy with her new company. She only wishes she had discovered Terra West sooner.

"The owners are in the office every day, and they are never too busy for staff. They are always looking at what they can do to improve the workplace. It's one big family. I noticed from the very first time I walked in, there's no tension. And there's still none. It's great," she says.

Redinger is excited to recreate that atmosphere in the Reno office. Right now it's just her and a receptionist, but she says the company is getting close to adding new staff, and when they do, she'll be looking for happy, upbeat, motivated people. She'd offer her staff this piece of advice: If you're thinking of doing something, stop and think about it, and if someone friends or family would be ashamed of you, then don't do it.

Redinger heard this during a course taught by Sarah Barry, founder of PropertyVestors, a real estate investment company. Redinger believes this lesson holds a person accountable, makes them consider their impact on others. It's clear she learned that lesson well.

Problem-solver

Who: Jeannie Redinger

What: Regional Director of northern Nevada for Terra West Property Management

Family: Husband, Michael. Two dogs, Xena and Gabrielle, and one cat.

She says: "I will not ask anything I don't demand of myself."