In his own words: Kevin Sigstad of RE/MAX Premier

Northern Nevada Business Weekly: Tell us about your company its specialties, its history, the size of its staff.

Kevin Sigstad: We have been in business for 25 years. We handle commercial and residential sales, leasing and management. We have five property managers, six commercial agents and five residential agents.

NNBW: What role do you play in the company?

Sigstad: Commercial sales, leasing and management in addition to the hiring, training, and oversight of the staff and agents as well as strategic planning.

NNBW: How did you get into this profession?

Sigstad: My uncle was a real estate agent in Incline Village and did well in the business. I got my license when I was still in college and enjoyed the business and stuck with it.

NNBW: What is something no one knows about your job?

Sigstad: I approach my position with the attitude that I have a responsibility to our clients, our agents and our staff to do a good job, to do the job correctly and fairly and to make sure that each of my staff and agents achieve all they want and are capable of.

NNBW: If you could have had any other profession what would it have been? Why wasn't it your first choice?

Sigstad: I would like to get into real estate development and always have. It may still come to pass in future.

NNBW: How do you spend your time away from the office?

Sigstad: We (my wife Lisa and my son Justin) like to go camping and spend time outdoors wakeboarding, skiing, snowboarding. We also like to travel and see places we have never been.

NNBW: Do you have a favorite vacation memory?

Sigstad: We went on a vacation to Kauai last fall and went kayaking up the Waialua river and hiking up the Waimea Canyon. It was unbelievably beautiful.

NNBW: Of all the things you learned from your parents, what do you feel was the most valuable?

Sigstad: They taught me that I can achieve anything I set my mind to.

NNBW: What is the quirkiest or oddest job you've ever had?

Sigstad: I used to own the High Sierra Dining Club, which was a 2-for-1 dining card. It was fun going to each of the new restaurants and trying their menus as part of the business.

NNBW: What person, living or dead, would you most like to have dinner with, and why?

Sigstad: I would have like to have dinner with Ronald Reagan. I think he was the most profound leader of our time.

NNBW: What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Sigstad: Again, that I can achieve anything I set my mind to, and the beginning of a new project or adventure is taking the first step.

NNBW: What do you like most about your job? What do you like least?

Sigstad: The many people that we help every day to sell, lease and manage their properties. The hardest part is when a client loses their property which we have placed a tenant into. It puts us in a very difficult position.

NNBW: What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?

Sigstad: That we are in the business of helping people with their real estate needs whatever they might be.

The basics

Name: Kevin Sigstad, president, RE/MAX Premier Properties, President

How long have you been in this job? Five Years

How long in the profession? 33 years

Education: Bachelor of Science in accounting at UNR

Best book you've read? "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School" by Mark McCormack

What's on your iPod? The Who, Phil Collins, Santana, U2, Rush

The best movie ever? "2001 A Space Odyssey"

Do you have a nickname? If no, have you ever? Not that I can discuss in public