April 26, 2012, was a red-letter day in commercial real estate in Dallas. It was not the day a huge corporate relocation was announced, or yet another behemoth public-private development broke ground. It was the day the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors awarded Dan L. Beaird its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award at Brook Hollow Golf Club.
As the festivities were commencing, I was speaking with a couple of late 20-something brokers and I told them how excited I was that Dan was being honored. They looked at each other quizzically and asked, “Is he an office guy?”
Although NTCAR is predominately an office/industrial cadre of brokers with a smattering of retail, investment, and multi-family guys thrown in for good measure, the 2012 recipient transcends any category or specialty. Dan Beaird is the quintessential, consummate professional broker in Dallas, and has been for 50 years. Yes, he has done office deals, and retail and industrial and multifamily and land for all of these uses. He is a “go-to” broker by the city’s elite developers and investors. His Rolodex (aka “contact list” for the 20-somethings) is impeccable. But he is much , much more.
Dan has a passion for deal-making, putting people and properties together so that both parties and the community can benefit. He has consistently been a light shining on a hill as far as ethics and integrity are concerned in our industry. In fact, it is redundant to mention Dan and integrity in the same sentence.
He has inspired generations of young brokers as they contemplated this industry as a career and he has counseled them along the way on how they are to conduct their business as he has conducted his. Speaking from personal experience, I would not be in this business if it were not for Dan and his confidence in me as a 20-something looking for a career and solid direction on how to live my life. His constant encouragement and, when necessary, admonishment in pointing me in the right direction is invaluable. He actually ‘brokered’ me to my first job with another one of his apostles, Phil Brosseau back at Swearingen in 1983. But he is much more than that.
Dan is the adoring husband to Martha Lou and loving father to daughter Gayden and son Ben, (who now works with Dan), and his bevy of grandkids here and in Austin. He is a man of deep Christian faith who knows ‘from where his strength comes from’ and lives his faith daily for the world to see without pomp or circumstance. His plethora of friends are like the ‘stars in the heavens’ and his influence is far reaching and deep. It would be a platitude to say, “Dan is the man,” if it were not so fitting and true.
Of all the honors, awards and acknowledgements one can receive, the NTCAR Lifetime Achievement Award is quite significant primarily because it is based on a body of work, a lifetime of not only work but living. Dan L. Beaird is a most deserving recipient of this honor.
Frank Bullock is executive vice president and market leader at SRS Real Estate Partners. Contact him at [email protected].
