ESTHER HERRING Celebrates Over 50 Years in the Business

February, 2009 - This month, Esther Herring celebrates over fifty years in commercial real estate and property management.  As a true pioneer in the business and a trail blazer for women in the workplace, Herring has seen her fair share of changes in the market and can reflect with experience on how commercial real estate used to be.  "It was so simple back in the old days.  I loved to close sales," says Herring.  Closing deals may be more complicated in today's market, but with half a century under her belt, Herring's long distinguished career and experience gives her the cutting edge to be successful in the field, even today.
In the late 1950's, Herring began her career managing shopping centers.  Employed by the Sims Company, now no longer in existence, Herring managed the first shopping center in Portland, the South Gate Shopping Center, located on 82nd and Kings Road.  Throughout her vocational history, Herring has managed everything from apartment complexes to Washington Square Mall, at approximately 1.5 million square feet today. 
In addition, Herring was the first woman west of the Mississippi to achieve the Certified Shopping Center Manager designation (CSM) through the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and only the fifth woman in the nation to receive the title at the time.  Moreover, she held an officer's position with ICSC for eleven years and was given the ICSC Distinguished Service Award in 1994, when only ten individuals at the time had been awarded this designation.  Herring shows no signs of slowing down today, and while she continues to hold her own with the best in commercial real estate and property management, why would she?