Bob Manekin no longer has to explain the difference between his last name and the company name on his business card.
After a 16-year absence, Manekin rejoined Manekin LLC, the Columbia-based, full-service commercial real estate and residential land development firm his father, Bernard, and uncle, Harold, founded in 1946.
Manekin returned to the family business in June as the firm’s new senior vice president and director of brokerage and investment services.
“There is no place like home, and I was ready to come home,” said Manekin, of Owings Mills.
Manekin worked for the family company from 1977 to 1992 in several divisions, including property management, development and construction. He then spent the next 16 years as a broker throughout the Baltimore-Washington and Northern Virginia area for companies such as Julien J. Studley Inc., Casey & Associates and the Staubach Co.
Manekin originally left the family business because he wanted to test his leadership skills in “a different corporate setting.”
Owen Rouse Jr., Manekin’s former head of brokerage services and investments, shifted his role to assume the new position of senior vice president, director of capital markets. That left an opening for Manekin.
“Due to the disruption of the capital markets, our company needed a seasoned professional who could gain access to these financial sources for us to continue growing the company,” said Lou LaPenna, Manekin’s chief operating officer.
“Bob brings a unique understanding and appreciation of ‘The Manekin Way,’ our people and our products to the organization,” LaPenna said.
In his new role, Manekin oversees new business development activities, creates sales and leasing strategies, recruits employees and identifies and pursues emerging opportunities for the firm.
“The timing was right to make this move, and it’s an opportunity to go home, be a teacher and employ many of the organizational, motivational and cultural lessons that I learned from the icons of the real estate industry, such as Julian Studley and Roger Staubach,” Manekin said.
“I’ve maintained an emotional attachment to Manekin over all these years.”
