Jason Freise has spent his career so far working his way up the ranks at Southern California-based OluKai, a footwear and lifestyle giant, but his roots, he says, are in real estate and he’s now tapping into that history.
The 34-year-old partner and co-founder of Palo Alto-based REDCO Development is relaunching an old family business this year in partnership with his brother, Chris Freise, who is already a recognizable name in Bay Area real estate circles. Together, they’re following in the footsteps of their grandfather, who in 1956 started the Robert E. Daniels Co. Masonry, known as REDCO Masonry.
Jason remembers the company as a family effort growing up and says he’s wanted to work with his brother again for more than a decade.
“We've wanted to work together and build something together,” he said. “Even after I graduated from Irvine, I did several internships with commercial real estate firms down in Southern California with the intention of someday working together.”
Jason lives in San Clemente in Southern California, but he and his family — his wife Nicaela and 2-year-old son Lincoln — are set to move to the Bay Area as REDCO begins to fill out its portfolio.
This month, Freise sat down with the Business Journal to talk about work, success and what he does for fun. The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Jason Freise
Title: Partner and co-founder, REDCO Development
Age: 34
Hometown: San Luis Obispo
Residence: San Clemente
Family: Wife, Nicaela; son, Lincoln, who is 2 1/2 years old
Education: Bachelor's of science, political science, University of California, Irvine
Career: About 12 years at OluKai, working in numerous positions including marketing, sales, sales management and international business.
What’s the best piece of advice — personal or professional — you’ve ever received? One that stands out … was one [Jim Harris, CEO at OluKai] shared with us at a sales meeting. … He was up giving a speech and we were talking about how we differentiate ourselves in market with competitor brands, with brands that were bigger than us at the time, brands that were executing in similar spaces as we were. What he said … is that you don't have to be the most intelligent person to be successful, you just have to care more than everyone else.
What does success look like to you? There are so many different lenses you could take on that question, but I would say success is measured by the quality of life, friends and family. I like having really meaningful relationships with the people around me and being able to enjoy that and enjoy my family as well. I don't think of it as a success in a monetary fashion, I think of it as the quality of life and the quality of the relationships I have.
What do you do when you're not working? My wife and I both used to surf competitively in college, and we find ourselves going down to the beach as much and as often as we can. We were able to get our son [Lincoln] on a board over the summer when Chris and I took our mom to Hawaii for her 60th birthday. … But I would include any sort of outdoor activity. We're outdoor enthusiasts, so it's surfing or going for walks or hiking or parks or camping. We're always trying to do and create these wonderful experiences, both for ourselves but also for Lincoln and our family.
Tell me about your work with the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association. SIMA is a trade organization focused on action sports or surf industry and is the governing body that kind of collectively ensures the health and success of the industry. … I was on the board of directors for about a year and a half or two years and then more specifically as chairman of their Insights Committee, which is a subset of the board that focuses on consumer analytics and data. It's a group that goes out and works with third party vendors to source, secure and publish data on the industry, how certain categories are performing, how certain brands are performing, the overall health and success of both manufacturers as well as retailers …That's something that I think I would love to do and get more involved with in real estate. That's not an industry specific item, it's a kind of a personality item.
When did you learn to surf and who taught you? My brother and I both started surfing when we were very young — actually during the building of our grandfather's hotel in Ventura, so I was 4 and Chris was 8. We had the bright orange O'Neill wetsuits and we were just out in the surf line having a ton of fun. … I would say we kind of taught ourselves a little bit. We were fortunate enough to live near the beach in San Luis Obispo and we would check the surf every morning and then run out there, catch a bunch of waves and come back, because it was freezing, and stand under the shower and try to warm up. It was a great childhood.