Recovering from Property Damage with Jack Rolfe

In July of 2018, Dominium hired Jack Rolfe as a Property Damage Claims Specialist. On a day-to-day basis, Jack works as our resident “loss specialist” to triage losses that our apartment communities experience due to property damage.

“I live in loss, but I believe ‘It’s not what happens to you but how you react that matters’ —Epictetus,” Jack says of his position.

Before Jack came on board, Dominium did not have a formal “risk” department. It was left upon individuals to identify and mitigate possible risks. As Dominium’s portfolio grew, so did the property and resident risks. In the past couple of years, the company recognized the overall worth of having a department dedicated to risk management, and has worked to formalize the practice. With the additions of Risk Manager Ashley Poderzay and Senior Risk Analyst Jocelyn Davis George, Dominium is able to dive deeper into risk mitigation operationally and internally. In turn, the hiring of these individuals have led to reduced costs and losses due to risks.

Overall, the goal of his risk management work is to help Dominium prevent and recover from general liability and property damages. This is done by identifying, stabilizing and creating a proactive and reactive game plan. Some of Jack’s recent notable work includes negotiating strong standard operating procedures for local national emergency and restoration vendors along with creating a competitive hurricane emergency RFP for the use of our southern properties. He also has the very important job of communicating with corporate services, management, construction and development in a way that is digestible to all.

In February 2020, Jack spoke at the biennial leadership conference with a keynote titled “Soaring from Loss to Recovery,” in which he communicated the ins and outs of his area of expertise and why it is vital to the success of the company, and the jobs of the property management staff who attend the conference. A key takeaway that Jack communicated to employees was that—how you react to damages matters and that we can all learn from past experiences, which inturn can help prevent losses in the future. This discussion was of great importance during the conference as the concept of general liability and saving Dominium from insurance issues is crucial to improving future outcomes.

“In the months since coming on board I have developed a system that records all losses and the associated costs. I believe in the commonly held concept that if something can be measured it can be improved,” Jack says of his methodology. And because of this, Dominium has the ability to spot trends and improve outcomes, if not prevent losses entirely.