Suzanne Abair Cultivates Authenticity and Inclusion at Northland
How the 2024 MFE Executive of the Year is reshaping corporate culture at the multifamily firm.
Northland chairman Larry Gottesdiener has witnessed it thousands of times, and it never gets old. He loves to watch Northland president and chief operating officer Suzanne Abair listen patiently as businessmen mansplain how their proposals will benefit her and Northland, then dismantle their arguments, one by one. The result, inevitably, ends up being far more fair and beneficial to both Abair and Northland.
“Suzanne has a very special mind,” Gottesdiener says.
During her 20 years with Northland, a real estate private equity firm with $8 billion of assets under management, Abair has spearheaded hundreds, if not thousands, of business transactions, Gottesdiener says, but her most enduring legacy will be the values-based corporate culture she has created. Over the past decade, multiple groups have named Northland a best place to work.
Abair accomplishes this largely by making sure employees believe they’re equally important, if not more important, than Northland’s real estate assets. “I meet people where they are. As a leader, I think that’s a really important skill to have,” Abair says. “I mean, not everyone can be led the same way. Not everyone can be motivated the same way.”
Embracing authenticity and cultivating “a culture that encourages people to bring their whole selves to work” has been a priority for Abair since she took the helm. Northland’s workforce is diverse, with women accounting for 44% and persons of color 35%, and Abair believes this mix of people from all backgrounds and viewpoints is crucial to the firm’s success. “I view it as my job to know our employees and to create a culture where they can all thrive despite their differences,” she says.
Abair describes herself as a “listen-first person.” She reads the room before she says anything, especially in large meetings. “I think countless times I’ve gotten the better of a negotiation or situation because someone misunderstood my demeanor—and then underestimated me,” she says.
The first thing she did when she became president and COO in 2016 was embark on a “listening tour” of every property Northland owns, not to see the sites but to hear what the people working at them had to say. That tour resulted in some changes in operating policies and technology, but, more important, it was the first step toward making Northland an employee-centered company, Abair says.
Immediately following the tour, Abair worked with Northland’s head of human resources to combine two employee handbooks—one for corporate/commercial and one for multifamily—into one, eliminating any us-versus-them divisions having two might create. The new all-employee handbook was revamped to provide a vision of what it means to be a Northland employee as opposed to a list of rules and regulations and included new benefits such as parental leave, adoption assistance, tuition reimbursement, a shorter 401(k) vesting schedule, and an enhanced PTO policy.
Tenacious is another word Abair uses to describe herself, and that trait appears to be in her genes. She grew up in a small town in western Massachusetts surrounded by extended family, and her grandparents owned a classic 1950s pharmacy and soda fountain. Her grandfather, who ran the pharmacy while her grandmother handled the front of the store, died of a heart attack when he was 42, leaving her grandmother to run the store and provide for Abair’s mother and aunt. The only problem: Women weren’t allowed to own businesses in the 1950s.
“She had to get permission from the state in order to run the business,” Abair says. “I have the letter from the commonwealth framed in my office as a reminder of what my grandmother said when she relayed this story to me when I was young. She said, ‘I needed permission to run my own business. You don’t need anyone’s permission except your own to do what you want to do and be successful.’”
This advice would propel Abair throughout her career, from her decision to go to law school at SUNY Buffalo after working for a couple years in communications to leaving Boston law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo a few years after she made partner to become general counsel for her client Northland in 2004. She took another big leap in 2016 when Gottesdiener tapped her as chief operating officer.
“My concern was that I wouldn’t have credibility with the operations team because I had not been in their shoes before,” Abair says. But both Gottesdiener and Abair’s wife, Kat MacDonald, told her she was the best person for the role, and she trusted their judgment. Nearly everyone she works with would agree she’s lived up to their faith in her.
“Suzanne’s intellect, integrity, compassion, and sound judgment motivate all of us, and especially me, to bring our best selves to work,” says Northland general counsel Beth Kinsley, whom Abair has mentored since she joined the firm as assistant general counsel in 2008. “She has high expectations of herself and her responsibilities as a leader, which in turn, inspires us to want to fulfill our potential.”
Perhaps one of the biggest risks Abair has taken in her career was coming out as a lesbian soon after she moved to Boston. “I came of age professionally at a large Wall Street law firm in the early ’90s, and being out was not exactly the path to success at that time,” she says.
After only a couple of weeks at her new job, Abair went to lunch with one of the female partners and asked what it would take to be successful at the firm. “Just be you,” was the partner’s advice—and exactly what Abair needed to hear. She made the decision to stop hiding and compromising who she was, fully aware she could be committing career suicide. “Obviously, it worked out,” she adds. “The firm was great about it, and I became a partner.”
By the time Abair joined Northland, she and MacDonald were together and had adopted their oldest son, Alex (gay marriage was not yet legal in Massachusetts). MacDonald stayed home with Alex and his younger brother, Jacob, allowing Abair to focus on her career—though she’s quick to point out that family has always come first. With Gottesdiener’s blessing, she made time to coach Little League and attend her kids’ school events. “I had the benefit of an incredibly supportive spouse at home and an incredibly supportive leader of the organization in which I was working. And without that support, I’m not sure I could have done and achieved what I have at Northland.”
Sports have played a major role in Abair’s life since she was a young girl. One of her formative memories is of a coach who encouraged rather than scolded her when she dropped a fly ball to lose a softball game when she was 8.
She learned about resiliency, teamwork, and leadership rowing club crew in college, and she serves on the national advisory board for Dream Big, a nonprofit that empowers girls and young women through sports and physical activities.
So, it didn’t take a lot of convincing when Gottesdiener, an avid basketball fan, suggested he and Abair pursue buying the WNBA team Atlanta Dream in January 2021. The team’s players had publicly turned on co-owner Sen. Kelly Loeffler after she derided the WNBA for dedicating a season to social justice issues in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests. Abair, Gottesdiener, and former Dream player Renee Montgomery formed a three-member investor group that bought the team in March 2021.
“Giving back to the communities in which we operate is a core part of Northland’s mission, and we’re involved with several local organizations focused on social justice and women’s initiatives,” Abair says. “The WNBA is the oldest professional women’s sports league in the country and—also the most progressive—the WNBA and the Atlanta Dream, in particular, have a rich history of advocating for social change and women’s rights. So, for us, when the opportunity came in, it was the right fit at the right time.”
It has been a smart investment. “Larry saw the value and trajectory of women’s professional basketball before the meteoric rise we’re seeing today,” Abair says. It was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Abair to help shape the organization into “the best franchise in all sports.” In her usual style, one of her first actions was to send an email to all the players asking what they were passionate about and what they wanted the new owners to lean into.
The Dream made the playoffs last season—slightly ahead of the team’s five-year plan—but Abair is equally proud of the impact it’s having on the Atlanta community. “It’s important for us to win on and off the court,” she says. “We’re creating an atmosphere and a fan experience, and all of that is equally as important as getting the right players on the court.”
SUZANNE ABAIR AT A GLANCE
Company: Northland Title: President and Chief Operating Officer
Age: 59
Family: Married to the most supportive spouse, Kat MacDonald, and we have two adult sons
Favorite quote: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” —Mark Twain
Favorite book: “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson
Leadership philosophy: Lead by example.
Proudest accomplishment: Northland being named a Best Place to Work.