If Close had lived in 17th-century France, he’d have been a musketeer with the motto “One for All and All for One.” “If someone in our office has a property that’s moving slowly, we work on it together,” says Close, who co-owns Close-Converse with his father, Kevin, and partner, Rodney Converse. Associates are paid a salary; there’s also a bonus program based on overall performance. “Some people might not be doing deals, but they’re still adding value” through such tasks as preparing offering memoranda, he says. Close heads the company’s leasing division and oversaw the rental of about 175,000 square feet of commercial space in 2006; he also attained more than $10 million in sales volume. “Our offering memos and information packets are the best you can find. And we get to the market fast.”
Education emphasis: This go-getter got his real estate license while still a student at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a triple major in finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Close was also one of the youngest people in his state to earn the CCIM designation.
Share the spirit: Close achieves “a sense of personal fulfillment,” he says, leading church youth missions to help residents in such exotic locations as Malaysia and Botswana, as well as to places like downtown Detroit.