Values defined at launch continue to influence QuadReal’s culture and how it works today.
Looking back on 10 years of growth, Dennis Lopez, CEO of QuadReal Property Group, considers defining the company’s values as “probably the most important thing that we’ve done.” That’s a significant claim for a company that has grown from $18 billion to nearly $100 billion in assets and has expanded into markets across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
To a large degree, organizational success comes back to five values.
Integrity, responsibility, performance, collaboration, and innovation. Together, they shape who joins the organization, how decisions are made, and the culture people feel from day one.
From intention to action
When QuadReal was formed, its leaders were clear about the kind of organization they wanted to build. Putting that intent into practice took deliberate effort: in who was hired, how people were developed, and how the culture was carried forward as the business grew.
Jennifer Spanjaard, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, says QuadReal has been intentional about hiring people who align with its values and want to live them every day, and has placed equal focus on developing and retaining people who help that culture grow over time. The result is a team that does more than work well together. “These people inspire me,” she says. “They challenge me, and they make this a place where I feel proud to show up and work every day.”
How values influence everyday decisions
At QuadReal, values come through in how people work.
For Nisha Agrawal, Vice President of Sustainability, that shows up in something simple: picking up the phone. She points to the many times she has called colleagues to ask questions, bounce ideas, and receive a genuine response. “The culture that we’ve created here is so valuable,” she says.
In a globally integrated business, that kind of access is what turns individual expertise into a shared advantage.
One culture, many markets
Growth adds complexity. New markets, new asset classes, new teams. What keeps QuadReal in sync isn’t only improved process and ways of collaborating. It’s the culture and the values.
Diane MacDiarmid, Chief Talent Officer, says what QuadReal has is genuinely rare. Most organizations inherit a culture or try to reshape one. QuadReal had the chance to build it from scratch—clear from the start about what it wanted to be and, equally, what it didn’t. Today, that intention is visible in a culture she describes as collaborative, innovative, and performance oriented.
For Keri Cormier, Vice President of Office, Alberta, that’s what differentiates the company. “It’s our secret sauce,” she says, “Without it, we have nothing.”
What values have made possible
In 10 years, QuadReal has grown to more than 2,000 people. The portfolio now spans North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. For Remco Daal, Chief Operating Officer, that scale matters. But what stands out to him is the way we did it together.
“What I’m most proud of is—notwithstanding everything we’ve done in all these markets—the culture and the people we’ve managed to bring into this organization are truly top notch,” he says. “What’s so heartening about QuadReal today is we didn’t make mistakes on culture and fit.”
Carrying QuadReal’s culture forward
Ask Dennis what he’s most proud of after 10 years, and culture tops the list.
Culture, he says, is the most important thing a company can have. It must be actively tended to and worked at with the same intent that built it. That attention isn’t maintenance. It’s the culture itself.
Explore how QuadReal’s values have guided a decade of growth.
