What’s the name of your company? What exactly does your company do, how do you help people?
The name of my Company is the Welcome Group, LLC. We own 4 million square feet of single-tenant industrial and office properties in Texas at 87 locations, most in metropolitan Houston.
What were the biggest challenges you have faced and how did you overcome them?
My business career has made me very very conservative. For example, I have not guaranteed a bank promissory note in 50 years.
What piece of advice do you wish someone had given you at the start of your career?
There are some things that over which you have no control. For example, the economy. Always presume that what can happen will happen.
Who are your biggest influences and people you admire and why?
The most influential person in my business life is Welcome Wilson Jr. Welcome is now 67 years old and has taken over as CEO of the company (I am Chairman) we have been together for about 40 years in business, and I find his approach to business and problems correct in every way.
Name a person who helped you along the way?
At age 90, many many people have helped me along the way but, I would like to mention R.E. Bob Smith. A Houston multi-millionaire oil-man who helped me get started as a Real Estate Developer, for my first project in 1957 he bought 300-acres in Galveston County for cash and sold it to me for a dollar down, he guaranteed my note at the bank to put in the streets and utilities for a master-plan community. That community is Jamaica Beach, which is now a separate city in Galveston County.
