Director of Development, VDM Management Group
Photo by Ashley Gallaher Quinn
By Jean Hardiman
“No matter the situation, there’s purpose and a larger plan in the works.”
These were words of faith and confirmation for a young Brandon Doerner as he stood before a podium, reciting his graduation speech to the Scott High School Class of 1996. He saw his mother sitting with his father in the audience. She’d been fighting a devastating battle with cancer, and he hadn’t been sure she would be there.
She made it, and her son learned a valuable lesson: cling to faith and keep an eye on the bigger picture, the backdrop of each of life’s challenges. That’s an attitude he takes with him to his career in real estate development in West Virginia and as a community volunteer who has led the development of 31 miles of hiking, running and biking trails in Putnam County.
“Success is taking what we have learned and adding value to others,” Doerner says.
Real estate development is not what Doerner thought he would do. Having spent some time with professionals on the golf course, he thought he might like to be a dentist.
While working on his undergraduate degree in business administration at West Virginia University, his advisor, Susan Robison, steered him toward an internship that would change his life. He spent the summer working for Armstrong Development and landed his first job with the company. His responsibilities included analyzing commercial and residential development among the fastest growing metropolitan statistical areas throughout the country.
In 2020, Doerner started working as the director of development for Vicki Dunn-Marshall’s VDM Management Group. VDM has been a successful quick-service restaurant franchisee for more than 40 years and developed a real estate portfolio. Doerner helps with the expansion of stores in new markets, relocation and the development of existing stores; remodels, maintenance management, property management, expansion of commercial and residential properties; and organizational leadership.
Before joining the VDM team, he worked for Kentucky-based Booth Energy and Pittsburgh-based Armstrong Development. He also started his own brokerage, BullRock Realty, and investment company, Doerner Investments. After meeting his wife and deciding to move back to West Virginia, he began a short-term position under his first boss, Greg Brewer of SJB Foods/Market Express.
Doerner loves seeing the vision that others can’t and making it come to fruition as a tangible asset.
“As a real estate developer, it begins with the handshake,” he says. “Then, it’s the coordination and leading the architect, engineer, attorney, finance, administrative staff and ultimately the contractor. I truly enjoy leading a team just like a quarterback in football. My end zone is turning the keys on a newly developed building and allowing the next team to go to work.”
An unexpected part of Doerner’s journey came from his love of mountain biking on West Virginia trails. After attending a City of Hurricane Development Authority meeting, he was inspired to organize and lead volunteers through the development of 31 miles of trails. The project took five years and was named Meeks Mountain Trails for the family that owns the property.
“I spent a year quietly hiking and laying out a master plan with the challenging topography,” he says.
In 2018, he gave his 5-year-old twins tools, and they started helping him build the trail. Word of mouth eventually led to more volunteers joining the effort.
“My commitment was to be there every Saturday for as long as it took to hit the goal of 26 miles,” he says.
Eventually, the 501(c)(3), Meeks Mountain Trail Alliance, was created. Its 11-member board includes outdoor enthusiasts from the Putnam County area. The alliance builds and sustains a network of trails and creates economic growth opportunities.
“Meeks Mountain Trails has been built with minimal funds, over 23,000 volunteer hours and over 500 people,” he says. “This trail system would be valued at more than $2 million and all built by sweat equity. This is what community is all about. We’re doers.”
