Vice President, Goldman Associates, Inc.
By Jennifer Jett
When asked if there were ever times when he didn’t want to get involved in the family commercial real estate business, Todd Goldman says, “There are still times like that.” You don’t have to see the smile on his face or hear the chuckle in his voice to know he’s joking. You only have to look at his commitment to Goldman Associates and the value he places on family to know that there was never any other path for him.
Playing a lot of sports in high school contributed to Todd’s tendency to be team- and goal-oriented. “If you agreed to do something, you did it and you participated to the fullest extent that you were able,” he says of what his parents and coaches taught him.
His parents have always helped him focus on what was best for him but never tried to force him to make the decisions they wanted him to make, like returning from Virginia Tech to work in the family business. That was a decision he made on his own. “When I went to Virginia Tech, I knew it was for a brief period of time and that I would be back to raise my family. My family has strong Charleston ties and this is the community I grew up in—I never considered anything else.”
His education didn’t end with a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech and an MBA from Marshall University. In his line of work—selling and leasing commercial real estate, preparing appraisals and managing his own investment portfolio—the education never stops. “Our business evolves so much that it requires a continual focus on education,” he explains. “I have always committed myself to advanced education to set my skills apart from my competitors.” There are few real estate professionals like Todd in the country, let alone in West Virginia, that have achieved both the Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS and Certified Commercial Investment Member credentials, and Todd is taking his education one step further by working towards his MAI appraisal designation through the Appraisal Institute.
Todd has been involved in numerous organizations and nonprofits, including the Salvation Army, Junior Achievement and the Kanawha Valley Regional Transportion Authority, where he serves as the secretary and treasurer for the board of directors. The association that has had the biggest influence on him, though, has been the Rotary Club of Charleston, where he recently served as president. The most impactful thing he has been able to take away from rotary has been the Four Way Test. “This is a series of questions,” he says, “that you should ask in any transaction to find out if you are doing what is right: Is it true? Is it fair for all concerned? Will it build good will and better friendship? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? This is something that all Rotarians live by.”
Todd’s perseverance and ability to set goals and remain focused on them has been a key to his success—that, and the fact that he finds it gratifying to mark something off of his to-do list. These characteristics also make it easier to be a living example to his three children. “You have to be a motivator,” he says of being a parent. “I can’t tell my daughter that she has to study for two hours because she has to get an A on a test. I have to motivate her to understand the importance of that A so that she wants to do it on her own. You also have to raise them to be great contributors to West Virginia and society in general. That’s the hardest job I have and it’s also the most important.”
