From Barbados to Winnipeg: Entrepreneur Tom Haughton Comes Home to Join Real Estate Company

As a career businessman and entrepreneur, Tom Haughton has learned how to foster a strong sense of loyalty and community with his staff and clients. And those are only a couple of the basic business tenets that have led to his success in various industries.

Tom Haughton is currently the vice president of My Place Realty, a Winnipeg-based property management firm providing rental units and property management services throughout the city. With approximately 1,400 apartment units, My Place Realty seeks out people who will treat their apartments with an ownership mentality, says Haughton.

As Haughton explains, he’s found that if you build high quality homes, they attract high quality renters who will treat the property like they own them. Add that to a high level of personal touch in dealing with people, and you’ve got the basics for a successful business, he adds.

“I have always been interested in real estate from an early age,” Haughton said in a recent interview. “With my Dad being in the Air Force, we moved homes every four years. It was always exciting looking for the perfect home in the perfect location. In college, I earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Manitoba, concentrating on human resources and marketing.”

“Since then, I have spent 20 years training and developing teams to run various departments within retail and wholesale operations,” Haughton adds. “At My Place Realty, I work hand-in-hand with my senior management team to oversee everything from construction management to finance to property management.”

In an interview, Haughton noted that the real estate industry cannot ignore the growing impact of technology. And the fastest-growing trend is home automation. Millennials in particular want to be able to seamlessly control their home environment, including lights, heating, air conditioning or security, all from their smartphones, he says, predicting that it will ultimately become standard operating procedure to integrate smart technologies into homes.

Before joining My Place Realty, Haughton was the chief executive officer at Global Drug Supply, a midsized international business based in Barbados. During his six years with the company, he helped to create, build and train a management team before ultimately returning to Canada.

For an entrepreneur, Haughton says it helps to know the ins and outs of a variety of businesses. For example, the pricing pressures in pharma in Barbados are quite different than those in Winnipeg real estate, he notes. However, the underlying principles of leading and growing a business, and establishing a brand and living up to its established reputation are the same for any business, he adds, no matter where they are based.

In his spare time, Haughton gives to a number of charitable endeavours, including the Winnipeg Humane Society, Lighthouse Mission, Agape Table and the Canadian Cancer Society.