http://www.uvm.edu/vq/?Page=news&storyID=21080&category=vq-fetrs
New York City—8.5 million people living and working within three-hundred-some square miles—the diversity of individuals and endeavors is staggering. In this issue, we take a look at how ten UVM alumni have made their way in the Big Apple.
GARY GREEN ’88
CEO/BASEBALL TEAM OWNER
Gary Green is a Long Island native, lives and works in Manhattan, and says, “There is no city in the world where the opportunity is as great and the pace is as fast as New York. Once you work here, I think it would be impossible to work anywhere else.”
But this decidedly New York-minute guy finds his balance 1,200 miles away in Omaha, Nebraska. Green, CEO of Alliance, a building cleaning and maintenance company that has thousands of employees and services properties that include Citi Field, home to the New York Mets, leads a dual professional existence of sorts. He is also the owner of two minor league baseball teams—Richmond, Virginia’s Flying Squirrels and Omaha’s Storm Chasers.
The key to living in New York, Green says, is escaping it on a fairly regular basis. “You need to have a readjustment, get out for things to slow down. No matter how I leave New York, when I come back from the Midwest, I’m always in better shape mentally.”
None other than Warren Buffett offered Green a key tutorial in Midwest 101. The legend of the financial world was among the previous owners of the Omaha Storm Chasers. For the press conference announcing ownership transition, Green asked Buffett if he would introduce him as the new owner of the team, perhaps helping the community accept the out-of-towner.
Buffett agreed to do it, but first had a word of advice. Green pauses and laughs as he recalls the moment. “When Warren Buffett says ‘let me tell you something,’ you make sure there is silence and that you listen.”
Buffett’s wisdom: “You may own this team, but never forget that this team belongs to Omaha.”
While Green relishes his visits to Omaha during baseball season and the chances to connect with players and fans, he’s also set sail in the Twitterverse (@ChasersOwner) with a following at 36,000 and climbing as a regular way to connect with the community.
Meanwhile back in New York, Green’s days at his offices on 36th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, are a far cry from when he spun the maintenance business out of his family’s SL Green Real Estate, beginning with eight employees and a basement office on Second Avenue.
He describes his job as one of those typified by a lack of typical days, with everything from client relations for the business services operation to weighing in on the design of a minor league championship ring drawing his attention. “I juggle and balance a lot,” Green says. “I love all the businesses that I’m in.”
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