Derek Goring says his first job in real estate came about by accident.
The CEO of Northcrest Developments, a subsidiary of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board that owns property in Canada and the U.S., had just earned a degree with a double major in engineering and business in 2000 and had accepted a position with a consulting firm as part of a fall campus recruiting effort. However, the job ended before it even began.
"The tech bubble had burst, and this was a consulting company that was very technology-oriented," said Goring. "When I graduated, they told me they had no work. The whole class was told, 'We can't start you now. We can keep you on file but if you can find another job, you might want to do that.'"
Goring scrambled to land another gig and jumped into a summer job working as a financial analyst for Ottawa-based Minto Group, one of the country's largest residential developers.
"It was the first opportunity, so I took it," Goring said. "I assumed when things got better I would go back," to his initial job.
But real estate captivated Goring, who trained as a mechanical engineer. He worked at Minto for a summer, "and I just instantly loved it, and in the fall I took a full-time job with Minto and told the consulting firm I was good."
Deciding to join a recovering industry
At the time, in 2001, the real estate industry was recovering from bankruptcies that dominated the sector in the 1990s. "It was still not attractive as a sector and was just starting to emerge, especially on the development side," said Goring.
One of the first major projects he worked on at the time involved two condominium towers that Minto developed at the intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue in midtown Toronto. The approval process proved to be contentious because of the project's density and height and its potential effect on the community.
"I was running the financial models for the project," said Goring. "It was a fascinating experience to go through. The profile of those projects, how complicated they were, and so many factors to make a project like that really sucked me in. Building the city was so compelling. I started going to condo sales offices on the weekend just for fun."
Today, Goring is busy leading Northcrest, the company the Public Sector Pension Investment Board created to transform a former Toronto airport site known as YZD or the Downsview Airport Lands into a $30 billion mixed-use project. Plans call for the creation of a mini-city within Canada's largest city at the site known as YZD.
Northcrest envisions a series of districts at YZD that could eventually be home to more than 54,000 residents, proposing as much as 28 million square feet of residential property, making it one of North America's largest real estate projects.
Goring said his training as an engineer and some of the technical knowledge he picked up in his real estate work taught him to figure out things that mattered most.
'Creative problem solving'
When it comes to the engineering part of his double degree, Goring said, "it really is creative problem solving." That's "something you are always doing in real estate. To create the optimal real estate project, you must consider many different factors. Think about those difficult math equations where there are like 17 variables; that is essentially what a real estate project is."
Goring had seen firsthand how part of the real estate industry operated while he was growing up because his father was a commercial property broker and property manager in Sudbury, Ontario.
"I had exposure to the point where I did not want to go into real estate, but I didn't know there was real estate development" because not a lot of that was happening due to the economy, Goring said.
Later, in the mid-2000s, he got a job with Waterfront Toronto, an entity created by the city, province and federal government to develop the land along Lake Ontario.
"I went to public meetings hosted by Waterfront Toronto because I was interested in the idea of waterfront revitalization as a concept, and I saw a posting for a job there and applied. I had no intention to go work for the government," said Goring. "I've always been attracted to these really large-scale projects."
One of the main things he learned early on was not to worry so much about companies offering the best "job title and salary" but to instead work for organizations with great reputations and bosses who will mentor you and help you learn.
"I've held to that throughout my career," Goring said. He joined Toronto-based Northcrest in 2019, and the firm appointed him CEO in May 2023.
As CEO, Goring said, he has leveraged his experience to try to create a culture where employees are aligned to achieve the outcome the team envisions for YZD, the airport lands project expected to take decades to complete.
"I want to see a good chunk of it built," Goring said.
R É S U M É
Derek Goring | CEO of Northcrest Developments
Hometown: Sudbury
Current city: Toronto
Years in industry: More than two decades
Education: McMaster, Bachelor of Engineering and Management, Mechanical Engineering (1995-2001); University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management (2006-2009) MBA
Hobbies: Golf, cycling, skiing, hockey, reading
Advice to those starting out in the industry: The best advice is to be open-minded. Even if you have a career goal, be open-minded in the path you take to get there. If you follow your gut and your general passions and instincts, opportunities come up that maybe you weren’t expecting. For me, taking that detour to where I thought my career was going to go and going into government, was key to putting me in the position I’m in today. That detour helped me gain invaluable experience and it’s almost as though my career perfectly led me to this spot with Northcrest. So, for those starting out, be open-minded for opportunities and be willing to take risks. I’m thankful for the path I’ve taken and where I’ve ended up. ."