03/17/2017

Andy Davidson: From internship to industry leader

Andy Davidson: From internship to industry leader

 

Sometimes, the old saw about a guy who starts running errands for a company but eventually becomes the boss isn’t just a saw.

 

Take for example Andy Davidson, now vice president of construction at Anton Development Co. While still attending California State University Sacramento, he interned with Anton’s Sacramento office, getting lunches and performing other grunt tasks.

 

That was in 2005. Two years later, Davidson had a job waiting for him when he graduated. A decade later, he’s the company’s vice president of construction and board chairman for the North State Building Industry Association.

 

“I realize (Anton) was a pretty special experience because it was small,” Davidson said. “The experience I got was invaluable, and I learned just that instinct you need to get deals done.”

 

These days, Anton is doing a lot of deals. Known primarily as a multifamily project developer and builder, Anton shows 15 featured projects at the moment on its website, with eight either under construction or going through entitlement review in Northern California.

Locally, the most visible is Natomas Green, a 232-unit market-rate project Anton is building for developer Demmon Partners on Garden Highway in South Natomas.

 

Davidson said his career path started when he took a class in real estate principles in junior college. The art of the deal, as it pertained to selling homes, sparked something in him, he said.

 

He took a job during college selling homes for Premiere Real Estate but found that he didn’t enjoy single-family home sales. He was more interested in taking a project from nothing to construction and completion.

 

“And I was able to talk my way out of a lot of things,” he said, laughing at how his skill set matched his chosen profession.

 

Sharon Parks, controller with Anton Development for more than 15 years, said she brought in Davidson for his first interview to be an intern.“He was very confident and intelligent and personable,” she said. “When you talk to someone with that much drive, you know they’re going to get things done.”She said Davidson showed a skill for approaching something unforeseen studiously and figuring it out. “When you’re in development, you have to be on your toes and always learning,” she said.

 

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