Ep. 45 | From VHS Tapes to AI Workflows: Reimagining Affordable Housing Operations

About this episode

Kerri Davis discusses modernizing affordable housing management with Julie Runyan and Alex Westad, focusing on innovation while preserving community values.

In this episode, Kerri Davis, CEO and Founder of Fortress, sits down with Julie Runyan, Compliance Director at AdWest, and Alex Westad, President of AdWest, for an inspiring conversation about modernizing affordable housing management while preserving heart, legacy, and community. Listen in to hear Julie and Alex: Share their origin stories—from Alex literally growing up in rural development housing and eventually purchasing his family’s company, to Julie discovering affordable housing by chance and building a career rooted in education, compliance, and deep care for residents and site teams Break down how AdWest is transforming a legacy company into a forward-thinking organization through clearer leadership structures, Notion-powered knowledge bases, ChatGPT-assisted operational tools, and weekly training programs designed to support and strengthen onsite teams Reflect on balancing family-founded values with modern innovation, investing intentionally in people, reshaping roles to match strengths, and building a culture where team members are encouraged to collaborate, problem-solve, and continually improve the resident experience

People in this episode

Host: Kerri Davis

Guests: Julie Runyan, Alex Westad

Topics covered

• affordable housing
• modernization
• leadership
• community
• innovation

Keywords

• affordable housing
• management
• innovation
• leadership
• community

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Fortress, AdWest

More episodes of Multi-Family Grit

• Ep. 52 | More Programs, More Rules, More Pressure: Inside Affordable Housing Compliance · June 4, 2026 · 44 min
• Ep. 51 | Doing It Right vs. Doing It First: The Discipline Behind Affordable Housing Compliance · March 19, 2026 · 58 min
• Ep. 50 | The Worst Job on the Planet: Rethinking the Regional Role in Multifamily · February 26, 2026 · 53 min
• Ep. 49 | Operating Costs Up 40% and Counting: The Math Nobody Wants to Talk About · February 12, 2026 · 58 min
• Ep. 48 | From Falling Into Multifamily to Scaling 45,000 Units: The Power of People and Systems · January 29, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Ep. 47 | Perfection Is Not Scalable: Letting Things Break to Build Better Teams · January 15, 2026 · 1h 11m