(Photo, (L-R) Katie Anderson, Aperion Management Founder and CEO; Bill Anderson, Aperion Management CFO and Catherine Smith, Aperion Management COO, accept the Small Business of the Year award from the Bend Chamber)
The company name Aperion was chosen with intent as it means limitless in Greek and no limits held Katie Anderson hostage while she created a homeowners association (HOA) management company where employees truly care for the well-being of each other and the communities they serve. In addition to founding and currently serving as CEO at Aperion Management Group, Anderson serves on several industry boards and attends community meetings. For the past two years, she has spearheaded the hugely successful Farm to Fork fundraiser to help non-profit, Heart of Oregon Corps, in their efforts to teach and train youth to enter the workforce, thus helping fill the soft skill gap that not only faces her industry but Central Oregon as a whole. To know Anderson is to know her core values are compassion, innovation and education, which flow directly back into her business.
Anderson is a pioneer in a niche industry where pioneers, especially women, are few and far between. Anderson’s journey began in her hometown of Bend where she fell in love with everything that makes Bend, Bend, including culture, community and livability. After graduating from Mountain View High School, she married a Bend High grad and they moved to Southern California and then Seattle. While she dabbled in college, she knew it wasn’t the fit for her.
During her time away from Bend, she found her passion in HOA management and this passion grew through years as a community manager, managing more than should be possible for one single person. She knew that HOA management companies could be run better and thus, perform better, have happier employees and customers and have unlimited growth potential. She also knew that she wanted to be back in Bend, especially to raise a family (that now includes three kids.). That’s when Aperion Management Group was formed.
Exactly ten years ago this year Aperion Management Group was founded with one employee, Katie. In 2008, everything was grand; the economy was good, people were employed and everyone had money. In 2009, as we all know, everything changed with the downturn of the economy. It would have been easy for a new business to go belly up but through Anderson’s immense drive and determination Aperion continued at a steady growth. It was in 2012 when Anderson realized that the company was growing substantially, so she had the foresight to bring in two partners, an accounting extraordinaire, Bill Anderson and a long-time community management veteran, Catherine Smith. Bill and Catherine took over the day-to-day while Anderson remained the visionary.
By giving community managers fewer communities to manage thus providing better customer service, focusing on an amazing work/life balance for her employees and a fun company culture, Aperion has grown to over 20 employees. This vision not only held through today but is constantly being improved upon because another standard that Anderson implemented in her company was continuous learning.
As if the determination of Anderson’s vision at Aperion wasn’t enough, she also has an extreme drive to affect change in Bend and her industry. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Central Oregon Regional Council (CORC) of Community Associations Institute and served as the CORC President in 2010 and 2011 and currently serves on the Alliance of Community Association Managers (ACAM) Board, a prestigious industry board. Her greatest, and most public, accomplishment came in 2016 when she brought Aperion and Heart of Oregon Corps together for a flagship fundraising event. Farm to Fork: Dinner and Fundraiser was born and is now celebrating its third year, with goals of raising over $40,000.
The accomplishments of Anderson and Aperion are immense and aren’t going unnoticed. Aperion Management Group was recognized as Bend Chamber’s Small Business of the Year in 2017.
