BUTLER LEADERSHIP TEAM
Deborah Butler, President
Deborah Butler was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida. The daughter of founding developer S. Clark Butler, Deborah joined her father in business in the early 1980s. From marketing and leasing to design, finance and development, Deborah has performed nearly every role in the organization. In addition to developing and managing several large multifamily residential projects in the city, together they developed the one million square feet of retail known as Butler Plaza. After her father’s passing in 2008, Deborah continued the vision for expansion–relocating the big box stores off the premium Archer Road frontage and building out the back of the 267-acre property into Butler North, now a successfully leased power center with its own main thoroughfare. This move made way for the development of 350 thousand square feet of the regions first open-air retail and mixed-use project—Butler Town Center. Deborah holds a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University in History, a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Florida, and her MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. She has also spent significant time traveling and studying in Europe. She is an active community leader and member of numerous organizations and causes, and currently serves as Board Member of UF’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, past two-term President UF’s Phillips Center for Performing Arts-among many others.
Nancy Baker, Vice President of Lease Administration
Nancy started her career in retail development in Houston, Texas where she was a licensed broker and spent over 20 years in leasing and property management—diversifying into retail tenant rep in the late 1980s. She spent the next 15 years in lease administration management for national organizations like Pearl Vision/Sears Optical, Lesco and John Deere, and Jo-Ann stores overseeing CAM reconciliations, lease renewals and staff management. She has extensive experience with leasing database systems, real estate accounting systems and legal collaboration. Now Director of Lease Administration for Butler Enterprises, Nancy manages all the lease administration for over 100 tenants and abstraction into the real estate accounting system, assisting with Tenant defaults, and acting as tenant liaison from pre-construction process to opening.
Ashley Bryant, Vice President of Marketing
A Gainesville native, Ashley Bryant is a graduate of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Over the last 20-plus years, Ashley has worked in for-profit and nonprofit organizations in various roles such as marketing, communications, business development, and public relations. Ashley’s experience here in Alachua County, includes creating marketing strategies, building strategic partnerships, orchestrating community collaborations, managing advertising campaigns, driving business development, implementing social media, and overseeing digital marketing.
Ken Adams, Senior Director of Construction Development
Kenneth “Ken” Adams has joined Butler Enterprises as the Senior Director of Construction and Development. Ken began working with Butler Enterprises during the construction of Butler North as a consultant providing Project Manager services through CBRE: Global Commercial Real Estate Services and most currently for the new construction at Butler Town Center. Ken led the CBRE team during the past two years managing property wide new construction efforts and tenant coordination. Over the last 20 plus years, Ken has successfully managed client relations, in-house and third-party project teams for commercial construction projects across the United States. He has also served as the primary contact to various clientele and served as representation in high level jurisdictional presentations, contract negotiations, programmatic design and oversight, challenge resolutions, and budgetary creation and control. Ken will now be a vital part of the Butler Enterprises’ in-house construction/development department, in conjunction with ownership oversight of the construction management efforts of CBRE team.
Nikkolas Hillberg, Senior Director of Accounting & Finance
Nikkolas “Nik” Hillberg joins the leadership team as Senior Director of Accounting & Finance. Nik brings over twenty years of experience in real estate finance, Nik has been involved in several billion dollars’ worth of acquisitions, dispositions, financings, refinancing, and new and redevelopments. He has also been involved in transactions from restoring struggling companies to taking new companies public. In addition to finance and real estate, surfing, and his wife, Janet and nineteen-year-old daughter, Olivia, make up Nik’s heart and soul. His experience as a financial executive, providing years of proficiency in leadership, investor relations, treasury, compliance, capital structuring, budgeting, and financial performance improvement, will enhance Butler Enterprise leadership team.