John Porter | President, Charter Properties
John Porter, the fourth President of Charter Properties, has been with the firm for 27 years. Charter was founded by Bill White and The Springs Company in 1970. Growing up in Wisconsin, John graduated University there and spent his early real estate career in Chicago, attending the University of Chicago’s graduate program. He loves ‘housing creation’ because housing is a bedrock of advanced societies. He sees it is a grand problem-solving exercise and a proven way for anyone to generate personal wealth over their lifetime. John’s great passion is seeing others succeed in building wealth and independence for themselves.
As to local development, John is most proud of Charter’s ability to execute inside what are often thought of as challenging communities for apartment development. He likens it to being a positive pied piper helping change people’s minds about what quality multifamily housing can be. A case in point is Charter’s Kingsley property in Fort Mill, which for many years has been named in the top 1% of like communities.
He engages in and fully supports REBIC because it educates policy makers and citizens about the importance of quality housing choices and see that principle as fundamental to the robust health of all communities. The access to decision makers and relationships made have been invaluable to him.
He loves everything about his adopted home of North Carolina, especially Ocean Isle Beach and Boone. He golfs when he can, writes, like old Jaguars and makes music sometimes. His favorite quote is: “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of being.” – Goethe
John most admires Jesus Christ and Winston Churchill, neither of whom shrank from impossibly difficult circumstances. His best career advice is to do business with people you like; if you can’t, go somewhere else and don’t look back. He and his wife of 40 years, Ann, have raised five children, with three still living at home…but not for long! John has served on the Board of The Fletcher School for many years, and they are very committed to individualized education. They also sponsor ULI’s Etkins Scholars program at UNCC.