CEO gives $1.6M he made in stock market to his employees

Connor, the owner of Miami Twp.-based real estate investment firm, The Connor Group and a major philanthropist in the Dayton region, last week made a companywide announcement that he’d made $1.6 million on the stock market in the span of eight days.

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He then informed his employees that he’d be paying out every dime of it in bonuses to them, for their work and dedication throughout the coronavirus outbreak.

“What!?!?”

That was the expression of many of his employees as they watched Connor deliver the news in a Zoom company meeting. Watch the video here.

“These are challenging times,” Connor said to his employees. “But the way our people have responded has been nothing short of heroic. Our No. 1 core value is ‘Do the right thing.’ So when I think about how I made the money compared to what our associates do on every day, to me, (paying the bonuses) was the right thing to do.”

Bonuses are being paid to all non-highly-compensated associates who started with the company prior to March 1.

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“Larry, Larry, thank you so much. Oh my God! It’s so appreciated,” said LaKeycha Montague, a regional service trainer with the company.

The Connor Group owns and operates luxury apartment communities in 14 markets around the U.S. and has roughly 400 associates. Bonuses ranged from $2,000 to $9,000.

“We believe in leading from the front,” Connor said. “And in trying times, that means more than just talking about the problem. It means taking action.”

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Throughout the coronavirus outbreak, Connor Group apartment communities have remained open as an essential business – to serve their 23,000 current and potential residents – while adhering to social-distancing and cleaning guidelines.

In addition to the work at its properties, the company’s nonprofit arm, The Connor Group Kids & Community Partners, also has responded to the outbreak. Earlier this month it announced an initiative to provide more than $1 million in goods and services to Dayton-area students – supplying groceries and in-home WiFi to underserved families affected by the outbreak.