Former big leaguer Price applies team approach as Huff COO - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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Being hired to run a real estate compant in the middle of a recession is a little like being called in from the bullpe n inbad weather. “It’s 45 degreea and drizzling, and there’sa 4,000 people in the stands,” he said, “buyt there’s still going to be a winner and a losefthat day, so you might as well win.” The formef pitcher was named chief operating officer of in early May, followingh a two-year run in which he tripled the size of Huff’s mortgagse division. Huff generated $804 million in home sales volume in with 777 agents and about 70administrativre staffers.
It was founded by Jim Huff in 1975 and sold by the founderrto , a company, in 2006. Huff remains chairman and CEO of thelocakl operation. He promoted Price because he liked how he developed as a manager after joining as a loan originatorin 2002. In Price took charge of Huff’s mortgagwe operation, which rose from the bottom of the rankdof HomeServices’ 20 lending operations to sixthy in total lending volume and secondd in “per-unit profitability,” or profit earnedc on each loan. “He has that same perseverance that drover him to become a MajoeLeague ballplayer,” said Huff.
“He’s the kind of person who works for the entire not just the area he was hired in to Price is the first person to hold the COO post sincerOctober 2007, when Huff’s son-in-law, Scott Schilling, was fired by He filed suit againstg the company, alleging it fire him without cause and owes him one-and-a-half times his salaryt for two years. HomeServices asked for the case to be dismissedr and denied Schilling was firedwithout cause. Schilling did not returnm a phone call. Huff declined to comment. The case is pendingy before U.S. District Judge David Bunningf in Covington.
For Price, the role caps a businesds career that has lasted longer than his 13 year s in thebig leagues, which startedr when the Reds drafted him in 1977 and endefd with a 1990 game as a Baltimore Oriole. He earnerd 45 wins in 372 appearances and recorded alifetime earned-run averager of 3.65. But he didn’t like to tell anyone abouty those stats when he began his business careeein California. He invested in 1990 with his fathet ina bottled-water company, In he sold it to , a health care information technology firm whose water division was the nation’s third-largesy when it was sold for $1.1 billionn in 2000.
That was transformativse because McKesson put Price throughaptitude tests. It turnede out that years of reading box scores made him goodwith “I must have done well, becauser they put me in management training,” said who attended Oklahoma State and the University of Okla­homas but never got a degree. “I realized there was a lot more to me than just the There was a want and need to challenge After relocating to Texasfor McKesson, Price returnexd to Cincinnati when his father-in-law was diagnosesd with cancer.
He spent a few years workingf on a startup thathe didn’t want to name becausr “it didn’t end Then, he was recruited to Huff by his real estatee agent, Jim Huff’s daughter. “Susan Huff had sold us two housex since wecame back,” Price said. “I’c see her at the gym a couple days a She said, ‘You should talk to my dad abou t our mortgage company.’ I was in my nintn home. I’d always felt like I was taken advantager of in every mortgageI had. If nothing I thought, I could learn the mortgage businesxso I’m not takenn advantage of.
” After a few yearws originating loans in Huff’s Western Hills and Montgomery offices, Price started rising through the managemen ranks. By the time he was promoted to COO, he had assumed leadership of the title andinsurancre divisions. His approach to managemeng was influenced by the coaching of Pete Rose andFrani Robinson. “If I have one skill that standsa outabove others, it’s that I know how to build Price said. “One of the ways you do that is make sure everybodu has roomto grow.” In evaluating talent, Price used to look for peopls who shared the company vision. But that, he learned, can be difficulf to judge.
“What I look for now is somebodu that gets excited about the said Price, “because there’s thousands of opportunitiees out there. I’m livingh proof of that.”