Cardinal Group Celebrates Allyson Williams’ 10 Year-Journey at Cardinal Group

At Cardinal, our culture embodies many different elements: it’s about improving as a team while having fun growing together both personally and professionally. Our team members are the heart and soul of our culture! We are so grateful for the efforts our team members put in daily to go the extra mile to help change the industry and challenge the status quo.

Today we’re celebrating Allyson Williams and her dedicated years of service to the growth of our team over the last 10 years.

Learn more about Allyson’s journey below!

What is your role?

Sr. Corporate Compliance Analyst

Describe your Cardinal Journey.

Like most people in property management, my journey started onsite in 2015 as a college kid trying to get discounted rent. I started as a Community Intern at a community in Lafayette, LA, where I continued to grow from a Leasing Team Member, Leasing & Marketing Team Lead and then Community Manager for a couple of years. In 2019 my property was sold and management taken in house, where I stayed on a Community Manager. Needless to say, I boomeranged back to Cardinal in July of 2020 as our pilot group of National Leasing Agents (pre- our awesome CX3 team!). From there, I found my niche and joined our shared services team as an Operations Analyst and then eventually made the leap away from Operations to the Legal & Compliance team. On the L&C Team I started as the Property Compliance Analyst and then mid-2024 switched to Corporate Complaince where I focus on risk management and strategy.

Who has been influential in your life, and how have they helped guide you?

Honestly, that is a hard question because there have been so many! I’d say over the last 2 years, I’ve looked up to Aylin Guven on out IT&Data team, and have tried to model her servant leadership approach. My team lead, Nick Puckett has also really helped me grow in my profession and role as a whole, I wouldn’t be where I am today without his accountability and trust. Lastly, Katie Terwilliger always brings the vibes, as in she talks me off the ledge and provides great advice in the balance of life and work.

What is something about the culture at Cardinal that you value or enjoy?

The work hard, play hard mentality is something that I love about Cardinal. We recognize that everyone is busy and working towards the same mission, but also take time to celebrate our wins as company and in real life.
Can you share a home office tip that has improved your work-from-home office experience? Don’t let being remote be secluding. You have to intentionally humanize your interactions. Talk about real life, celebrate their wins, connect on social media to see what their “real life” looks like. And when you do get to see everyone during an office visit it’s so much fun!

If you could spend a day in any department at Cardinal, which one would it be and why?

Transitions team I think…being a part of the client’s first impressions of Cardinal is a special privilege.

What is a skill you have developed during your career that you didn’t know you had?

Over the last year, I’ve really honed in my “what if” and “what then” way of thinking and it’s been a game changer in the L&C world.

What’s a memorable project or initiative you’ve been part of at Cardinal?

Honestly, my time as a National Leasing Agent was pretty incredible. I had the opportunity to work with all communities and portfolios and it was the start of our centralization efforts that have been wildely successful! I have also had a chance to be part of some pretty gnarly Turns which make for great stories!