Meet our President's Award Winner Kim Keltner

As a senior relocation consultant, Kim Keltner is passionate about taking care of employees who are relocating. Getting them from point A to point B is a daily pursuit that brings her immense joy.

“It makes me happy to get up every morning and do my job,” she says. “I tell my kids to ‘get a job that makes you happy,’ it’s so important.”

Kim’s career in relocation spans 26 years, but her entrance into the industry had an unconventional start.

“It’s a funny story actually! I just fell into it,” she says. “I was very young and went on a job interview through a temporary agency. It was back in the day when the agency would hire you and send you to the job site with very few details. It was for an administrative position at an office about 15 minutes away. It turned out to be my mother’s new office. She was a realtor who had worked in relocation her whole life. The company she worked for, Prudential, had just moved their office and I had never been to it. I didn’t realize it was her office until I pushed open the glass doors and the receptionist said, “Kimberly, what are you doing here?”

“The position I was hired for was called an ‘admin’, but it was basically a relocation associate. The company ended up moving to Phoenix, but I decided not to relocate with them. One of the head directors I worked with told me I had a knack for this (as a relocation associate) and when she left to go to another company, she called me within a week and said, ‘I want you on my team.’ So that was it! I have been very blessed to be in this industry. I was recruited to work for another relocation firm after that and eventually ended up at Crown Relocation and then CRI.”

Q & A: 

What components make up a good team?

Respect for each other, a passion for the job, the same work ethic and commitment, and the same goals. That is one thing I love about CRI in general - their philosophies and their goals, especially for the future.

I also appreciate that although there are different teams within the company, who are working from various locations and doing different things, we are all working towards the same goal.

What are three critical traits a client should look for in a prospective relocation management company?

Knowledge of the industry, honesty and integrity, and partnership. The client will lean on us, and there must be trust, honesty and knowledge to build that partnership.

If you could go anywhere, where would you relocate to?

I’m very family oriented so I’d have to include all my family and pick them up and take them with me! That’s a hard question because I’m a beach girl and love the Gulf Coast and the Destin, FL area. I also love Savannah, GA. And then I love the mountains, especially Red River, NM - a log cabin there would be really nice. So, it’s either the water or the mountains, with all my family!

What’s either the best advice you’ve ever received or worst advice you’ve ever received?

Good advice: Stay true to myself and my beliefs.

Bad advice: When people say, “It’s not my job…” That is something I hear a lot and it isn’t true. Everything in life is “our job.” I don’t think you will get anywhere in life with that attitude. It’s negative and brings morale down - it just brings everyone down. I want to be a better person than that. I want to give 100% to everything I do.

Tell us something you’re excited about.

I’m really excited about my future with CRI and where we are going. I appreciate how they want you to succeed and their outlook on everything we do.