10 Things You Didn’t Know About Lennar CEO Rick Beckwitt
Rick Beckwitt is the current CEO of Lennar Corporation. He was appointed to the position in April of 2018 so he’s only been at the helm of the company for less than a year. It’s taken him a while, but he’s made steady progress in his career, working diligently and adding to his knowledge and skill set to achieve this level of expertise and professionalism. We looked into his history and learned some interesting facts that we’d like to share so here are 10 things that you didn’t know about Rick Beckwitt.
1. He started at a lower position with Lennar Corporation
Rick Beckwitt didn’t start at the top of the company, but he was hired in a leadership position. He came on board with Lennar in 2006. His first role with the company was as the Executive Vice President of the company until January of 2011. He oversaw all aspects of the operation and was promoted to the position of President in 2011. In 2016 he was also appointed as Director of the company and in 2018 was appointed as the CEO.
2. He was the owner of a company
Mr. Beckwitt was the Principal and Owner of EVP Capital, L.P. as well as A partner in a company called Partner of Encore Venture Partners II of Texas. He also served as the Managing General Partner for ENcore Venture Partners, L.P as well as Encore Venture Partners II.
3. He was an executive for D.R. Horton
Beckwitt began working at D.R. Horton in 1993. He was employed in a variety of executive officer jobs until July of 1996 when he was made the president of the company’s Investments Division. In 1998 he was moved to the Mergers and Acquisitions as well as the Corporate Finance department at Lehman Brothers Inc. In November he became the President of D.R. Horton Inc.
4. He served several director positions
Mr. Beckwitt has been employed in several Director jobs which helped to prepare him for higher level leadership positions. From 1993 through November of 2003 he spent ten years with Vectrix Business Solutions, Inc as a Director. From September of 2014 he was a Director of Eagle Materials Inc. and was made Director among other higher leaderships jobs at Lennar Corporation while serving as their CEO in 2018.
5. His company has had multiple complaints
Prior to assuming the position of CEO with Lennar, there were multiple complaints against the company for not building their homes up to quality standards. Some homeowners even became ill as the result of what they alleged was shoddy workmanship. One forum revealed a total of 80 defects in construction of new Lennar homes and they also claim that Lennar didn’t make any repairs for the improperly constructed homes.
6. Beckwitt received high praise from Horton
Mr. Beckwitt was referred to as the “acquiring mind” while employed with Horton. He was responsible for helping to build the D.R. Horton company with amazing growth through the acquisition of other companies. This was accomplished when he was the president of the company that grew into a $3.1 billion a year business. He was responsible for over a dozen acquisitions during his tenure.
7. He started out as a framer
When Rick Beckwitt first got into the home building industry it wasn’t as a team leader, a supervisor or executive. He started out as a framer. He started working in the industry while he was still attending high school in Englewood, Colorado. He truly understands all phases of the home building industry because he’s had hands on experience with the manual labor aspects since he was just a teenager.
8. Rick Beckwitt has a college degree
Even though he was working in the home building industry since he was a teen, Rick still saw the value in completing his education. After high school, he enrolled in the Claremont McKenna College in California. He studied in their economics and psychology programs. He earned his bachelor or Arts degree in 1981 and he graduated with honors.
9. He went to work remodeling after college
Upon graduation from college, Rick Beckwitt got right to work. For the next five years he had become a custom remodeler and home builder. He started out in Denver, Colorado and then he relocated to Maine.
10. He’s a family man
Rick Beckwitt met his now wife when he moved to Maine to start his new venture there. She has had a tremendous influence in his career as well as his personal life. Barb introduced him to some people she knew at Lehman Brothers. They were in the market for someone in the building industry. It was a good match because Rick learned a lot about investment banking from them in return. He worked at Wall Street for a while and specialized in the building products division of the corporate finance area and it was then that he met don Horton and began his long and successful career as an executive in the industry.
