Kelly Avery, an associate professor of practice in property management in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, has been named the Residential Property Management Advisory Board Professor in Honor of Dr. Rosemary C. Goss by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The Residential Property Management Advisory Board Professorship in Honor of Dr. Rosemary C. Goss was first established in 1995 by the members of that board to recognize an outstanding teaching scholar in the field of residential property management. In 2018, the professorship was renamed in honor of Rosemary C. Goss, the faculty member who established the program in 1986 and served as an educator and advisor to more than 500 undergraduate students during her 41-year career at Virginia Tech.

Recipients of the professorship hold the title for a renewable period of five years.

Avery has worked in the field of property management for 13 years. She started her career in public housing in 2005 as a property manager with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Carbondale, Illinois, while working as an instructor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

In 2007, she moved to the private sector with Dranoff Properties in the Philadelphia and southern New Jersey markets. In 2011, Avery joined AIMCO in New York. Her roles there included community manager and director of leasing and sales for the New York City market. Eventually she led operations for an 800-unit, multi-site portfolio as general manager.

From 2015 until 2018, Avery worked for New York City–based Realty Operations Group, where she was leading operations for various assets with an overall 1,700-unit portfolio in Lower Manhattan.

Her extensive and diverse experience in property management includes different regional markets, company cultures, and market segments as well as broad multifunctional experience in operations, vendor management, and leasing. Avery brings this experience to the classroom and in her work as a student advisor. She also engages with industry through the program’s internship program and career guidance.

Avery received her bachelor’s degree from Marshall University and a master of public administration degree from the University of Kentucky.