Episode #33
Beyond the Resume with Andrea Kretchmer (The career you never planned)
Andrea Kretchmer’s career was never supposed to lead to affordable housing development—and that is exactly what makes her story such a compelling fit for Beyond the Resume. Andrea, a principal and founder of Xenolith Partners LLC, joins Chris Papa and Lisa Flicker to trace a career that began in science. After studying geology and earning a master’s degree, Andrea worked as an environmental consultant conducting soil and groundwater investigations. She later stepped away from her career for a decade to raise her family, volunteer in her community, and develop skills she would eventually bring into an entirely different profession. When she was ready to return to work, Andrea approached her father, longtime real estate developer Jerry Kretchmer, about working together. Their search for an opportunity led them to affordable housing, where Andrea could combine real estate development with the community-focused work she had grown to value. Her earliest projects included successful New York City RFPs in Coney Island and East New York—but the 2008 recession dramatically altered their plans and taught Andrea just how much patience development can require. Andrea also explains how she and Terry Belkas Mitchell founded Xenolith in 2016 and built a company around partnerships, complementary skill sets, and affordable and supportive housing development. She discusses the importance of earning credibility with lenders and investors, expanding into Connecticut, collaborating with nonprofit organizations, and maintaining what she calls a “pleasantly persistent” approach to the business. The conversation also explores Andrea’s strength as a connector: networking, mentoring younger professionals, participating in industry organizations, and helping others gain access to relationships and knowledge that benefited her earlier in her own career. Andrea closes by reflecting on returning to work after ten years away, recognizing life experience as legitimate professional experience, building teams with people whose skills complement her own, and acknowledging the mentors and partners who helped make her career possible. CHAPTERS (01:02) Building affordable and supportive housing through partnerships (03:31) From geology to environmental consulting (05:55) Stepping away from work to raise a family (07:26) Returning to work and discovering affordable housing (08:47) Winning Andrea’s first New York City development projects (12:06) Why affordable housing became the right career (16:59) Breaking into development and learning the business (19:50) Growing Xenolith beyond New York City (24:23) Networking, mentorship and the “people business” (28:25) What’s next for Xenolith (33:19) Returning to the workforce after a 10-year career break (36:05) The Beyond the Resume Hot Seat (38:44) What Andrea looks for in partners and colleagues (40:11) The people who helped shape Andrea’s career YouTube: https://youtu.be/g29vTeErK7I?si=nLAxxF93CSbvaL2e Spotify: https://bit.ly/beyondtheresume-spotify Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3I3nkG9
