After his stint as a Leatherneck, Jack began his sales career at age 21, peddling air conditioning equipment. An avid reader, he picked up a book by Napoleon Hill called “Think and Grow Rich,” which inspired him to become an entrepreneur and invest in a swimming pool company. However, his $8,000 investment, which he borrowed, was soon gone, and he was not able to pay the money back. The threats of a broken leg, compliments of the Mafia, changed his life.

In 1975, he found real estate when he was hired by Chase Manhattan Trust for a condominium building in Ocean City, Md. It was his first “workout,” but hardly his last. Indeed, after stories of his success at the Maryland shore appeared in various newspapers and magazines –there was no Internet or websites back then – numerous banks came calling to help them sell properties that had gone belly-up during the late-1970s real estate recession.

He has worked on 9400, the high-rise condo in Ocean City which he took from no sales to being sold out within three months; the Ocean Club in Atlantic City, a new two-building high-rise on the ocean which required keeping early clients emotionally attached until they could actually move into their apartments; the Representative, a slow-moving condo in Arlington, Va., built by former U.S. Rep. Joel Broyhill, and the former Trump Tower in Panama, a hard-sell combination hotel-condo despite its location on the Pacific Ocean.

Many of the hundreds of properties Jack has worked with over the years were in severe distress. Yet, he does not condone “fire sale” tactics. Instead, he used proven marketing methods, unparalleled experience, management insight, and connections to navigate market downturns and bring real estate projects to fruition. Capitalizing on a broad range of market conditions -- good, bad, and so-so – he has led and worked with brokers and teams all over the world to create impressive sales velocity.

Way back when, Jack was part of the very first Super Sales Rally, which is now an annual event at the huge, 100,000-plus attendee National Association of Home Builders’ convention and exposition. At a subsequent rally, this one in San Francisco, he was introduced by the legendary Bob Shultz, who is no slouch himself when it comes to sales training, as the “Sales Manager’s Sales Manager,” and that handle stuck. Shultz pointed out that Jack’s claim to fame was not as a platform speaker, as are many of the circuit-rider professionals who traveled the trade show loop. Rather, his reason for being on the dais that day was that he possessed the in-the-field experience and knowledge that the workshop theorists did not have.

While justifiably proud of all he has accomplished, his “proudest moments” came when he testified before Congress on behalf of the NAHB on numerous housing topics and represented the industry and its trade group on the syndicated Maury Povich Show, where he was interviewed on the topic of condominium conversions.

A member of the NAHB’s Institute of Residential Marketing for more than 25 years, his accomplishments have been chronicled in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, and the Washington Post, as well as such business-centric publications as Fortune, Forbes and Success Unlimited. But his success has extended far beyond the housing sector. With accountability as his magic elixir – always accountability – he also has performed for the likes of Toyota, Denny’s restaurant chain, and Harrah’s Casino, among numerous others. One of his favorite campaigns – “Phenomenally successful,” he recalls -- was with Comcast. He worked with 15 sales regional managers, who went back to their respective districts where they, in turn, relayed what they learned from the zen master to their own sales personnel.

“I used to think I just worked harder than anyone else,” Jack says. “But it was more than that. What also drove me was my deep-rooted fear of failure, among other things. It made me hold people accountable, to keep their feet to the fire. After all, if they are successful, you will be, too.”