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One Elective Course Put Jason Queen on Path as a Real Estate Entrepreneur

It was sheer curiosity that led Jason Queen to take his first entrepreneurship course while an undergraduate at North Carolina State University.

That put him on a career path that has included a leadership role in the revitalization of downtown Raleigh, N.C., the launch of his own business, and now, the continuation of his education in the NC State Poole College of Management’s Jenkins MBA program.

Queen began his professional career as an executive chef at a number of four star restaurants. Desiring a change, he enrolled in NC State with the initial intention of receiving a bachelor’s degree in parks, recreation and tourism management.

As part of an elective entrepreneurship course in Poole College, Queen developed a business plan for a real estate development company. Based on his work in that course, he secured a role as a research assistant for the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, focusing on revitalization initiatives. He also switched his studies to Poole College’s business administration degree program.

Queen was then hired to work as director of marketing and research for Kimball & Company, a commercial real estate firm in Raleigh. As director, Queen conducted an analysis of the Southeast based on a number of investment criteria and aided in the completion of over $13 million in real estate transactions.

While still working with Kimball & Co., Queen also founded his own company based on the business plan he created in that initial entrepreneurship course. Called Raleigh Restorations, Queen’s company serves as a “capital allocator,” identifying investment opportunities for his clients. For example, he was able to turn around a $13 million property within a 30-day window for one of his clients.

Despite his successes, Queen said he realized he still had a knowledge gap.

“I knew an MBA from NC State would take me to the next level, which is where I wanted to be,” Queen said. Now, as a Jenkins MBA student, Queen has continued his business endeavors while specializing in real estate transactions, taking advantage of the University of North Carolina (UNC) system’s inter-university network. That network enables him to take additional real estate business courses at UNC at Chapel Hill.

He remains true to the school that set him off on his entrepreneurial journey, though, and has already been giving back by co-teaching an undergraduate class on pro forma analysis at NC State.