Dress, Hannah’s own.
Hannah Lobdell: Digital Marketing & Brand Manager, NTS Development Company
Written by Dawn Anderson, Rocko Jerome and Taylor Riley | Photographed on location at the Frazier History Museum by Kylene White | Styled by Christine Fellingham and Melissa Gagliardi | Hair and makeup by Sarah Allen, Kassandra Cazares Aldana, Kayla Greenwell, Breanna Peters and Michaela Reeves
The field narrowed from over 400 nominations to 89 nominees and finally to the 16 award winners you will meet on the following pages. Representing each of their categories with distinction, your 2023 Most Admired Women bring humility, grace and a great capacity for change to their roles as leaders in our community. We asked each of them to reflect on how they got to this moment, what your votes and this award means to them and where their journeys might take them from here.
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Topping the votes for Young Women Executives is Hannah Lobdell, Digital Marketing & Brand Manager for NTS Development Company (ntsdevelopment.com), a full-service real estate company with apartment communities, commercial properties, and residential communities located across the Midwest and Southwest United States. For Hannah, this win is both humbling and empowering. “I’m beyond grateful to be recognized with such a captivating group of women who truly care about building up women to believe in themselves and chase their dreams. I’m motivated and reinvigorated to keep pursuing a life and career that brings value and inspiration to others.”
Hannah chooses to lead with grace. “I try to be someone who takes on all projects with a positive and enthusiastic attitude,” she says. “I think if we can control our thoughts – how we think, speak, and respond – and do so with kindness, we can live a more joy-filled and rewarding life.” A recent project of Hannah’s resulted in a big win for her company: Upton Oxmoor Apartments, one of NTS Development’s newest communities, was ranked in the top 1% in the nation for the J Turner Research ORA (Online Reputation Assessment) Power Rankings. “I was originally promoted to our corporate office to develop the brand and marketing campaign for this property, and the recognition for the time and effort I put in to make this project a success meant a lot to me,” Hannah says.
“I think if we can control our thoughts – how we think, speak, and respond – and do so with kindness, we can live a more joy-filled and rewarding life.”
The NTS marketing department is made up of only three people managing time-sensitive projects for 10.9 million square feet of real estate. “But what makes that so rewarding is I’m trusted by my team to use my knowledge and vision to get things done,” says Hannah. “My schedule is demanding, but exciting.” Sports played a major role in shaping Hannah’s identity. “I swam on a competitive swim team and was captain of a nationally-ranked field hockey team. That instilled in me the importance of being both a team player and showing up individually for my team.”
A double major in Marketing and Finance, Hannah spent two years in finance after graduation before moving to Thailand “to fulfill a desire to immerse myself in a new culture and push myself outside my comfort zone.” Returning to the US, she knew she wanted a career she could pursue with passion, challenges, meaning, and impact. “And today, in my career I have found exactly that,” she says. “I get to use my passion to capture the story of a brand or a community and share that with the world.”
Hannah’s definition of success is “being her authentic self in a world filled with so many voices and pressures.” She admires those who lead with purpose and humility. “Senior Vice President Greg McDearmon has been a wonderful mentor and boss who taught me that every challenge is just an opportunity to find a better way,” she says. “My friend and mentor Gregg McBride is a writer who taught me that my biggest struggles in life could be part of my biggest gift to give back to the world. Coworkers Ellen Bates, Director of Marketing at NTS, and Allison Zimmerman, Property Manager of Upton Oxmoor Apartments, have been my ‘work wives’ and two of the most incredibly talented women to work with in my industry.”
Hannah is inspired by her parents who are business owners and taught her the importance of passion and perseverance. Her fiancé is “the calm” to her storm. “He inspires me with his patience, humility, and servant’s heart. And he is a realtor, so we both share a similar passion for helping people find their next place to call home.” As for the road ahead, “I want to keep growing and learning, as both a leader in my industry and as a team member for my company,” Hannah says. “I’m an internal competitor and I want to continue to bring value and new ideas to my workplace and field. And I always want to be the reason someone feels welcomed, seen, heard, valued, loved, and supported.” — Dawn Anderson
