Carl Tiedemann CPM, SIOR

A. Carl Tiedemann is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tiedemann Group. He was one of the founding partners in the original company FM Property Management in 1978. FM Property Management was a full service property management company specializing in the mangagement of commercial and industrial office and manufacturing facilities. Mr. Tiedemann's entire professional career has been spent in the ownership development and management of commercial and industrial real estate.

Mr. Tiedemann is active in real estate industry affairs, being a recipient of the Certified Property Manager (CPM) designation. Mr. Tiedemann is active in community affairs as well, having served on the board of directors of the Samaritan Center of Elkhart, Elkhart Center, Inc.

You can contact Carl by phone at 574-296-1311 or email him at carlt@thetiedemanngroup.com.

Chris Sears, General Superintendent

Chris joined FM Construction in October 2006 as General Superintendent. He has over 15 years of Construction Industry experience which includes overseeing large projects as a site manager and as a superintendent.

Chris is proficient at estimating, purchasing and project scheduling on a wide variety of projects including commercial, industrial, institutional and government projects which he will manage for FM Construction. He has been an entrepreneur and has worked in sales. This experience has enabled him to develop customer management skills, traits that are invaluable to FM Construction and critical for our continued growth.

You can contact Chris by phone: 574-202-1122

John Babcock,
Project Manager/Estimator

John Babcock joined FM Construction Company in 2004 as a Project Manager and Estimator.  John’s responsibilities include preparing bids for a variety of commercial construction projects and managing the project from beginning through completion.  John has a wealth of experience in interior construction.  Prior to joining FM Construction, John worked as a project manager for an interior construction company in Mishawaka, Indiana.  He was responsible for estimating and managing the construction and renovation of commercial construction projects.  John has experience in the structural steel industry and has worked in construction management.  John has a degree in management from Purdue University. 

You can contact John by phone: (574) 296-1314 or email at johnb@thetiedemanngroup.com.

Douglas Zachary,
Superintendent of Operations

Douglas Zachary joined FM Construction Co. in 2007 as Superintendent of Operations.In addition to having 14 years experience as a construction superintendent, Doug’s other qualifications include being a team member and instructor in the Army Special Forces, earning a degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland and being awarded the highly coveted ‘Master Carpenter’ designation from the Bavarian Technical School of Carpentry located in Wurzburg, Germany in 1993.
Examples of past projects are the Hampton Inn in Warsaw, Indiana, American Axle in Three Rivers, Michigan, South Bend Orthopedic Center, in South Bend, Indiana and an 1100 unit apartment complex in Berlin, Germany.

You can contact Doug by phone: (574) 215-5710

Karen Freshour, Executive Assistant

Karen Freshour joined FM Construction Company in 1998 to assist with administrative duties. Some of Karen’s responsibilities include marketing research, data base maintenance, customer service, web site maintenance and accounting assistance.

Originally from upstate New York, Karen served 4 years in the United States Marine Corps as a Communications Center Operator stationed at Camp Pendleton, California and Okinawa, Japan. Upon completion of service from the Marine Corps, Karen moved to Indiana and started working as a production manager for a small manufacturing company specializing in orthopedic products. In addition to serving as production manager, she handled all accounting responsibilities for the company. Many of her skills were learned on the job and through supervisory development courses at Notre Dame University and Goshen College.

You can contact Karen by phone: (574) 296-1313 or email at karenf@thetiedemanngroup.com

Gary Slabaugh, Controller

In 2008 Gary Slabaugh joined the Tiedemann Group as Controller for the company after serving for three years as controller at Schwartz Electric in Wakarusa. Prior to that he was an accounting manager for Adorn Inc., Elkhart, and an accountant for Nutritional Blending, New Paris. In this position, Slabaugh will be responsible for overseeing the financial activities of all of the companies in the Tiedemann Group. Those include A.C. Tiedemann Inc., Tiedemann Realty Services, FM Stone Commercial and FM Construction Co.,and various other investment companies.Born and raised in Nappanee, Gary earned majors in business and accounting from Bethel College, Mishawaka. He graduated in 1994.

Contact Gary Slabaugh by phone 574-296-1325 or email at garys@thetiedemanngroup.com

Susan A. Garman, Accounting Clerk

Sue joined FM Construction in June of 2002 as an Accounting Clerk.

Her duties include accounting and financial reporting for all individual FM Companies. Prior to joining FM, Sue was employed with Do Group Holding, Inc. for 23 years. At Domore she administered the group health plan, processed workman compensation claims and did account reconciliation and analysis. The Domore Company was sold in 2002, which eliminated her job. Sue was a graduate of Concord High School in Dunlap. She also attended IUSB where she took accounting courses.

She is a member of the Foster Care Program. Through the years she has fostered children and continues to maintain her license.

Contact Sue by phone: (574) 296-1318 or email at sgarman@thetiedemanngroup.com.

Elizabeth Carris,
Licensed Property Management Assistant

Elizabeth Carris has been a part of The Tiedemann Group since 1996. She joined the family business as a part time assistant in the marketing department while attending classes at Indiana University, South Bend. She has since been involved in several different areas of The Tiedemann Group.

Her past accomplishments at The Tiedemann Group include a major project that involved successfully creating and implementing a ground/maintenance proposal for several properties in Elkhart County which included Elkhart city’s two business incubators.

While mostly working with The Tiedemann Group during the past ten years she did leave to work at the Oaklawn Psychiatric Center and at the Elkhart Clinic for a brief period of one year in the cardiology department. At both companies she gained invaluable management experience as a scheduler.

Mrs. Carris currently is responsible for and specializes in contact data base management, list management, direct mail campaigns and other administrative and general office duties for The Tiedemann Group. She obtained her real estate license in June of 2006 and also works as a licensed assistant for A.C. Tiedemann, Inc.

Contact Elizabeth by phone: (574) 296-1326 or email at elizabeth@thetiedemanngroup.com.