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

Christopher Gildea, Project Manager/Estimator

Christopher Gildea had been a sales representative for a local building supply company for over seven years. His responsibilities included maintaining customer base and establishing new accounts. He has strong knowledge of various types of construction materials and their uses. For three of those seven years he held the position of General Manager of Door Masters, a company division that specialized in hollow metal doors and frames as well as architectural builders hardware. The position handled sales, estimating and overseeing production.

Chris also worked for a local general contractor that specialized in commercial construction as well as some residential work. That work consisted of all phases of building construction; framing, millwork, drywall and concrete with a wide range of skills.

Chris has been active in the community for many years. A Board member for six years as well as Board President of Christmas in April/Rebuilding Together, a not- for-profit national charity that repairs housing for the elderly and disabled. He is a member of the Downtown Church Coalition and a six year member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Elkhart County.

You can contact Chris by phone: (574) 296-1312 or email at chrisg@thetiedemanngroup.com

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.

Sandy Trotter

Sandy Trotter joined FM Construction in 2005 in the AutoCAD Department.

Sandy brings FM Construction 35 years experience as a Draftsman, Project Manager and Product Engineer for such companies as Miles Laboratories, Klingler Products and Steel case.

Sandy will use his extensive experience to do AutoCAD Drawings, Plot Plans, Building Layouts and Elevations for FM Construction.  In addition, he will build and maintain a data base of Commercial Properties and Customers.

You can contact Sandy by phone: (574) 296-1336 or email at sandyt@thetiedemanngroup.com.

Saurabh Pathak,
Director, Special Projects

Saurabh Pathak joined the Tiedemann Group in January of 2006 with the responsibilities of researching and developing special projects which include Client Development, IT, and the Business Incubator Program. Prior to being hired full time Saurabh worked with the Tiedemann Group as an intern as part of the Notre Dame Internship Program in 2004. His responsibilities as an intern included reviewing and updating the Tiedemann Group business plan, and conducting market research studies for all group companies.

Saurabh has over six years of international work experience and has worked for several small businesses in the US and in India. His areas of expertise include business and corporate strategy, business development, marketing and international trade. He has worked for firms in the Information Technology, Import-Export, Advertising, Business Process Outsourcing, Commercial Real Estate and Construction industries. He is an MBA from the University of Notre Dame and is a Notre Dame Fellowship recipient. He also has a Masters in International Business from the Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Pune, India and Bachelors in Commerce with honors from the prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, India.

You can contact Saurabh by phone: (574) 296-1320 or email at saurabhp@thetiedemanngroup.com.

Pamela L. Showalter, Business Manager

Pam joined FM in 1996; her duties include Accounting and Financial Reporting for all of the individual FM Companies. She maintains asset and depreciation schedules for capital expenditures and oversees the Investments and banking operations, along with overseeing payables and receivables and payroll.

Prior to joining FM Companies, she was employed as the Office Manager for a children’s home, which treated the emotionally handicapped. She successfully computerized the entire operation including the inception of and preparation of the Annual Budget via computer and successfully computerizing all accounting functions with minimal funding.

Pam moved to California in the mid 80’s where she joined the staff of a large volume automotive franchise. She successfully “fought” General Motors on expired rebates she collected in excess of $35,000 “back” money. As Office Manager she handled payroll for all employees and sales reps via in-house processing on a huge mainframe computer system.

In 1976 Pam invested in a successful family business, where she became the Controller. The business, Showalter Buick-GMC grew and became one of the largest GMC dealers in the region during the late 70’s. The business continues to thrive today, under new ownership

Pam has had extensive training and education in a variety of areas including: GM Financial School, Dealer Accountant School, Accountant Operations, ICS Accounting Associate, Electronic Accounting, TRW Service Program, Word Perfect Advanced, CS Computer Basic Programming, Unemployment Management, and Business Management. At present, she is completing her degree in Accounting and Computer Information Systems. She is also working with Intuit on the testing of their Beta software for QuickBooks Pro.

You can reach Pam Showalter by phone at 296-1325 or email at pshowalter@thetiedemanngroup.com

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

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.