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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 45 Robert Klein likes to be at the center of the action, and that's exactly where he orbited for the first 20 years of Safeguard Properties. Starting in 1990, he grew the company from a two-person basement office into the largest privately held mortgage field services business in the U.S., a $600 million business with nearly 1,000 employees. In 2010, he assumed the titles of founder and chairman and turned the reins over to his son-in-law, Alan Jaffa. Today, Jaffa and his executive team have propelled Safeguard into a billion-dollar property preservation specialty firm with more than 1,700 employees. Safeguard is now responsible for the preservation and maintenance of roughly 400,000 properties nationwide and in all of the U.S. territories for a number of blue chip financial services companies. e goal from day one has been to resolve their clients' problems and protect their properties in a way that helps preserve their communities and set the model for the entire industry. THE LEGEND OF THE NEW YORK CAB DRIVER Raised in Brooklyn, New York, after his family emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary when he was three, Klein dropped out of high school to travel the world and find his own way. He returned with fond memories of his adventures and the love of his life, his wife, who he'd met while living in Israel. e couple moved to Brooklyn to get married. Lacking a college degree and any specific career training, he borrowed money from his father to pay for a New York cab medallion and drove a taxi for five years. "I knew how to drive, okay?" Klein declares. When Klein's uncle in Cleveland offered to sell him his produce unit at the Northern Ohio Food Terminal, he and his wife relocated to the North Coast in 1977. He grew the business into 13 units, but after as many years of toiling from 2 a.m. to 9 p.m. and missing events with his growing family, the self-proclaimed workaholic decided to sell his business and "retire." Over breakfast a few months later, his wife gently advised her high-energy husband that while she loved him dearly, perhaps their relationship would last longer if he were to find something to keep him occupied and out of the house during the day, like a new business. C O V E R S T O R Y / C H R I S T O P H E R J O H N S T O N Celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, Safeguard Properties transformed what was once a small niche in default servicing into a billion dollar business. COVER STORY INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT TO BOARDROOM BASEMENT

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