“If you’re not making dust, you’re eating it,” quips Bart Koontz. The business motto applies both figuratively and literally for the co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Koontz McCombs, LLC, one of Texas’ leading commercial real estate companies. With the ambitious, high-energy Koontz at the helm, the firm has helped develop or acquire more than 1.6 million square-feet of commercial property throughout Texas, from luxury office buildings to retail centers to 2,392 multifamily units.

Koontz’ exposure to land began during his childhood on a southeast Texas cattle ranch. “Growing up on a ranch had a great influence on my life,” Koontz says. “It introduced me to solid work habits and values, and a love of the land I still hold dear.”

But when it came time to go to college, Koontz was clueless about what career he wanted to pursue, and about where to go to figure it out. Fortunately, his mother had a few ideas.

“My mother really believed in a liberal arts education,” affirms Koontz. “She researched Southwestern and did all the work to get me in. She even accompanied me up to Georgetown my first day of school, which was also the first time I saw the campus. I’ll always be indebted to her for choosing Southwestern.”

Koontz’ Southwestern University experience not only gave him a great diversity of knowledge from which to draw, but also helped him learn how to get from point A to point Z successfully. “Southwestern taught me how to execute a plan in order to achieve a goal,” Koontz says. “This is great preparation for business because there are no shortcuts to the finish line.”

Yet, having earned his bachelor of arts degree in history, Koontz found himself still searching for the professional path best suited to his interests and skills set. Eventually, he decided real estate offered the best opportunity for success.

It was the right choice. Koontz began his foray into real estate as a broker with Cushman & Wakefield, the world’s largest privately held real estate services firm. He then spent 10 years at Concord Property Corporation, a leader in Central Texas commercial real estate. As senior vice president, Koontz not only developed large office parks and shopping centers, but also helped manage Concord’s $200 million real estate portfolio.

In 1993, Koontz co-founded HK Partners, Inc., which specialized in large retail properties. As president and stockholder, he helped develop more than 1.6 million square-feet of commercial space for national retail chains like Target, Office Max, Petsmart and Toys R Us. Then, in 1997, Koontz joined forces with car dealer turned business icon Red McCombs ’49 to create Koontz McCombs.

Koontz thrives on the art of the deal, and rejects failure as an option. “I don’t like to lose,” he confesses. “You show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.”

While Southwestern University has contributed to his success in many ways, Koontz says his learning curve out in the “real world” was rather steep, and he wishes he’d had more hands-on experience while he was still in school.

“I like the idea of internships,” he says. “There’s just no substitute for getting out and experiencing. Students should start their ‘real world’ education process early—talk to people who are in the business they’re interested in, consider a summertime internship, find a mentor. Getting out of the classroom to see how it is in the ‘real world’ is invaluable.”