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When it comes to climbing the ladder of success, Jan Robertson knows each and every rung.

Robertson now sits in a key leadership role at Norris, Beggs & Simpson Financial Services after becoming the first woman to be named the firm鈥檚 CEO earlier this year. But she鈥檚 quick to point out that she鈥檚 also an example of someone who has moved 鈥渇rom the bottom to the top鈥� of the commercial real estate world.

Her education was focused on art, music and theater, but she didn鈥檛 graduate. Instead, she took a business course that helped her get a job as office manager in a small company in Walla Walla, Wash.

鈥淚 learned that collections is part of business,鈥� Robertson said.聽鈥淚f the money doesn鈥檛 flow, the doors close.鈥�

That job taught her a valuable lesson that she said she has used to guide her career: 鈥淢en and women succeed doing jobs others won鈥檛 do and (doing those jobs) well.鈥�

She joined NBS in 1981 as a property loans secretary at a time when few women were in the industry.聽By paying careful attention to the essential elements of finance and real estate 鈥� risk management, litigation, leverage and detailed analysis 鈥� she rose through the ranks.

Her performance was critical to the firm weathering the real estate collapse in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She was named a partner in the firm in 1993 and became the firm鈥檚 CFO in 2005.

Robertson鈥檚 star continued to rise with her involvement in industry organizations, including the Institute of Real Estate Management and the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties (for which she was named the Oregon chapter鈥檚 first woman president in 2008). She has balanced those activities with involvement through leadership positions in several arts education groups, including Young Audiences and the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Despite her success in the financial industry, Robertson doesn鈥檛 define herself solely by her business titles.聽She is an avid art collector and a tireless promoter of the arts, especially for young聽people.聽She enjoys taking on a role as mentor to young associates in the business and seeing them develop.聽Her two daughters held part-time jobs with the firm growing up so that they had exposure to business operations in real life to supplement the educational directions they were choosing.

Growth is even a factor in her hobby of gardening.

鈥淚 like to get my hands dirty,鈥� she said. 鈥淪eeing things bloom makes it worth the effort.鈥�