LIFESTYLE n BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
Rick Singh: Striving to
Put Diversity Front and Center
S
ince being elected as Orange
County Property Appraiser in
2012, Rick Singh has strived to
put diversity front and center
in one of the county’s most important
government offices. Appraising property
for tax purposes, offering property tax
exemptions to assist homeowners with
saving money, and hosting a wealth
of important data on real estate and
commercial growth in Orange County,
the property appraiser’s office isn’t a
traditional agency in the sense of mayor
or even commissioner.
It’s one that works within the margins and
is needed when it’s needed, specifically,
for business and homeowners. Singh,
an appraiser, and realtor by trade
understood the importance of the office
and how it impacts taxpayers.
Working as an entrepreneur in real
estate before ascending to become the
county’s authority on property value,
Singh saw the inequities in both the
private and public sector and wanted to
work to correct them.
“We have 57 women in the office right
now, and four of them are in high-
level management positions. Our chief
operating officer; the second person
in charge in the agency, is a woman;
the person over human resources is a
woman, and the individual running our
commercial real estate department;
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a segment responsible for appraising
billions of dollars in commercial
property, is a woman,” Singh said.
“Coming in as property appraiser, I knew
that part of my job was to bring equity
to the table for those who are so often
overlooked due to their gender, race, or
sex. We still have work to do, but since I’ve
arrived, I’m proud of the diversity we’ve
brought to the office,” he continued.
Having strong leadership is important
to Singh because the office of property
appraiser operates with finite and strong
detail. Since 2013, Singh’s appraisers have
valuated over $720 billion in total market
value. That means that everything from
your home to the biggest theme park in
the county must be properly appraised. If
not, the office could be taken to court for
an incorrect property estimate.
When he first arrived at the office, Singh
did an internal audit of the valuation
practices of the agency and found
inconsistencies and issues. To correct
the problems, he turned to those who
were most qualified, and many of them
happened to be women.
“Each year we are tasked with balancing
a tax roll worth billions of dollars. We
can’t afford to get anything wrong. So, I
ensured that we had strong people who
could handle the responsibility of our
office. I didn’t look at that individual’s
gender, I viewed them based on
intelligence and merit,” said Singh.
Quickly realizing that he was sitting on a
wealth of talent, he moved to promote
women from within the office to fix some
of the issues he found when he arrived.
Often, we view diversity as another
APPRASER’S
He also knew that, as a minority, the
office was due for an injection of new
ideas. The efficient and smart way of
doing that is by promoting diversity of
gender and thought. Singh did that by
ensuring that women were elevated
when he arrived.