From Trulaske to Texas triumph: Entrepreneurial mindset leads Mizzou alum to Hall of Fame success

As chairman and founder of Provident, a Dallas-based team of real estate and financial service professionals that’s developed more than $6 billion in real estate projects, Leon Backes (pronounced BACK-Us), BSBA ’79, has earned the respect of his peers, having been inducted into the North Texas Commercial Real Estate (NTCAR) Hall of Fame. While he’s racked up success and honors in the Lone Star State, he traces his roots to the University of Missouri’s Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business.

You’ve had a long and storied career in Dallas, but you grew up right here in Missouri. What town are you from originally?

Backes: I grew up in Osage City, Missouri, which is a very small town (250 people when I was growing up) near where the Osage River and Missouri River meet. It’s about 15 miles east of Jefferson City. I went to a small Catholic grade school in Taos, Missouri, and Jefferson City Senior High School. I’m the oldest of nine kids.

 Do you remember anything in your childhood that first sparked your entrepreneurial spirit?

Backes: My dad and my uncle owned a gas station/truck stop at Apache Flats (just west of Jefferson City). My first job was washing dishes at the diner next door to the gas station the summer after sixth grade. After that I worked at the gas station on weekends and when I got my driver’s license worked every night after school till 11, saving money for college. I saw my dad and uncle work every day running a small business, dealing with customers, employees and suppliers. They were entrepreneurs and believed the customer was always right!

What led you to Mizzou?

Backes: I was really fortunate. My grade school class was the same 32 kids for the entire eight years. There were only five of us that went to Jefferson City High School where the class was 480+ kids.  It seems like I spent a lot of high school trying to figure out where I fit in. I was lucky enough my junior year to find a group of guys that were intent on going to Mizzou. Before that I thought that would have been too big a leap and probably financially impossible. None of my family had ever gone to college before (my world was pretty small back then). I decided if my friends could do it then so could I. From then on, I just figured it out.

You put yourself through college. What kind of work did you do while you were in school?

Backes: I had lots of jobs. In the summer I worked for a railroad construction company, a roofing company and painted apartments. During the school year I drove a school bus, was a bank teller for Boone County Bank, worked for the Columbia Daily Tribune (I was in the ad department and later had a newspaper route), and I was a janitor and worked for Eastgate Party Shop.

Did that investment in yourself influence how you viewed your education?

Backes: Yes. I always felt I wanted to experience more of the world than the small town I grew up in. My education at Mizzou allowed that to happen and completely changed the trajectory of my life. 

What inspired you to head to Dallas?

Backes: I’m dating myself, but I actually graduated Mizzou and moved to Texas in the spring of 1979. Late my junior year at Mizzou the business school had a career day. I had taken a real estate class as an elective and for career day the professor had a young guy who worked for a real estate developer in Kansas City come in to talk to the class about what he did. He explained how he developed a grocery-anchored shopping center in Washington, Missouri. For me it was like a lightbulb went off. I felt like this was something that was exciting and that I could be good at. From then on, I was determined to get into the commercial real estate industry. 

The spring of my senior year I started cold calling commercial real estate firms in Kansas City trying to find some way to get my foot in the door. There was a recession going on at that time and I kept getting turned down. Finally, I went in for my second interview with Coldwell Banker Commercial (now CBRE). They told me that although they really liked me, they just didn't hire kids right out of school. I was sure I was about to get another rejection … but then they said their regional office in Houston had a training program that hired a few recent grads every year, and that if I was willing to travel to Houston and interview, they would give me a recommendation. I drove to Houston, interviewed with their regional managers, took a lot of personality tests and a couple weeks later got a call that said if I wanted to move to Houston, I had a slot in the training program…then they told me it paid a whopping $750 a month! 

I spent a year in Houston. When the training program was wrapping up, I could have moved anywhere CBRE had an office. I chose Dallas. That decision led to a successful, decades-long career in commercial real estate. 

What is it that excites you about what you do?

Backes: It’s a tough business but an exciting business. You get to see how hard work, perseverance, creativity, and measured risk taking can pay off … both financially and by seeing real tangible projects happen.

I understand you have an art studio in your home. Are people surprised when they learn about your interest in art?

Backes: The people that have known me a long time, maybe not so much. My mom always had some art project going when I was growing up. When I was a kid, I would enter the weekly drawing contests in the Jeff City newspaper and won a lot of them. In high school I took all the art classes offered and actually had a scholarship for art at Central Missouri State [now University of Central Missouri] in Warrensburg. I chose Mizzou and business school instead. 

I think the people I meet now in a business environment might be a little surprised at first but if you visit our office, you’ll see a lot of the pieces I’ve done on the walls.

What type of art do you enjoy creating?

Backes: I paint large-scale oil paintings … mostly landscapes but also some portraits. Usually with a lot of interplay of light and color.

How does that creative outlet help drive your professional accomplishments?

Backes: The creative process that goes into creating art and creating real estate are more similar than most people think. With both you get to imagine and create things in your mind before it actually gets physically created. Whether creating art or buildings you need to plan what you are creating before you start actually painting or building. With real estate there is also a lot of financial creativity that goes into any project.

When creating art, a lot of times you see things in a way that others might not. Some of my most rewarding real estate projects were when I was able to see something about a project that others might have missed. 

The other aspect of painting is that when I’m doing a painting, it allows me to escape the stress of business. I can get into a “zone” and the time flies by.

What influence did your Show-Me State roots have on your career?

Backes: I think the things I learned growing up helped a lot in business in my business career. Show up, work hard, a lot of success is about perseverance. When you have success, don't get too full of yourself!

Do you get back to campus often?

Backes: Living in Texas, not as often as I’d like.  I try to get back for a football game in the fall. I’ve still got a lot of family in Jeff City, so if I’m there I try to come by campus. I’ve also had some friends that stayed in the Columbia area so sometimes I’ve stayed with them.

If you could give your college self some advice, what would it be?

Backes: Study more…party less!  Dream big and believe in yourself.  You can do anything you set your mind to. Success comes to those who persevere.

How did the Trulaske College of Business empower you in your professional journey?

Backes: The courses I took at Mizzou gave me a good foundation for my career.  The courses I took were very relevant. I think I came out of Mizzou pretty well prepared for the business world.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Backes: I learned a lot both academically and personally during those four years. It expanded my world. I will always be grateful.

Mizzou’s Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business prepares students for success as global citizens, business leaders, scholars, innovators and entrepreneurs by providing access to transformative technologies, offering experience-centered learning opportunities and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset.