After running a successful commercial real estate agency and selling it, Tom Doran knew it was time for a change.

The Doran Commercial founder had spent the past 16 years building his business and was now in the hunt for a new opportunity.

It came in the form of an Associate Director position with commercial agency Burgess Rawson, which allowed him to take his talents to Sydney and work on a larger scale within the Sales, Leasing and Projects team.

After nearly two and a half years, he was offered the chance to develop his skills further, this time within a new industry.

Mr Doran's long-time friend and General Manager of Sales at Strata Energy Services, Jade Kyling, reached out earlier in the hope of recruiting the property professional, setting in motion a career switch that has since moved in leaps and bounds.

As Business Development Manager at SES, Mr Doran assists with the tendering of electricity to retailers, so they may be able to receive cost-efficient supplier contracts.

He said the rapid evolvement of the sector meant he had been able to grow with his role.

"The industry is young and fun, it reminds me of when I started in property in 2001," he said.

“I know from managing shopping centres for owners that common area electricity was the last thing on my mind as the managing agent as we were too busy dealing with vacant shops, arrears and repairs”

“I would have loved to have someone like me to call back then."

Mr Doran said it had been nice to help companies significant amounts of money on their electricity against the background of the pandemic.

“With Covid19, most companies have made significant cuts to staff and expenses but we have had some really big wins for our clients lately," he said.

"We recently saved a commercial client 25 per cent off their electricity bill or $201,000 p.a and a strata manager 19 per cent or $108,000 p.a."

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