Estate manager of year discusses job success By David Rogers - Palm Beach Daily News Staff Writer
Palm Beachers want—and usually get—the best of everything. Apparently, one island household has the best estate manager in the country. On Sept. 29, the Domestic Estate Manager Association honored Palm Beach major-domo Richmond Schmidt with its Private Service Professional of the Year Award. Michael Wright, association vice president, presented the award to Schmidt at a ceremony in Los Angeles. The association has about 1,500 members who work as butlers, estate managers, major-domos, personal assistants and private chefs in America, according to Wright. “Richmond is a consummate professional and embodies what a true professional in this industry should be,” Wright said. “He embodies our mission statement and the cornerstone the organization was founded on—integrity, trust and confidentiality.” An association board selected Schmidt from a large pool of contenders, Wright said. Schmidt distinguished himself in part by obtaining a far deeper level of training than is typical, he said. In addition to graduating with distinction in 2003 from The International Butler Academy in the Netherlands, Schmidt was certified in 2008 as a corporate etiquette and international protocol consultant by the Protocol School of Washington. He also earned a certificate in mixology and wine hospitality that year at the New York Bartending School. Also, he speaks Dutch, can design interiors and floral arrangements, take care of the elderly and children, and whip up elegant desserts. Schmidt, a 47-year-old native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who lives in Lake Worth, said he is humbled by the award. He has worked for his current employer for more than four years. “When an employer hires me, he’s getting back his time,” Schmidt said. “Time is of the essence to my employers. I do the mundane for them and I protect their privacy, which they’ve lost. I have the ability to set the tone in the household for happiness for the staff and happiness for my employers.” Wright agrees that confidentiality and discretion are central to an estate manager’s job.“When someone’s working in your home or on your yacht, they are going to hear every detail whether you want them to or not. It could be a lot of sensitive information related to business or the family,” Wright said. “It’s nobody’s business if someone’s doing a $5 million renovation in that home or if they are going to vacation in Australia.” Loose lips can put a family at risk for theft or worse, Wright said. The responsibilities of a butler, a major-domo and an estate manager sometimes overlap.“What one household calls a butler, another calls a major-domo,” Schmidt explained. “In my opinion, an estate manager manages multiple households and multiple systems of the household: the personnel and the physical system of the house—the heating, the cooling the security system, the maintenance of the house.” The traditional butler’s primary focus is the attending to the needs of the principals—the heads of the household, while also shouldering some management responsibilities, Schmidt said. A major-domo takes on the responsibilities of a butler and an estate manager, he said. As a major-domo, Schmidt serves the family at the dining table, attends to its other needs, and manages staff and outside contractors. His current position keeps him in Palm Beach, but working for a previous employer required him to shuttle between homes in Santa Barbara, Calif., upstate New York, Manhattan and St. Barts. While Schmidt said his employers respect his off time and give him time off when he needs it, Wright said many estate managers work 50 hours a week or more. Some are on duty virtually 24 hours a day, he said. “I don’t know one that works 40” hours, Wright said. The Domestic Estate Manager Association is working to define positions within the private service industry and is attempting to establish regulations that would keep employers from taking advantage of people who work in the industry, he said. “There are a lot of people paid incorrectly,” Wright said. Schmidt acknowledges he works long hours but said the job is rewarding. “Every day is different. I get a lot of satisfaction out of making a difference in people’s lives. I feel valued and appreciated by my current employers. And I feel I’m making a positive influence in their household,” Schmidt said. One thing the Palm Beach estate manager won’t do is tell tales about eyebrow-raising situations he witnessed earlier in his career. “I have a bucketload of stories, but there’s a tight lid on those,” Schmidt said. Discretion is just what you would expect from the estate manager of the year.