Finishing a year away from school. I was small, so my parents kept me out of school to allow my body to mature before I entered eighth grade. That year was transformational. I was able to travel, including trips to China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and pursue studies on topics of interest to me like investing, computers and more. By the end of this year, I had also grown almost a foot taller.
When you graduated from high school, what did you think you wanted to be as an adult?
Exactly what I am doing now—investing in and growing great businesses. From an early age, I knew I was going to be an investor and would ultimately become a funding source for Christian and other social ministries in the U.S. and around the world.
Was there an event in the last 20 years that had a great impact on your aspirations and/or career path?
Getting married and having my first child a year later completely changed my focus on the important things in life. As a single person, it was quite easy to become enamored with material things. In addition, my faith in God had always been important, but I failed to make my relationship with Jesus Christ the most important thing in my life. Once I had a family, which includes a heavy responsibility to be the spiritual leader of that family, my order of priorities completely shifted.
Where/what do you want to be 20 years from now?
To have options. I doubt I will be working in the traditional sense, as I do not even really follow that kind of schedule now. I will likely have moved on from my current role and will be pursuing investments in companies both here in the U.S. and around the world, particularly those that create jobs, and providing support to effective social organizations that seek to transform the lives of those less fortunate.
Chairman and CEO, Mainstreet Property Group
Age: 34
Paul “Zeke” Turner says his work is all about transforming lives. As CEO of Cicero-based Mainstreet Property
Group, that means building health care facilities that provide quality, comfortable places for seniors and jobs for the community.
Outside of work, that means working with his wife to help people build strong marriages.
Turner began pursuing the goals at Taylor University. After graduating in 2000, he went to work at Salomon Smith Barney in
New York, always expecting to come back to Indiana to start an investment company. In 2002, he did just that, creating Mainstreet,
which invests in health care real estate properties “that deliver care in an environment that’s completely unlike
anything that might be out there,” he said.
Mainstreet now works throughout Indiana and plans to expand to five or six other states in the next 18 to 24 months. Turner’s
proudest achievement is the ongoing effort to revitalize an area of his hometown, Marion, by building not only a new senior
care facility (at what’s known as the Flinn site) but working with the city to develop a new park and upgraded roads.
“Our 7-acre project became a 250-acre impact project,” he said. “I have immense personal pride in the project,
because it’s not just about transforming health care but really improving the entire area surrounding it and creating
150 jobs in the community.”
When he’s not building Mainstreet, Turner and his wife of seven years, Milissa, work in marriage ministry—they
have five children and are Indiana Family Institute board members—and ultimately would like to improve adoption and
foster-care options for Indiana children.
“We think one of the greatest things you can give somebody is hope,” he said. “We know not all relationships
move along the smoothest road. But encouraging people to work and commitment and have hope for a better future is a great
gift to give somebody.”•
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