“If there’s a place where I can find that I bring value and make positive change, I’m not going to sit on the sidelines.”

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Age: 33

Vice President-Leasing/Healthcare, Duke Realty Corp.

With the surname Tucker, Travis Tucker seemed destined to work in real estate.

“I get that all the time,” said Tucker, who is not related to the family that founded the locally headquartered F.C. Tucker Co. real estate brokerage, but instead is a vice president at Duke Realty Corp., where he handles health care projects in the Midwest.

While destiny may have had something to do with Tucker’s career, so did a used car he purchased from Jim Bremner, who at the time owned Bremner & Wiley Inc. development company. Tucker ended up going to work for the firm, which specialized in medical and surgical buildings. Six years ago, the company was bought by Duke Realty, where both he and Bremner now work.

Along the way, Tucker has built strong relationships with Mishawaka-based Franciscan Alliance, the parent of 14 hospitals including St. Francis Health on the south side. He works as Franciscan’s real estate broker as well as developer for the company’s transactions.

He serves on the board of St. Francis Hospital Foundation, where he is raising funds for a hospice house care facility and its general mission to care for the underserved and poor.

He just finished a term on the board of Paramount School of Excellence, a charter school in an economically challenged neighborhood on the near-east side.

Tucker plans to remain involved with the school, with a long-term goal of using his real-estate expertise to rehab some of the empty houses in the neighborhood for families of students, thereby stabilizing the neighborhood as well as the school.

He grew up in Pleasant View in Shelby County and attended Triton Central High School. He also attended Indiana University, before transferring to Indiana Wesleyan University to finish his degree in business management.•