Nestor Robles, an associate broker with Benchmark1 Realty in Mountain City, is a man on a mission. He is working toward becoming a systems coordinator with certification as a security specialist in Computer Information Technology when he graduates from the Tennessee Technology Center at Elizabethton in June of 2011 following 20 months of study.
"I always wanted to learn about computers," said Robles, a native of the Dominican Republic who took a circuitous route across the United States before arriving in Northeast Tennessee four years ago.
Robles obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from New York Institute of Technology and worked for several firms in New York. At Queens Borough Community College in Bayside, N.Y, he studied mechanical technology, majoring in Computer Aided Design, after attending Florida State University in 1994. He is a graduate of John Bowne High School in Flushing, Queens.
"I found my way to Miami, Florida where I worked for several large developers as a project manager and design/construction supervisor. Along the course of doing business, I became familiar with bankers and financial institutions and eventually opened my own mortgage company," Robles said.
The development of a high end log homes project brought Robles to the mountains of Western North Carolina and Northeast Tennessee. "This area quickly captured my heart," he said.
The region, known as the High Country, is where he met his wife, Anneli Elizabeth, who is from Sweden. Like her husband, she, too, was captivated by the mountainous landscape which is often covered by a blanket of snow in the winter. At times, it resembles the snow-laden mountain passes in Sweden.
Robles said he utilizes the Internet to keep in touch with his father, who lives in New York, his mother, Violeta Gautreaux, and brother, who live in Florida, and with friends, clients and potential clients. Robles moved to the United States with his parents at age 11.
His father was Secretary to the President of the Dominican Republic and later a Foreign Legal Consultant in the U.S. "He taught me the value of family and instilled in me a strong work ethic. Mediocrity will not be tolerated" is the motto by which, he said, he and his brother live.
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426 Highway 91 / Elizabethton, TN
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