Gerry Gehlen is a prairie boy, born and raised in various small towns in Saskatchewan. His traditional small town values led him to join the RCMP at the young age of 19. His 25 years of service was all in Alberta – during which time he married Brenda, his wife of 40+ years, raised three children, and now boasts of many grandchildren.
As a part of raising his children and contributing to the communities he lived in, he coached/managed/volunteered extensively, to such an extent he received a provincial award for his community service in 1989 – along with receiving several other minor awards over the years.
While enjoying his service in the RCMP, around the 20 year mark he started researching a second career – realizing that the strains of policing were encouraging retirement within a few years. In-depth personal analysis/research reflected a strong aptitude with numbers, economics, visual structure and analytical thinking, which lead to selecting the real property appraisal field as his second career.
He retired from the RCMP in 1998 and started working full-time to achieve a recognized designation with the Appraisal Institute of Canada (AIC). His strong aptitude and genuine interest in the field led to his obtaining his AACI designation in near record time.
After having worked as a contractor and part-owner of a previous appraisal business, Gerry opened Atlas Appraisal Services in 2007 and has been serving a large of part of Alberta and Saskatchewan ever since.