Christopher Souza, president, CEO, and managing partner of Oasis Amenities, joins Sunny Ray to explain how he quadrupled the company's revenue in his first year by betting on his team and leaning on relationships built over a career in real estate development. Raised by two developers who never missed a game or event, Souza studied finance and sports management at UMass Amherst and earned his MBA at Babson before negotiating with high profile clients like Steve Wynn, Richard LeFrak, and Joe Lewis in his twenties. After leading Crystal Lagoons' US East division and spending four and a half years with Tavistock in Boston, he joined Oasis Amenities in 2022 to turn a promising concept into a market leading design build firm known for crystal clear Oasis Springs that bring beachfront style water features inland. He describes hiring key team members like Justin Ritama and Angela, expanding into sister companies Alter Strategic and Suzie Development, and building a servant leadership culture rooted in trust. The company's first spring, Sierra, opens soon in Parrish, Florida.
A Tampa developer explains how trust, servant leadership, and crystal clear springs helped him quadruple Oasis Amenities' revenue in one year.
What is Oasis Amenities and why should people care about what you're building?
Oasis Amenities is a design firm building thoughtful communities across the United States, from the West Coast through Texas, Oklahoma, and Denver to Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. We create amenities families can enjoy, especially our Oasis Spring concept, crystal clear bodies of water that form massive safe beach areas right where people live. It is an amenity like no other.
When you walked in, Oasis was still closer to a concept than a market competitive company. What did that actually look like day to day?
It really was a great idea from a group of talented owners who brought me in to expand it. It started as a collection of people trying to figure out how to build, operate, and engineer these amenities. I brought my development background to broaden it beyond springs into full communities, entry features, pools, and clubhouses.
You started negotiating deals at a young age with people like Steve Wynn and Richard LeFrak. What did being that young in a room like that teach you?
Age is just a number. I was meeting billionaires like Joe Lewis, Richard LeFrak, Jeffrey Soffer, and Steve Wynn, and learning how they think and what actually matters to them. On one call Steve Wynn asked how old I was because I sounded older. Negotiating with his team of attorneys taught me which levers to pull early in my career.
You grew up in a real estate development family. How much of what you do today did you absorb before you ever had a job title?
One hundred percent. Both my parents were developers and I watched them do everything from leasing and selling to building and lending. They never missed a game, concert, or event, and that showed me what mattered, being a family man while still working hard. Their example shaped my work ethic and made development the only path I considered.
What made you say yes to becoming Oasis Amenities' president, CEO, and managing partner all at once in 2022?
I'd been getting calls from big companies after leaving the lagoon business, and I realized once you've built a niche and people recognize you for it, it makes no sense to walk away. I joined Oasis to keep doing creative amenities and springs while also building Suzie Development to drive projects I could lead personally alongside other developers' work.
You grew revenue fourfold in your first year. If you had to point to one lever that mattered most, what was it?
It's our clients trusting us. There was no playbook, just picking up the phone and calling people I trusted and having them commit based on that relationship. When you say you're going to do something and deliver, people keep coming back. Exceed expectations and you're golden. Say something and deliver less and you're in trouble.
You said there's no greater superpower than creating incredible bonds with incredible people. Why does servant leadership work in a design build and construction business?
Real estate projects have twenty or twenty five disciplines working together, which creates a lot of finger pointing. We built Oasis as a design build umbrella so developers manage one point of contact instead of many. When clients asked for services we did not offer, like signage or interior design, we created sister companies like Alter Strategic and Suzie Development to keep quality in house.
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