Joint Healthcare Council and R&D Council Spring Conference

The Palace Hotel provided a wonderful backdrop for this year’s Joint Spring Conference held May 10 – 12, 2009.

Even in this challenging economy, when firms are pulling back on their travel and conference expenses, many IFMA members from throughout the country journeyed to San Francisco to participate in IFMA’s Spring Conference – a testament to the value IFMA builds into its conference programs.

The 75 attendees were treated to informative sessions, valuable networking, insightful facility tours, gourmet food and a series of incredibly beautiful sunny San Francisco days.

The move to hold both the Healthcare and R&D conferences together was a smart one, not only for economic reasons but because it gave the facility managers of two separate industries many opportunities to learn from each other.

Laura Ellington, JKL Construction Services

IFMA R&D and Health Care Councils Tour Genentech!

I recently attended the Joint Spring Conference 2009 of the IFMA R&D and Health Care Councils. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet colleagues and discover new and sustainable ways to operate, design and build Research and Development facilities. Participants heard and learned from industry leaders and saw new cutting edge buildings on biotech and healthcare campuses including Fibrogen's new Mission Bay Headquarters and Genentech's newest Biotech Laboratories in South San Francisco.

Attendees represented companies that operate research, healthcare, and clinical spaces. Also attending were architects, engineers, construction and other vendor companies that support the Global Healthcare and Research markets.

About IFMA R&D Council

The Research and Development Council is one of the many specialized groups of IFMA. The members are a diverse collection of individuals involved in R&D facility management encompassing a wide variety of industries (basic sciences, biotechnology, chemicals, consumer products, health care, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, telecommunications, technology, etc.). These facility professionals have the responsibility to effectively plan, design, construct, utilize and maintain a variety of buildings and facilities for their owners and clients.

About IFMA Health Care Council

The Health Care Council (HCC) consists of more than 550 hospital facility managers, design and construction professionals, consultants, vendors and students serving community hospitals, academic medical centers, children’s hospitals, retirement facilities, and specialty hospitals and clinics. As a council of IFMA, our goal is to holistically enhance the skills of facility management professionals within the health care industry and to further the profession overall. We host educational sessions and networking events at most of the national health care conferences.

About the Picture Above

Conference participants gather around the bronze statue that depicts the first meeting of Genentech founders Bob Swanson and Herb Boyer at Churchill's bar in San Francisco where they agreed to form Genentech. It has become a Genentech tradition to dress up the statues on special occasions and to drop coins into their cups for good luck.

Thank You San Francisco Chapter Volunteers!

A great deal of planning and coordination went into making this conference a success. Thank you to John Dilges, John Kennedy, Robyn Isom, Vik Bakshi, Albert Cusati, Homa Yazdani and all the others who participated in making this event a success.

Best regards,

Oscar

New Graduate Degree Program in FM at Purdue University!





I recently attended the IFMA Chapter & Council Leaders Workshop in Indianapolis, Indiana. The workshop was held at the IUPUI Campus. Here I learned that Purdue University offers a Masters in FM. Check it out!


Best regards,

Oscar Gomez

Masters in Technology: Facilities Management Emphasis

If you are currently working in the field of facility management (or have an interest in this career field) as a planner, property manager, plant manager, facility manager, plant engineer or other related areas you can enhance job opportunities while earning a formal credential sitting at your computer. This online program is designed for working professionals and can be completed in ONLY 2 years. You will share a virtual classroom with facility management professionals from around the world while earning a Purdue University degree. This is a unique program that will increase your knowledge and professionalism and therefore, your value as a facilities manager.

Description: The M.S. Degree in Technology, Facilities Management Emphasis is an on-line graduate program designed for the working student. The program provides an integrated experience in facilities management with emphasis on project and contract management, engineering systems management and energy management. The program also requires an independent direct project in the area of facilities management.

More information can be found at:

http://www.facmgt.engr.iupui.edu/

GOING GREEN THROUGH BENCHMARKING

Benchmarking your building is like having your doctor check your blood pressure. It tells you how you measure up against your energy management goals, so you know how to make improvements.

Commercial building owners and facilities managers around the nation are hearing the call to “go green.” In Northern California, Pacific Gas & Electricity (PG&E) is providing customers with a free Automated Benchmarking Service that works in conjunction with an online tool created by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) to track energy use. Now customers can easily get information that can help them save energy and money and protect the environment.

To create the most effective conservation plans for a building, facility managers need to know how well it performs currently, and how it compares to optimal targets or “best-in-class” buildings. PG&E’s customers who enroll in Automated Benchmarking Service get easy access to the benefits of ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager by authorizing PG&E to upload data automatically each month. Information is seamlessly entered into the online tool and participants receive a baseline and monthly update. This makes it easy to track water and energy use, calculate energy intensity, and track changes over time. Building owners can then better manage investment priorities and more precisely target buildings for efficiency improvement. It also permits them to monitor greenhouse gas emissions.

In 1999, the EPA launched a nationwide benchmarking tool called ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Based upon energy and water usage data building managers enter, it rates the energy efficiency of a single building or an entire portfolio of buildings. Customers receive a score on a scale of 1-100, which reflects a building’s performance against comparable buildings nationwide. Buildings that earn a score of over 75 (the 75th percentile) are awarded an ENERGY STAR label. Building operators receive a plaque that can be proudly displayed in main entrances or lobbies as an emblem of their commitment to conserving energy.

SAVE ENERGY AND MONEY
ENERGY STAR buildings are a proven market differentiator. According to Andrew Florance¹, president and CEO of CoStar, an information provider to the real estate industry, “Green buildings are clearly achieving higher rents and occupancy, they have lower operating costs, and they’re achieving higher sale prices.”

Commercial Real Estate properties that earn the ENERGY STAR label save $0.50 per square foot, on average². Additionally, they typically consume 35% less energy, have a higher occupancy/tenant retention rate, and a higher asset value upon sale.

Currently, Portfolio Manager supports over a dozen space use types, including many commercial buildings and wastewater treatment facilities, and the list continues to expand. The tool allows for changes in space use over time, and can accommodate various multi-use facilities.(The ENERGY STAR site includes separate rating systems for industrial buildings.)

1 "CoStar Study Finds Energy Star, LEED Bldgs. Outperform Peers.” March 26, 2008. Accessed at http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=D968F1E0DCF73712B03A099E0E99C679/.

2 “Summary of the Financial Benefits of ENERGY STAR Labeled Office Buildings." Kats and Perlman, 2006. Accessed at http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/publications/pubdocs/Summary_of_the_Financial_Benefits_23June06_FINAL.pdf.

MEET STATE AND INDUSTRY MANDATES
In the ten years since it was introduced, Portfolio Manager has become an industry standard, with over 8 billion square feet and 60,000 buildings rated to date. Many state and industry initiatives, including Assembly Bill 32 and California’s Green Building Initiative, rely upon Portfolio Manager Benchmarking. Notably, Assembly Bill 1103 requires owners of all non-residential facilities being sold, financed or leased after January 1, 2010 to disclose the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager benchmark score. Customers can also earn up to 15 points toward LEED certification based on their benchmark score.

LET PG&E HELP
PG&E’s free Automated Benchmarking Service gives customers an easy way to upload their monthly billing and usage data to Portfolio Manager. We also offer our trade allies workshops where they can learn to help customers create accounts. For more information on how you can partner with PG&E to increase your building’s efficiency, reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, and meet your energy management goals, visit http://http//www.pge.com/benchmarking.

Christine Tomeo for PG&E

For many of us, security is an ongoing daily concern. This really hit home last year for Anthony McDaniel when a man walk into his firm's reception area with what looked like a pipe bomb. The police were called and several blocks were cordoned off downtown. We are planning a roundtable on February 19th centered around security (location TBD). Come hear Anthony talk about what happened, what it was like, and lessons learned.

If you have security related tales to tell, shoot me an email and let's discuss adding you to the event. I can be reached at ty.whitehead@lw.com. It should be a great event with veterans sharing every day and extraordinary security experiences. Seasoned professionals and those just starting their careers should both get something out of this roundtable.

Chapter of the Year Task Force - Update

Thank you to the following chapter members for volunteering to participate on the Chapter of the Year Task Force.

Vik Bakshi
Albert Cusati
Stephen Pavelick
Homa Yazdani
Harshal Patel
Maureen Mcnertney
Thomas Szeto
Joel Pearlman
Medy Cabebe

The Task Force presented their findings to the Board on January 8, 2009. This is what they have been able to accomplish thus far:

- Examined Current Chapter Practices
- Compared these against Chapter of the Year Excellence Criteria
- Identified San Francisco Chapter Strengths and Gaps (Opportunities)
- Developed a Draft Road Map to Guide Chapter Improvement Efforts

The Task Force has identified 4 Key Focus Areas:

1) Update Chapter Strategic Plan and ensure Alignment with new IFMA National Strategy

2) Develop Strategies for each chapter committee and document & communicate to members

3) Establish quantifiable metrics to report results for strategies within each category

4) Clearly Link all Chapter activities to the chapter’s strategic plan

Next Steps:

- Update Strategic Plan by Feb’09
- Develop Committee Sub-Plans by Mar’09
- Start Executing Plans by Apr’09
- Submit 2009 CoY Application by Jun’09

Resources:

The task force team is now available to assist the Board with:

- Chapter Board Strategy Update Exercise
- Chapter Committees
- Other Ad-Hoc Task Forces that may be required


The Board Voted on January 8, 2009 to move forward with the following Actions:

1) Update the San Francisco Chapter of IFMA Strategic Plan
2) Establish a Chapter Volunteer Coordinator


Thanks to the volunteers who pulled all this together!

Oscar

Beyond the Trophy

Congratulations to the Sacramento and Silicon Valley Chapters for winning Best Chapter of the Year in their respective categories this year in Dallas. Winning an award such as this brings international recognition and prestige to the Chapter. However, the benefits to its members go beyond just brining home a trophy. In pursuing this goal these two Chapters have examined their current practices, benchmarked them against a criteria of excellence and taken action to continuously improve their operation in key areas such as:

· Membership Marketing, Retention and Mobilization
· Professional Development Programs & Seminars
· CFM Certification
· Student Outreach
· Chapter Communications
· Community Service
· Financial Fitness
· Volunteer Recognition & Succession Planning


The Journey is the Reward

All Chapters that embark in the pursuit of the Chapter of the Year award are winners. Just one will win the trophy, but all go through the process of examining their current practices and comparing them to the best and this leads to awareness of gaps and opportunities to improve Chapter operations.



Chapter of the Year Task Force

We are recruiting for a chairperson and member volunteers to serve in the Chapter of the Year Task Force. The charter of this ad hoc committee is:

1) Base-lining our current chapter best practices
2) Conducting a gap analysis and prioritizing improvement opportunities
3) Developing a two year Roadmap for closing those gaps


We are looking for people who are receptive to new ideas, exercise good judgment, take initiative and accept and follow through with assignments. Your commitment and involvement on this team will move our chapter toward the goal of achieving Chapter of the Year by 2010 and may serve as a springboard to greater leadership challenges at the chapter and international levels.

If you are interested in participating in this Task Force please send me an email at gomez.oscar@gene.com


Lessons Learned

The San Francisco Chapter submitted an application for this award. We didn’t win the trophy but, as one of the people who participated in preparing the submittal, I learned about all the great things we are doing and what it takes to be the best. We did not win this year but we obtained valuable feedback on areas we need to work on. We can also reach out to Sacramento and Silicon Valley for advice and support on our journey towards this goal.

Alignment with Strategic Plan

It is no coincidence that the areas of focus in our Strategic plan are in alignment with the Chapter of the Year award excellence criteria. If we execute our Strategic plan we will realize all the improvements required to be Chapter of the Year, and vice versa.

Chapter of the Year by 2010!

Chapter of the Year by 2010 establishes and sets a very specific goal for my term in office. It’s not about the trophy but to strive to improve the chapter and motivate our members.