PCAPPA Blog

PCAPPA member in the news

PCAPPA’s own Nicole Sanderson is featured on the ARC Facilities website!

Once again, PCAPPA members are leading the charge in gaining recognition for the educational facilities profession.

Dec 2023 Member Spotlight: University of Nevada, Las Vegas

UNLV led a division-wide strategic plan that supports and informs Facilities Management, Planning & Construction, Real Estate, Administrative Services, Budget, and Financial Service departments. The emphasis on strategic planning is so important in helping individuals and teams align with the mission of clarity in their work. While the roadmap is fluid, that helps people keep on the path forward and provides a framework of how people will prioritize their time, effort, and resources.

The strategic plan work group includes: Chantel McDonald, Sarath Kraus, Dr. Michael Lawrence, Connie Gamble, Michael Wolfe, Alex Nikolich, Elise Bunkowski, Lori Church, Kahaunani Hernandez, Musa Pam, Laura Schneider, and Kim Case-Nichols. Learn more

Nov 2023 Member Spotlight: Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University cut greenhouse gases by more than 50 percent from 2007 levels in 2021, exceeding provincial interim targets and even topping the university’s Race to Zero targets. Learn more.

PCAPPA 2023 – 2024 President’s Message

PCAPPA is the driving force behind transformative, sustainable, and innovative solutions for collaboration between facilities managers, facilities administrators, academic leaders, business partners, and other campus stakeholders within the Pacific Coast region. As your 2023-2024 PCAPPA President, I will foster a thriving community of collaborative partnerships that advances the art and science of facilities management, creating resilient, efficient, and environmentally responsible campuses for the future.

Key focus and elements of this thriving PCAPPA community of collaborative partnerships will include:

1. A Collaborative Ecosystem: Functioning as the epicenter of a dynamic and interconnected ecosystem of collaboration that includes all educational institutions, industry partners, government agencies, and local communities, all working together to address the unique challenges and opportunities of the Pacific Coast region.

2. Innovation Hub: With our partners, be an innovation hub where members and business partners come together to explore, develop, and implement cutting-edge solutions in facilities management. Encouraging creative thinking and experimentation to drive progress.

3. Sustainability Champions: Lead and advocate for sustainable practices, guiding member institutions and partners in achieving the highest standards of environmental responsibility. Promote sustainable infrastructure and operations as a core value.

4. Resiliency Advocates: Commitment to member resilience, working collaboratively to share best practices.

5. Equity and Inclusion: A region where facilities management practices are inclusive, equitable, and accessible to all, actively promoting diversity within the profession, ensuring that marginalized communities benefit from advancements in facilities management.

6. Education and Knowledge Exchange: A hub for knowledge exchange, offering regional-specific resources, professional development, and the annual conference. Promote member-academia-business partner expertise sharing, collectively raising the bar of facilities management.

7. Community of Excellence: A vibrant community of professionals that continues to be dedicated to excellence in facilities management. Board and member support, uplifting each other through mentorship, collaboration, and recognition.

8. Data-Driven Decision-Making: Foster a future where data analytics and technology play a central role in facilities management. Promoting data-driven decision-making to optimize operations and resource allocation.

9. Responsiveness and Agility: Remain responsive to evolving challenges and opportunities, adapting to the changing needs of member institutions and partners, ensuring that collaborative efforts remain relevant and effective.

10. Global Impact: While rooted in the Pacific Coast region, expanding and maintaining our influence and partnerships globally, sharing expertise and learning from our experiences to others, driving innovation and progress.

This vision emphasizes PCAPPA’s role as a catalyst for positive change, promoting collaboration, innovation, sustainability, and resilience in facilities management within the Pacific Coast region and beyond. I envision a year where our collective efforts as a diverse and interconnected community lead to exceptional results in the field of facilities management.

Yours truly,
~ Dr. Ayodele Akinola
President, PCAPPA

2023 PCAPPA Conference

Our 2023 Annual Conference, “Navigating the Future, Charting a New Course,” was held September 24-26, 2023, at the beautiful Mission Bay Resort in sunny San Diego.

TMCC: A Facilities Commitment to Environmental Sustainability

by Dr. Ayodele Akinola, DBA, MBA, LSSBB, NCBITL, NCTITL
TMCC Assistant Director, Facilities Operations and Capital Planning

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the commitment of Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) to environmental sustainably from architecture to infrastructure in the creation and responsible management of a healthy environment is firm. Practical aspects of sustainability initiatives are imperative issues with visible impacts and environmental relationships (Sheard, 2001).

Our sustainability efforts are delivered through the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The commitments are crucial to the achievement of global climate goals in the mitigation of climate change.

They are deployed through various strategies that focuses on practices, partnerships, and initiatives, to confront the 21st century climatic challenges. These strategies are holistic and collaborative in scope, yet measurable, giving many benefits to students and the entire community. These sustainability efforts include:

Practices
Maintenance Department:
TMCC generates supplemental energy from solar arrays across three campus locations. Power generation from these solar arrays between July 2019 and June 2020 totaled 233,275 kWh. Renewable energy resources from solar is accompanied by economic and technical issues correlating with the integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems into the grid (Pazikadin, Rifai, Ali, Malik, Abdalla, & Faraj, 2020). Alleviating these technical concerns involves ensuring optimal grid control and power management from PV systems, necessitating frequent inspections. TMCC deploys periodic unmanned aircraft system (UAS) aerial infra-red (IR) thermographic scans to evaluate panel condition, efficiency losses, structural integrity, and system evaluation of our PV systems.

TMCC also deploys a firm energy-conservation protocol through numerous practices to include: (a) Replacement of old incandescent lighting with LED lights, (b) Installation of high efficiency boilers, heat pumps, and air-conditioning that reduces carbon footprints. (c) Upgraded our campus wide building management system to the Allerton Compass Ascent system that allows a convenient and easy interface for building optimization/control, to achieve better-integrated and high performance buildings. (d) Deploys facilities condition assessment, making energy efficiency and sustainability a priority. (e) TMCC installed lighting sensors to automatically turn-off lighting when not in use, and conserve energy, to include the parking lots.

Design and Construction:
Owing to the increased application of sustainability design concepts to the construction of sports and fitness facilities over the last decade (Erten & Ozfiliz, 2006) and the quest for diminution in the negative impacts of greenhouse gases (Kellison, Trendafilova, & McCullough, 2015), TMCC continues to incorporate sustainable design and construction practices. These practices include: (a) Installation of flooring that only requires water cleaning. (b) Installation of smart irrigation system for water conservation. (c) Constructed the new Fitness Center to a LEED silver equivalency. (d) Installation of a V2T roofing system on our Red Mountain Building. The V2T roof system utilizes the venturi principle to capture the dynamic flow of air across the roof surface to generate lower pressures below the roof membrane. The V2T roof system eradicates the necessity to use screws and adhesives, taking advantage of wind power. Negative air pressure eradicates excess air under the roof membrane to produce a suction effect that strengthens the roof system. “V2T is combination of vents and air channels that work together to hold the roof membrane in place. Traditionally, roofs have used ballast, adhesives, or mechanical fasteners to adhere the membrane to the roof deck, but in this case we took advantage of wind power.” – V2T Roof Systems. The V2T roof system is a green technology. According to the manufacturer “in the United States, moisture approximately lead to a 40% overall reduction of the R-value of insulated roofing insulation (Kyle & Desjarlais, 1994, as cited by www.v2troofsystem.com). The extreme degradation of the insulation’s thermal resistance may increase energy loss through building roofs by 70% (Desjarláis & Byars 1998, as cited by www.v2troofsystem.com) and may increase peak electrical demand for preconditioning by 15% (Kyle & Desjarlais 1994, as cited by www.v2troofsystem.com).

According to Desjarlais and Byars (as cited by www.v2troofsystem.com), moisture has been a major cause of re-roofing in the United States, which accounts for 75% roofing work, and has become a multibillion-dollar problem in the roofing industry. The V2T Roof System uses the power of the wind to create suction between the roof membrane and substrate (venturi effect) – the stronger the wind blows, the tighter the roof holds. This suction increases the potential for removal of moisture from the roof system” – V2T Roof Systems.

HVACR Department:
In addition to energy efficiency through our BMS system, the HVACR section is committed to the path to eliminate hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC – better known as R-22 refrigerants) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) refrigerants. These refrigerants are powerful greenhouse gases. Refrigerants exhibiting a lower global warming potential (GWP) is better suitable for emission reduction (Shaik, Shaik, Gorantla, Mahapatra, & Setty, 2020). Refrigerant replacement is dependent on energy efficiency and indirect emissions from use. R22 refrigerants produces higher CO2 emission and a reduced thermodynamic performance in comparison to R1270, RM30, RM50, and R290, which can be considered environmentally friendly alternatives to R22 (Shaik, Shaik, Gorantla, Mahapatra, & Setty, 2020). The Montreal Protocol alluded to the phasing out of R22 owing to the unfavorable environmental impacts, pushing for using R407c refrigerant as a replacement to R22 (Kasera & Bhaduri, 2017). Although R407c has a zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and reduced global warming potential (GWP) as compared to R22 (Kasera & Bhaduri, 2017), R407c is still a blend of HFC, with a reduced performance to R22. TMCC’s HVACR department commits to focusing on (a) the employment of a very robust refrigerant management system that includes migration to environmentally friendly refrigerants (R290) through gradual replacement and retirement of systems. (b) Maintenance of equipment and refrigerant inventory. (c) Deployment of HVAC system condition monitoring through our Building Management System (with remote adjustments and automatic adaptation to atmospheric temperature changes). (d) Maintenance of proper refrigerant classification, reclaim, and recycling in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified concealed recovery cylinders. (e) Deployment of prompt replacement of obsolete systems to greener systems using less energy and low global warming potential (GWP). (f) The implementation of night set back modes through our BMS controllers for our HVACR system to control temperatures and pump operation during unoccupied hours for energy efficiency, and (g) the utilization of an Energy Recovery System that utilizes building thermodynamics, such that normally exhausted air treats the incoming ventilation air; using heat from the exhaust airstream during cooler season to preheat and humidify the incoming ventilation air.

Custodial Department:
TMCC Custodial department is committed to utilizing ecofriendly cleaning products with ECOLOGO certification and Green Seal that guarantees compliance with the environmental performance standards. Examples include: (a) The EPA registered Clorox Total 360 Electrostatic Disinfectant System that employs 65% less solutions, through the innovative and patented electrostatic sprayer for effective disinfection and sanitization. (b) Deployment of Green cleaning operations for floor cleaning and polishing, using the ec-H20 technology that uses water. No detergent, no emission, no energy loss, no acid, no eutrophication (enrichment of an ecosystem with chemical nutrients), no particulates, but just water. Water is electrically converted into an innovative detergent-free solution for cleaning. In addition to this commitment, TMCC deploys an efficient waste recycling plan that manages and reduces waste, recovering valuable resources, and creates a clean environment.

COVID Cleaning:
Challenges with disinfection emanates such that when common surfaces and touch-points are cleaned and disinfectants applied, there are no effective residual protection left behind after disinfection. With no effective residual protection, microbes such as SARSCoronavirus-2 (COVID-19) then thrives. TMCC deploys Bioprotect on our campus locations to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. BIOPROTECT™ is an EPA registered, waterbased (90% water), antimicrobial technology that provides persistent and continuous protection of a surface for more than six weeks (GVN Press Image retrieved from www.bioprotect.us Release, 2020; Rega Institute, 2020; Viaclean Technologies, n.d.). BIOPROTECT™ is a preservative antimicrobial coating that can be applied to both porous and non-porous surfaces to destroy microbes. When applied, the BIOPROTECT™ coating forms a layer of spikes each of which carry a positive charge that attracts the negatively charged COVID-19 microbe. Once attracted to the sprayed surface, the molecular nano-spikes pierce the COVID-19 cell and rupture its cell membrane, causing the microbe to die. Bioprotect is: (a) Water-based antimicrobial technology that is applied after surfaces are cleaned with disinfectants. (b) Creates an invisible layer of spikes on a surface that binds to almost any porous and non-porous surfaces and mechanically kill microbes (bacteria, virus, molds, fungus) (c) Provides persistent and continuous protection – efficacy remains active on surfaces for up to 90 days. (d) Approved for use as an antimicrobial preservative under EPA and FDA regulations to preserve food contact articles. (e) Can be used on food surfaces, appliances, equipment and utensils. No rinse required for food surfaces. (f) EPA-registered and made in the USA

Grounds Department:
Huge on promoting and maintaining a balanced environment, TMCC achieves these by: (a) Landscape water conservation, that involves constant monitoring and modifications to our irrigation system. We utilize landscape conditions and local weather to tailor irrigation scheduling to site conditions instead of always using preset scheduling, thus avoiding overwatering. (b) Utilization of grasscycling and leaf collection practice that converts grass clippings to mulch and compost for planters, which decompose quickly, naturally infusing nitrogen and other nutrients back into the soil to improve lawn quality. (c) Tree limbs are periodically pruned, chipped, and used as mulch, consequently reducing waste hauled to landfills. (d) Utilizing organic and natural practices to control landscape insect infestation. This includes the application of neem oil, application of insecticidal soap, and the release of lady beetles to control aphids. Insecticidal soaps are long chain fatty acids that occur naturally as coconut oil and palm oil. It is environmentally friendly, with a low mammalian toxicity. With the release of lady beetles to control aphids, Lady beetles are voracious aphid eaters and will eat more than 50 aphids daily. (e) Implementation of an integrated pest management (IPM) approach. IPM is a green strategic eco-system based pest prevention. This green pest control initiative employs and uses natural resources to control pests. Utilizing low and non-toxic pest control mitigates the domino effect of killing an entire food chain. Imagine feeding poison to a mouse, cat eats mouse, raccoon eats cat, and mountain lion eats raccoon. This consequently kills an entire food chain, which negatively affects a balanced ecosystem. Our green pest control initiative preserves wildlife habitats and creatures that surround our campus spaces.
Yields from Energy Efficiency Investments (Updated May 2020):
Yields from energy efficiency investments include: (a) significant reduction in heat consumption per square foot, as compared to median similar buildings in our climate zone. (March 2019 to Feb 2020: TMCC: 58.8 KBtu, Others: 82.9KBtu). (b) Increased Energy Star score according to our EPA portfolio manager rating at eligible building types. The Energy Star score provides a comprehensive snapshot of a building’s energy performance. It assesses the building’s physical assets, operations, and occupant behavior in a quick and easy-to-understand number. (c) Reduced energy cost per student, which falls below the median for similar buildings in our climate zone (Spent $1.06 on energy costs per student, compared to $1.26 per student in our climatic zone, and $1.46 per student for the 2020 baseline benchmarking study.)

Partnerships
TMCC exemplified leadership through collaborating with NV Energy in the NVGreenEnergy Rider renewable energy agreement. TMCC achieved this sustainability goal by offsetting 100% of our electric load service with renewable energy resources from NV Energy. This involved a computation of the total electrical energy consumption across all TMCC sites in kilowatt-hour, offset with all generations from all renewable sources, considering anticipated consumption for ongoing and future projects. TMCC achieved this renewable energy aspiration, utilizing 100% clean electric energy, and are proud to be the:
• 1st Institution of Higher Learning in Nevada
• 1st Institution within the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) system, and the
• 1st Institution in Nevada to make the State’s boldest renewable energy commitment
Initiatives

Other initiatives deployed at TMCC includes (a) a bike repair station, to enhance the biking experience of students, faculty, and staff members. The Bike Repair Station has a repair arm and tools necessary to perform basic bicycle repairs. (b) Hydration and water bottle filling stations to encourage reductions in plastic water bottle utilization and disposal. (c) Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.

2022 PCAPPA/RMAPPA Conference

The Pacific Coast & Rocky Mountain Regions of APPA teamed up for a sensational Annual Conference on October 9-11, 2022, at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront.

A message from President Pesiri

Nov 22, 2020

If you were one of the 260 participants in our very first Virtual Summit, you would agree with me that the event was exciting, enriching, and a great experience. Thank you for your participation. Thank you to our Business Partners, who sponsored this event. A big Shout Out to our Conference Team and Event Producers for such an outstanding event.

It would be customary for me to share my vision and goals for this upcoming year. I think that is hard to do. One of the things that the last eight months have taught us to do well is to pivot. Instead of stating my vision for the upcoming year, I would like to share what is essential.

It is essential that PCAPPA remains relevant. With all the challenges we face, you, PCAPPA, and APPA should be connected. That is how PCAPPA stays relevant. Whether you attend the weekly APPA Town Hall Meetings or a Virtual Summit, or other professional development opportunities, it is more important to stay connected today than we did in the past. PCAPPA’s mission is to provide you information that is appropriate to the times.

We must provide you value. In our support of facilities professionals, we need to continue to provide networking and professional development opportunities that offer you value. Knowledge acquired from PCAPPA and APPA should help make informed decisions. The information provided during the APPA COVID-19 town hall meetings enabled me to make informed decisions to keep my campuses safer while saving my school money. The accrued savings to my institution exceeds the cost of membership.

While we are all suffering from zoom fatigue, I believe there is an opportunity with zoom to provide more. I am looking forward to working with the board and our business partners on using online to engage our membership.

Speaking of engagement, have you ever thought about giving back to your profession? Have you ever thought about connecting other educational facilities professionals virtually? Have you ever thought about developing information and content for facilities professionals? Whether you are a seasoned professional or someone who has just entered the world of facilities. We have volunteer opportunities for you. Through volunteering, I receive more than I usually give, no matter how much I gave. The strength of our organization comes from our volunteers; if you can, please get involved.

To my K-12 colleagues, I am looking for volunteers to help create a committee focused on K-12. I believe many K-12 could use the rich resources, vast expertise, and focused information available in PCAPPA and APPA. If you are interested in being part of this committee, please e-mail me.

Your engagement, membership, and feedback are what make PCAPPA a great organization. We connect you to resources and a community of experts to provide you with solutions to address your organization’s challenges. So please let us know how we can assist in making you apart of this family.

Best Regards
Victor Pesiri, PCAPPA President

Kim Case-Nichols’s Journey Down APPA/PCAPPA Lane

Nov 12, 2020

When asked how in the world I went from a flight attendant career to Executive Director of Space and Facilities Management in higher education, I easily explain it was my APPA experience. Through systematic planning, organizing, and adapting to constant change, I evolved into the perfect nontraditional career.

I began my facilities management career over 16 years ago in northern California and landed in Nevada in 2010. I was fortunate to start my Stanford University career who heavily participated in APPA professional development opportunities. I quickly realized the benefit of adopting APPA industry standards and practices that made Stanford a well-oiled facility management machine. My introduction to APPA as a young facilities professional was the Supervisor’s Toolkit. After completing this intensive course, it is fair to say I drank the APPA Kool-Aid.

Over the next several years, I maximized the APPA resources. I networked with APPA members to learn about staffing models, custodial benchmarking, and building sustainability practices. I used the APPA tools and business partners to complete numerous facility audits that helped me validate aging facilities and advocate for capital planning projects.

I continued my journey attending the Facilities Institute 4-track program and earned my Certified Educational Facilities Professional (CEFP) credential. After ten years as an APPA member, I got involved with the Pacific Coast Region, PCAPPA, to continue my professional growth and give back to the membership. I joined the Membership Committee and was elected to the board as the Membership & Community Engagement Chair for the past three years. I collaborated with the board to spearhead a diversity and inclusion initiative, created our social media presence, and successfully facilitated our first virtual summit. As a recipient of the APPA President’s Unsung Hero Award, I am incredibly humbled by the support of APPA and the membership.

In reflection, I joined APPA as a hungry facilities professional looking for information and hoping to network. Not only did I find what I was looking for, but I have also made lifelong friends and found an affinity group that strategically helped me grow my career.

Nicole Sanderson’s APPA/PCAPPA Journey

Oct 7, 2020

Being recognized as an APPA Pacesetter this year 2020 was the culmination of over 10 years of involvement in APPA and PCAPPA. For me, figuring out how to get involved was the hardest part of my APPA/PCAPPA journey.

I hope you are reading this because you are interested in getting involved too – if so, you have come to the right place! I have a few suggestions for ways to get involved with APPA and PCAPPA.

1. Get involved locally: In my area, I started attending the Northwest APPA (NWAPPA) local workshops. It was a quick, easy, and local way to meet other facilities professionals in my immediate area and learn more about emerging facilities topics. I now service as the NWAPPA treasurer and help plan regional workshops.

2. Join a committee: In my home region of PCAPPA, our board has many committees you can join to get your feet wet in getting involved and expanding your facilities network. If you have an interest in research, professional development, and awards and recognition among others, joining a committee is a great way to start. Reach out to a board member to find out more about how to get involved.

3. Attend a PCAPPA conference: Each fall, PCAPPA hosts a regional conference for our members. These conferences allow you to learn about all the hot topics affecting facilities professionals across our region and meet new colleagues and business partners. This year, our conference is virtual so you can do all these things from the comfort of your home or
office.

4. Connect with a mentor: Finding a mentor within the PCAPPA region is a double bonus – not only will you have a resource to help tackle your challenging work issues, your PCAPPA mentor can also help you navigate getting involved with PCAPPA. Reach out to a board member to start!

Taking the initial step to get involved in PCAPPA is the hardest part. Take that initial jump and get involved today! I have found that I have gotten so much more out of being involved in PCAPPA than I have put in.

Tony Ichsan’s APPA Journey

Sept. 28, 2020

With over 30 years of higher education experience in California, Oregon and Washington, Tony Ichsan has enjoyed a wide variety of responsibilities at various higher education institutions including independent (private) residential colleges, community colleges and a public research university. As an educational facility professional, PCAPPA and APPA have played an integral part of his journey.

Early on, Tony was fortunate to have had the support and encouragement of his then Director to attend PCAPPA local meetings and annual conferences. Soon came forays into regional engagements, and hosting an annual PCAPPA conference which led to his participation in APPA’s international conferences and contributions as researcher, author, faculty, conference presenter, and subject matter expert. Over the years, he reviewed and supported the launching of key initiatives: Credentialing, Emerging Professional, Sustainability, Code Advocacy, Awards for Excellence, and Community College Engagement. Tony credits this long-term APPA partnership for its direct benefit to his institutions and facilities teams by providing essential resources to implement best practices and continuous improvement.

Having had several great PCAPPA and APPA mentors along the way, Tony has always been excited and willing to give back to his colleagues by “paying it forward”, and this engagement resulted in many appointments and nominations:

PCAPPA
• Various committees/task forces
• Board positions such as
      o Awards and Recognition
      o Professional Affairs
      o Secretary
      o President
APPA
• Various committees/task forces
• Board positions such as
      o Junior Regional Representative
      o Senior Regional Representative
      o Executive Board — Chair of the Senior Regional Representative

Tony is extremely honored to have been recognized by his colleagues for his tireless contributions, and he is proud to have been chosen to receive the highest individual awards in both PCAPPA (Distinguished Leadership Award), and APPA (Meritorious Service Award), as well as this year’s APPA President’s
Award.

Currently the Director of Facilities at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Tony is still enjoying higher education and having a good time working in Facilities. Responsible for the College’s built and natural environment, his portfolio includes programs such as: planning/design/construction, operations (maintenance/grounds/custodial), sustainability, environmental health and safety, energy management,
conference/events/scheduling.

As a life-long learner, Tony continues to expand his knowledge by engaging with other educational facilities professionals and pays it forward by mentoring and supporting the development of future facilities leaders.

Why take the APPA Supervisor’s Toolkit

by Erik Diaz
Landscape Supervisor
Facilities Management Services
University of Southern California
March 2, 2020

I have gone through the Supervisor’s Toolkit twice in the last 4 years. I can honestly say it is a necessity for every Supervisor who manages a team of people. Just as anyone needs to be trained to properly operate an equipment, the toolkit is the practical way to develop every supervisor. The toolkit improved my skills from the various standpoints of

a. Effective communication,
b. Engaging in the difficult conversation
c. Team motivation
d. Being an effective leader.

The Supervisor’s Toolkit gave me the opportunity to get out of my perceptive bubble and learn from other experiences, especially how things are done at other institutions.
The Supervisor’s Toolkit offered different perspectives from individuals dealing with similar issues at their institutions. Another great thing about the Supervisor’s Toolkit is that once you finish the course, you always have the material available to you. You have something to go back to as a reference as you practice and develop your skills. 

My Yelp rating of 5 to the APPA Supervisor’s Toolkit. I highly recommend all current supervisors and prospective supervisors take this course.

Message from President Johnson

October 2019

What a great conference! It was a great pleasure to connect and to share knowledge, experiences and to expand our professional network. I would like to thank everyone who made it successful, especially our PCAPPA Conference Committee Chair and our host institution, University of Nevada Las Vegas. I would also like to recognize our PCAPPA’s Business Partners for their continued support to make our conference a success. I look forward to this conference each year and hope you find it as valuable as I do.

We are committed to making PCAPPA an enriching resource for all educational institutions. At the conference, our 2019/2020 Strategic Action Plan was introduced. Goals were developed that focus on APPA’s 3 principles: Sharpening the Focus, Strengthening the Core, and Building Organizational Capacity.

PCAPPA’s 5 goals for 2020 are:

Goal #1 Financial Security
Establish reserve account by 2020 and transfer 15% of account balance to reserve account and initiate a plan to maintain 15% reserve through 2024

Goal #2 Framework
Develop PCAPPA’s Strategic Action Plan by 2019

Goal #3 Diversity
Offer 4 localized training targeted to front-line teams by April 2020

Goal #4 Excellence in Profession
To showcase and recognize institutional members on website. PCAPPA reports one article or event per month

Goal #5 Engagement
Develop a communication and marketing plan that promotes training and engagement by April 2020

As we move forward to accomplish our goals, I encourage all members to provide the board with input and feedback. We need your help to attain these goals. We are continually looking for members to participate in committees and welcome new people, ideas, and energy to our board. Should you be interested, please reach out to myself or other board members.

Next year, our educational conference is in Portland, Oregon. Our theme is “Building Bridges to Values”. Count on knowledge rich general and education sessions as well as opportunities for discussions and networking to enhance your organization. You will also find opportunities to discover new products and services from our business partners. As facilities professionals, we shape the environment that enables students to learn, be creative, and solve world issues. Continual learning is essential to our personal growth and to the development of our campuses.

Come experience the learning transformation from the vast experience, knowledge, and innovation within our region and from our members. So, start planning your trip to Portland and join us for another great opportunity to learn and connect with facilities professionals who understand exactly what you go through daily.

See you in Portland.

Eric Johnson
PCAPPA President