20 Facilities Leaders (Shaping Hybrid Work) To Follow in 2024

July 24, 2024
Facilities
Hybrid Work
Space Design
20 Facilities Leaders (Shaping Hybrid Work) To Follow in 2024

TL;DR Article Summary

Facilities leaders play a crucial role in creating safe, secure, and welcoming workplaces, ensuring their hybrid workplaces meet the evolving needs of employees. Here’s how:

  • Optimize space utilization: Adapt office spaces to accommodate hybrid work patterns and reduce unused space.
  • Prioritize sustainability: Implement sustainability initiatives to reduce energy consumption and meet environmental goals.
  • Stay updated on emerging technologies: Leverage technology to enhance workplace experiences, improve efficiency, and support hybrid work.
  • Foster employee well-being: Create a welcoming and inclusive workplace culture that supports employee health and productivity.
  • Embrace collaboration: Collaborate with other departments, such as HR and IT, to ensure a cohesive and effective workplace strategy.

Check out The Definitive Guide to Hybrid Work for everything facilities leaders need to know about leading successful hybrid work.

Hybrid work is transforming physical and virtual workplaces. From optimizing office space utilization to ensuring hybrid work environments fit employees' new working patterns, facilities leaders can create safe and secure workplaces that are welcoming and up to code.

Additionally, reducing energy emissions and achieving bold sustainability goals are pressing responsibilities that all fall into facility management. In a recent Forrester Research and Johnson Controls survey, 80% of respondents said implementing or improving their sustainability efforts was a top priority. 

In this ever-changing world of work, facilities leaders who stay current on emerging technologies and new regulations create hybrid workplaces that work. Their role is evolving, earning them a seat at the table as they shape their organization's workplace experiences along with Chief People Officers and Chief Information Officers.

Here are the top 20 facilities leaders shaping the future of work:

1. Maria Ruiz, Facilities and Operations Manager at UNICEF USA

“Some of the biggest facilities management issues we face is how to properly ‘right size’ the organization’s real estate post-pandemic. Pre-pandemic our New York City headquarters housed almost 300 employees, five days a week; now according to our analysis, we see about 40 employees a week, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays being our most busy on-site days. With over 70,000 square feet of space and it not being utilized as it used to be, we continue to have challenges as we are a very hybrid and flexible organization trying to come up with a way to bring folks back intentionally to utilize the space.”

Maria Ruiz is Facilities and Operations Manager at UNICEF USA. She has over 15 years of experience in private, public, and non-profit organizations driving process improvements, business performance, and facilities and operations management. She leads with an entrepreneurial and growth mindset with the goals of increasing revenue, reducing costs, and building business efficiencies investing in employee development and continuous process improvement.

2. Mayra Portalatin, VP of Facilities Services at NVE, Inc.

“Everybody’s moving or downsizing space. They are rethinking the way that their spaces are reconfigured. It’s not just having a space for someone to sit, but having collaborative spaces, places where people can disconnect a little bit from everything that’s going on around them. That’s forced them to think more about telecommuting policies or procedures, looking at technology for hot desking so that you can reserve all these spaces so that you can control how you can manage it. Technology has definitely given us more information and ability to understand our work even more.”

Mayra Portalatin is the Vice President of Facilities Services at NVE, Inc., an organization dedicated to providing integrated facilities services, management consulting and program management support, and construction security for government facilities. She is a seasoned facilities management professional with over 20 years of experience in project management, consulting, and facility management. Prior to joining NVE, Mayra spent 14 years as a Senior Professional at Facility Engineering Associates.

3. Darin Rose, Director of Facility Services at Credit Union of Colorado

“We are in a pivotal and transitional time for the built environment. ‘Work’ used to be a noun, a place people go to, but it is now considered a verb, an activity people do. They don’t want to just work from home or just from the office. Community is strengthened, and creativity is developed when people engage with other humans face to face. Facilities managers can and should take the lead to be creative in the engineering world, to be the person/department to deliver engaging interactions to the workforce.”

Darin Rose currently serves as the director of facility services for the Credit Union of Colorado, one of the largest credit unions in Colorado with 19 facilities across the state. He leads a team that oversees maintenance, capital projects, contract services, mail services, and central supply. Before joining the credit union, Rose held several positions in the non-profit, public, and private sectors, including at a homeless outreach group, Fortune 100 financial institutions, and a fast-food franchise. 

4. Lena Thompson, Director of Building Operations and Facilities at American Psychological Association

“The change that has happened has forced me to really look at the telework community and to support them in a way that we've never supported before. We had to implement new desks, give them chairs, and provide office supplies. Our mail delivery services were critical to our overall business and how we got our materials out, and that became very apparent early in the game. We had to shift our policies as it relates to that. The pivot that happened was a direct reflection on how facilities management can and will always be a critical part of every business. COVID has taught a lot of people in our leadership roles where we as facilities management fits into the organization.”

Lena Thompson is the Director of Building Operations at the American Psychological Association, where she oversees all matters relating to the lease management, building operations, business center, construction/renovation, and maintenance projects for both APA properties. Thompson is also an International Facilities Management Association Certified Instructor. As an industry leader with 20+ years of experience, she has a proven track record in all aspects of facilities management.

5. Tia VanOstrand, Director of Facilities and Operations at Under Armour

“As recently as a few months ago, we actually went into a full hybrid situation where a majority of our teammates were required to be back on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. It was incredibly interesting to bring back desks and chairs that I had cleared years before. What a wild and absolutely bizarre but creative kind of space to be in and figure out how to open and close and downsize and then upsize and then right-size. At this point, I think we're at the right size, which is nice.”

Tia VanOstrand is the Director of Facilities and Operations at Under Armour, where she previously served as the Senior Manager for Facilities and Operations for Corporate Real Estate. In that role, she was responsible for the construction of all the corporate headquarters. She began her career in collegiate recreation and has over 20 years of experience running rec facilities, working in renovation and construction projects, and in both small and large facilities.

6. Lynn Baez, Enterprise Vice President of Facilities and Workplace at McKesson

“There's going to be a significant ask of facility managers to either be a strong contributor to or lead in strategic planning and digitization in our operational technology. That's everything that we do that's near and dear to FM's hearts. Everything from our central plants, to all of our asset management, to the way we can then do centralization so that we can make informed decisions. 
Where we're headed next is so much more into predictive analysis, into machine learning in this space, really leveraging our operations and maintenance space into a way that we can use things like digital twins to help really understand, in a very predictive and proactive way, how we can maximize the effectiveness of the spaces that we oversee and lead.”

Lynn Baez is the Enterprise Vice President of Facilities and Workplace at McKesson. She also serves as First Vice Chair of IFMA’s Global Board of Directors. Baez is a successful and dynamic leader of diverse teams in high pressure environments, including recruiting, coaching, and mentoring, and has experience overseeing real estate portfolios. Prior to her current role, Baez served as Workplace Services Director at Google and Vice President Facility Operations at Sodexo.

7. David Trask, National Director of Facilities & Emergency Solutions at ARC Facilities

“The different departments are siloed, but the challenge is they are still connected. Design construction is connected to facilities. Facilities are connected to planning, space management, and HR. All of those different departments within an organization are interconnected, but they don't communicate.
And I think that that's compounded today, especially coming out of the pandemic. And every organization is struggling with the great hybrid debate. My field office staff is now in a hybrid environment, and that impacts facilities. That also impacts space, corporate real estate, all of HR, all these different departments. It's all interconnected.”

David Trask is the National Director of Facilities & Emergency Solutions at ARC Facilities, where he works directly with national and international organizations to solve their challenges with facilities, emergency and life safety, and efficiency. He also hosts the Facility Voices podcast, a gateway to compelling stories directly from the front lines of facilities. Trask is a national speaker at IFMA World Workplace, IFMA Facilities Fusion, and other events across the U.S. and Canada.

8. Linda J. Besetzny, Director of Global Facilities at R.J. O'Brien & Associates

“I envision flexibility in the workplace post-pandemic through the hybrid work model and applying creativity to work spaces, such as additional collaborative focus space. I see facilities managers continuing to grow through education and degree programs and certifications: CFM, FMP (Facility Management Professional), and SFP (Sustainability Facility Professional).”

Linda Besetzny is the Director of Global Facilities at RJ O'Brien, a futures brokerage trading company that has been in business since 1914. Prior to joining RJO in 2016, Besetzny held positions at law firms as the facilities administrator and senior manager. She also served as the national facilities and administrative services manager at an engineering firm. Besetzny has won numerous awards including IFMA Chicago Chapter’s “Distinguished Leader” and “Facility of the Year.”

9. Kay Sargent, Senior Principal and Director of WorkPlace at HOK

“Hybrid is the hardest model there is to pull off, but it’s also more of an operational model than a workplace solution. But everybody’s just looking at the workplace as a kind of a silver bullet that they’re hoping will solve their problems. The complexities and challenges of implementing a successful hybrid work model demands a deep operational and cultural transformation. Companies must commit to redesigning their operational strategies to support this model effectively.”

Kay Sargent is Senior Principal and Director of WorkPlace at HOK where she is a recognized expert on workplace design and strategy issues. With 38 years of experience, Kay is a recognized expert on workplace design and strategy issues and an award-winning designer. She is an active member of IFMA and co-founder of the IFMA Workplace Evolutionaries (WE), a global Community of Practice within IFMA, and serves as an Executive committee for WE.

10. Caroline Kelley, Senior Facilities Manager at National Renewable Energy Laboratory

“Facilities management is more than just managing the physical environment of an organization. There is a tremendous amount of technical, communication, and interpersonal skills needed to work with a variety of individuals. Facilities management constantly grows and builds itself with every new industry change.
What used to be just taking care of a site where everyone lived in a common community and came into the same building has become much more complex. We now have hybrid workers, as well as internal and external co-working facilities in multiple locations around the world.”

Caroline Kelley is a senior facilities manager at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) dedicated to providing scientists with a safe and well-maintained work environment. In her role, Kelley oversees three buildings on a 327-acre campus, including the newly opened Research and Innovation Laboratory (RAIL). Kelley has been in the FM industry for nearly two decades. She is passionate about continuing education and professional growth. 

11. George Alvarado, Director, Service Delivery Training at C&W Services

“Remote work and downsizing office spaces is the biggest challenge I see. It’s projected that $800 billion of potential losses from unused office space will impact major cities by 2030. If our facilities have less people in them, then space utilization and asset/resource allocation is where we should focus some of our efforts.”

George Alvarado is the Director of Service Delivery Training at C&W Services, an integrated facility services provider to more than 600 clients in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. He’s a people-focused leader who is passionate about developing employees both personally and professionally, optimizing processes and property, and increasing quality productivity and profit. Prior to his current role, Alvarado served as Facility Manager Trainer at AGEISS Inc. and Area Maintenance Manager at the Amazon account.

12. Alana F. Dunoff, Strategic Facility Planner at AFD Professional Services, LLC

“The pandemic is forcing some shifts and changes, but the FM industry is designed to bend and twist. I also think that the pendulum will swing again, and organizations will realize that not having people in the office can be detrimental to innovation and a sense of belonging and connection, as well as the transfer of institutional knowledge—all of which are critical to an organization’s stability and growth.”

Alana F. Dunoff is the Strategic Facility Planner at AFD Professional Services, LLC. She is also an FM educator and qualified instructor who helps train the facilities management professionals of the future. Dunoff has been in facilities for 30 years with careers as Adjunct Professor at Temple University, Qualified Instructor for IFMA, and Director of Women in Facilities Management, an organization dedicated to industry diversity and advancement.

13. Larry Morgan, Director of Global Facilities Management and Corporate Sustainability Initiatives at SAP

“Pre-COVID, we were always about being efficient, budget-driven. Cost per dollar per square meter per square foot per person, whatever it may be. We were very efficiency-driven. Now, my opinion is we need to become much more effective. Are we being effective in our service delivery models? That's the big question, because if we're going backwards and we're looking at being the same level of efficiency, we've missed the primary reason for our existence post-COVID. If I had to put a percentage around it, I would say we need to be 80% effective and 20% efficient.”

Larry Morgan is Director of Global Facilities Management and Corporate Sustainability Initiatives at SAP. He is often referred to as a "Fast Unicorn Leader" with breadth and depth of progressive, results driven leadership accomplishments within the corporate and commercial real estate facilities management industry. Morgan is also a guest lecturer, presenter, and expert consultant on mission critical and current real estate and facilities topics. 

14. Christa Dodoo, Head of Facilities Management Services at United Nations World Food Programme

“One of the main opportunities I see for facilities management in the wake of the pandemic is to take advantage of that seat at the table that we've been given finally and to be able to impact the workplace in ways that we were not doing in the past, especially when it comes to the well-being of the employees or the occupants of the building.
It's not just about the buildings that we manage anymore, but what we do beyond that. It’s about making sure that we look at not just how people feel when they come into the building or when they come to work, but outside of that, wherever they are working. How can we impact that? How can we give them the tools, the guidelines, the protocols that they need to be able to feel comfortable and safe working in whatever environment that they find themselves in?”

Christa Dodoo is Head of Facilities Management Services at the United Nations World Food Programme. She has worked in the facilities management and built environment industry for the past 20 years with extensive experience in operations maintenance, real estate and tenant management, capital projects management, vendor contract management, and budgeting (OPEX and CAPEX). She also serves on the First Vice Chair Executive Committee for IFMA. 

15. Adam Hoy, VP of Head of Workplace, Real Estate, and Facility Management at GSK

“I think going forward, what the purpose of the office or any workplace will be, will be to create that culture, brand, and sense of purpose that people are going to be a part of. Now, it won’t mean that people will be in those spaces every day, but it will be a place for them to come and be immersed in that culture. And if we build the buildings and the environment the right way, we can make it that cultural beacon that we can bring people back to.”

Adam Hoy is the Vice President of Head of Workplace, Real Estate, and Facility Management at GSK, a leading pharmaceutical company. He is responsible for delivering strategic, sustainable, and innovative solutions that support their 70,000+ employees across 70 countries. With over 20 years of experience, Hoy has a proven track record of implementing best practices and standards that enhance the environmental, social, and governance performance of their portfolio.

16. Katie Finlayson, Head of Workplace Strategy at MillerKnoll

“We have lived through not only a pandemic, but as a result of that pandemic in terms of work, we're in the midst of a massive workplace disruption. Flexibility is important to people. Work can be done in different places, but it has to be purposeful. Make good use of the variety of spaces that you have options to—office, home, Starbucks, whatever that might be—and be purposeful so you can really leverage that space to do the best work.”

Katie Finlayson is Head of Workplace Strategy at MillerKnoll, a collective of dynamic furniture brands representing over a 100 years of design research. She is passionate about helping customers solve problems to create an amazing experience for employees while meeting business drivers. With over 20 years of experience across project management, design, facilities management, and workplace strategy, Finlayson brings a unique perspective on the future of the workplace.

17. Daniel O’Bannon, Executive Director of Facilities at Blue Cross Blue Shield

“What can we do as workplace leaders to help bridge that gap? I would say really looking at how we can make our workplace environments as agile as possible. Looking at collaborative space, flexibility in the future workplace options, and then also providing amenities to ensure individuals want to come back to the workplace.”

Daniel O’Bannon is Executive Director of Facilities, Property Management and Sustainability for Health Care Service Corporation / Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest customer-owned health insurance company in the United States. Daniel joined HCSC / BCBS in early 2016 to deliver subject matter expertise, process optimization, and the management of a great team of professionals in the delivery of world class property and facilities management services for BCBS’s associations.

18. Kelly Johnson, Senior Director of Real Estate & Facilities at Association of American Medical Colleges

“I think one of the challenges that we have in the new world order is a lot of the telework problems before had a lot to do with our managers who weren’t trained to manage remote workers. I think that this work-from-home environment amplifies weak management in a way that we’ve never seen before.
As we look forward, the leadership team has assembled a hybrid workplace core operations group. And it is a mixture. It’s not just leaders from IT and facilities and HR, we have individuals as part of the group from our CAT team, which is our culture advanced team.”

Kelly Johnson is Senior Director of Real Estate & Facilities at the Association of American Medical Colleges. She is a customer-driven, collaborative leader who has 20+ years’ experience gained in a variety of business settings, including fast-paced start-ups with exponential growth to established nonprofits and corporations. Prior to her current role, Johnson was the Facilities Manager at various companies, including Hines, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and ISS Facility Services.

19. Andre Jones, Corporate Real Estate Portfolio and Facilities Manager at Capital One

“In the hybrid world, sometimes you have to be their eyes and ears, which is great for partnerships. Sometimes they're getting stuff that comes downhill and they need you to be there as a solution so it adds context, it allows you to be multi-skilled with developing those relationships. There's the practice but now we're learning to be human beings again, learning to be decent so you could be that beacon, that conduit, that person who people want insight and perspectives from.”

Andre Jones is the Corporate Real Estate Portfolio and Facilities Manager at Capital One. He has a proven record of generating and building relationships, managing projects from concept to completion, designing operational strategies, and coaching individuals to success. Prior to his current role, Jones served as Manager of Real Estate and Facilities Operations at Lumen Technologies and Facilities Manager/Deputy Program Manager at Clark Construction.

20. Michael Przytula, Managing Director for Intelligent & Digital Workplaces at Accenture

“Organizations are finding that the collaboration spaces that they had in 2018, 2019, early 2020, really weren't set up to work really productively in a hybrid environment for an extended period of time. And so there have been investments in improving the conference room experience, that experience of coming into the office for a specific purpose, for a specific meeting, and making sure that that activity is as productive—if not more productive—than you can do when you're sitting at home in the office. We're seeing a lot of work and a lot of investment being put into making conference rooms really hybrid ready.”

Michael Przytula is the Managing Director for Intelligent & Digital Workplaces at Accenture. He has spent more than 25 years helping the workforces of major companies around the world change the way they work. He is also the host of Creating Smarter Spaces, the only podcast dedicated to helping innovative Corporate Real Estate, Facilities Management, and Technology Executives apply technology to the spaces they create, places they manage, and people they serve.

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