East Bay Chapter International Facility Management Association

This year, once again, I volunteered to participate in the judging and selection process for the annual IFMA Foundation scholarships.  My involvement last year was one of the most rewarding and fascinating things I've done as a member of IFMA, and the experience of meeting the scholarship recipients and getting to know them a little bit at World Workplace was one of the single most energizing things I've done.  Yesterday afternoon we held the final selection conference call amongst all the chapters and councils sponsoring scholarships for this year.

This year's judging process was very challenging because the overall caliber of the applicants was so incredibly high.  I am very please to share with you all some information about the recipient of the Karen Marciel EB Chapter Scholarship winner, Jenna Mead.

Jenna is an undergraduate student at Ferris State University in Western Michigan.  She presently holds a cumulative GPA of 3.93 in the Bachelor of Science program in Facilities management there and is presently on the Dean's List.  She is also currently working as a Facilities Management Intern at Michigan State with responsibility for management of services in several of the residence halls there.

I look forward to meeting Jenna at WWP and presenting her with her scholarship award there.

Joseph Selby, CFM
President
East Bay Chapter of IFMA

Thanks are in order.

First of all, thank you to all of you who have recently renewed your memberships or signed up as new IFMA members.  Many of us are in precarious financial situations as a result of the current recession, uncertainty about our job security or other situations these days, so it’s been a great pleasure to me to receive the notices from IFMA headquarters about new members and those who are choosing to renew their memberships this year.  I just renewed my membership and doing so made me think deeply about why we all do this – why we choose to belong to this organization.

The bottom line is that we see value in being IFMA members and members of the East Bay Chapter.  On a chapter level that value is generated by the people who take time from their busy lives to volunteer so that our website gets updated, our program schedule is full and well managed, our annual golf event is a successful outing, our newsletter gets pulled together a couple times a year and notices get out there to the world about what we’re up to via press releases and calls to our members organized by our membership committee.  So the second round of thanks in this President’s message goes out to our board members – Scott McBee, Paula Tusler and Anne-Marie Ayers & Jane Mele – and to our committee volunteers – Pete Alexander, Todd Forbes, John Carrillo, Jane Mele, Carla Hansmeyer and Shelley Barry.  These are the people who have made our chapter work for all of our members this past year. 

Another source of value for our members lies in the opportunities for professional development that are afforded within IFMA.  In uncertain times one of the best things you can do to bolster the value you represent to your employer (or potential employer) lies in the expertise you can bring to their organization.  By obtaining either the FMP or CFM designation you can demonstrate to your organization (or potential future organization) this expertise as a facilities manager or facilities management professional.  The Silicon Valley Chapter of IFMA has recently invested in creating internal development opportunities by sending two of their CFM’s – Larry Morgan & Rene Robles, both experienced educators – to be trained as IFMA certified instructors.  The SV Chapter will be hosting FMP and CFM classes later this summer and fall:

FMP Planning & Project Management Class – August 20 & 21 (IFMA Members $250, Non-members $350)

CFM Exam Review Class – September 17 & 18 (IFMA Members $350, Non-members $500)

FMP Leadership & Management Class – November 12&13 (IFMA Members $250, Non-members $350)

I encourage our members who have an interest in either designation to sign up.  Your membership in the East Bay Chapter entitles you to participate at the IFMA Member rate.  To register, just visit the IFMA Silicon Valley Chapter website at www.ifmasv.org.