Atlanta FM Blog

IFMA’s Atlanta chapter recently held its annual awards luncheon, where members were recognized for furthering both Facility Management and the chapter.

One of these was the Harry L. Ludwig, III Community Services Award. It is presented to a Chapter volunteer for outstanding contributions to our community services program partners and to the committee. He/she represents IFMA Atlanta in giving back to the community that which we are about: Facility Management expertise, skill, dedication and contributions. He or she serves as a role model for the Chapter serving our community partners tirelessly, producing positive change and results; clearly going above and beyond the call of duty.

The winner of this year’s award is Barbara Miller. Barbara has been a member of the Community Services Committee for many years now. She has taken charge as a co-leader for the Elaine Clark Center for Exceptional Children for the second year in a row.  She was instrumental in coordinating in kind services and products for their last two renovation projects, including soliciting help from her own company, Akzel Nobel for paint products. She has over seen the necessary repairs and project management skills that have been donated to this nonprofit. She has engaged her own company in volunteering at the site and sought donated materials to keep operating costs to a minimum.

Barbara spent many hours assisting them with this process and helping them organize volunteers.
She has been a regular contributor not only to her team partner, ECC but also to our other partners when the need arises. Barbara has supported our non-profit lunch and learns and the annual Facility Summit.  She can always be counted on to be there for Volunteer Days.

She regularly attends monthly luncheons and other Chapter functions. She is true example of a quality member. 

IFMA’s Atlanta chapter recently held its annual awards luncheon, where members were recognized for furthering both Facility Management and the chapter.

One of these was the Martha Osborne CFM Award. It is presented to a Chapter CFM member for outstanding contributions to Facility Management in general and to IFMA Atlanta in particular. He or she represents exemplary experience, serves as a role model for the Chapter and potential CFM candidates, and provides support to promote the certification of members. The CFM chosen is a credit to their organization, the Chapter and the community at large.

The winner of this year’s award is Joseph Geierman. Joseph came to the Chapter as a Georgia Tech student in the Integrated Facility Management program. He jumped right in with both feet in engaging himself in the Chapter activities, first by taking the CFM Review class and passing the CFM exam. Currently he is active on the Young Professionals committee, the Sustainability committee, the Career Management committee, the Newsletter committee and the Website committee.  He was instrumental in starting our Chapter’s Facebook page, and FM blog, and is a regular contributor to both. He has also lead in our Communications training efforts by presenting at our luncheon on Technology the ins and outs of our new electronic newsletter, navigating the Chapter website, chapter Facebook page, and FM blog.

Joseph has participated in every sustainability forum, helping guide the forums for relevant content.  He is an all around terrific supporter and integral part of IFMA Atlanta

IFMA’s Atlanta chapter recently held its annual awards luncheon, where members were recognized for furthering both Facility Management and the chapter.

One of these was the Achievement in Outstanding Associate Award. It is presented to an associate member (provider of products and/or services) in recognition of his or her contributions of time, effort and of financial support to the Atlanta Chapter. This award recognizes that associate members play a critically important role in the overall long-term success of our Chapter.

The winner of this year’s award is Annette Gorelick. Annette engaged herself as soon as she joined IFMA by joining the Community Service committee and volunteering as a Team Leader for our non-profit partner, Our House. She led the Our House community service project from start to finish.  She solicited help from Ruppert Landscapes in not only donating landscape services but making a $5000 contribution to Our House’s capital campaign for their new facility. She is also on the Sustainability sub-committee. She has gained her LEED AP and is leading the study review webinar portion of our most recent LEED EB/OM educational offering. She has also developed a Case Study of this class for submission to WWP in October 2010 demonstrating how Chapters can help develop and provide real-time experience on a LEED EB/OM project.  This year she serves as Chair for our Associates committee and she and her committee have helped the Sustaining Patrons campaign to bring a higher return on their investment for their Patron dollars.  She was also involved with the marketing campaign for Atlanta Work Place.  Annette demonstrates the  shining example of volunteerism and is a credit to the Chapter

IFMA’s Atlanta chapter recently held its annual awards luncheon, where members were recognized for furthering both Facility Management and the chapter.

One of these was the Achievement in Facility Management Award. It is presented to a professional member whose facility management program, project or concept has demonstrably and successfully contributed to more effective management of his or her organization’s facilities. This award highlights the importance and significance of professional member accomplishment to the future of facility management.

The winner of this year’s award is Ed Brownlee. Ed has developed and supported his company’s sustainability initiatives as he detailed in the recent October Atlanta Chapter of IFMA panel discussion,  ”Green is the New Black”  where he worked with the CNN team to develop a plan to meet the company’s growing needs for efficient energy management and, at the same time, support their growing infrastructure’s energy needs.  As an added benefit to his company, Ed’s team discovered a bonus profit center by diverting outdated video tapes through an innovative recycling plan for Turner Broadcasting which may well become an industry Best Management Practice.

In September, Ed hosted  the IFMA Sustainability Breakfast meeting at the CNN Building to present and inform members of the specifics and metrics of how Turner’s facilities staff initiated and tracked many energy improvements as their responsibilities and infrastructure, (5 networks in 1995 to over 16 networks by 2009,)expanded over a ten year period.  The presentation highlighted Turner’s Electrical and HVAC infrastructure efficiency improvements through smart investments in capital expenditures and the corresponding maintenance savings over a 12 – 15 year span, By using innovative techniques such as building simulation techniques and dual - fuel chillers Turner staff managed to save 10.505, 670.00  from 1998 to 2008 as they brought the new networks online which netted a total CO2 reduction of removing 254,00 cars from the road.  This presentation also covered as Turner’s involvement in Sustainable Initiatives as well as their involvement in the Zero Waste Program which focuses on improving sustainability initiatives for food waste in the downtown corridor. 

 Ed has served as the Sustaining Patron chair for two years and has been a guest speaker for two luncheon topics, one in which he spoke of his trip to China and key observations of FM developments in China and a second where he presented a fascinating comparison of FM on Navy Ships to traditional FM in buildings.  He has written several article for our Newsletter ,  the most recent , ”What Keeps Facility Managers Awake At Night China 2007 ”  in which Ed further expanded on his visit to China in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and his key observations of FM trends in that country.   Ed is both an asset to Turner and to our IFMA chapter. 

IFMA’s Atlanta chapter recently held its annual awards luncheon, where members were recognized for furthering both Facility Management and the chapter.

One of these was the Distinguished Member Award. It is presented to a Chapter member for outstanding contributions to Facility Management in general and to IFMA Atlanta in particular. He or she represents the best in, and serves as a role model for, Leadership, Dedication and Conscientiousness. The individual chosen is a credit to his or her organization, community, and our Association, as well as to the profession.

The winner of this year’s award is Harriet Whelihan. Harriet has continued being the ‘behind the scenes’ support of our chapter in helping to gently guide the planning, direction, and purpose of the chapter’s goals and her often-times creative ability to clarify each venue speaker’s content to the core competencies, certifying our programs for continuing educational credits. Harriet is a great role model for CFM candidates wanting to know more about the track for studying for the CFM exam and offers her after-work time in hosting the virtual CFM study group and blog. She is a regular author on the IFMA Atlanta FM blog and stands as our resident researcher for news and legislation affecting the FM community. She has hosted one of our FM Networking Breakfasts at her Sandy Springs UPS headquarters. She and her company have also hosted an on-going annual Best Practices Forum since the mid 1990’s, starting with 8 Fortune 500 companies and which is still active here in metro Atlanta. She has established her headquarters as an innovative test site for their outlying facilities around the country, effectively using their facility as a “guinea pig” for systems and technology, for everything from LED testing to Peak Load analysis. She is the one that our leadership seeks out when they want answers on FM best practices, on means and methods, on advice for how to tweak an existing program and take it up just another notch from a basic program to an advanced program. She is one of our best historians not only for the chapter but for the FM industry as well. She represents the best in what the Facility Management Professional is all about, as a constant and consistent supporter and advocator for the best in IFMA programs, education and raising the awareness and education level of her fellow members to a new height. She is a real student of IFMA.  Harriet currently serves on the Professional Development Committee.