Hello TAPPA,

What about that Super Bowl and congratulations to the Chiefs. How about those commercials? My favorite one was The Farmer’s Dog. Hopefully our most recent ice storm didn’t cause too much damage to your campuses. I know mine faired okay, not too much damage to our oak trees.

TAPPA held its first Regional Roundtable at Texas State Technical College - Waco with facilities management representatives from University of Houston-Victoria, Baylor University, Texas State Technical College and Texas State University. With the topic of emergency preparedness, there was no shortage of conversation and collaboration considering what our institutions have gone through the past couple of years. I’m already looking forward to the next one, which should happen soon after our annual conference.

And speaking of our next conference, TAPPA 2023 will be held in Denton and co-hosted by The University of North Texas and Texas Women’s University. The Board has been finalizing our conference agenda, slotting the presentations to bring the most value to you, our members. This conference is shaping up to be a great one. From our opening day golf event at Bigshots to the first presentations of the day, beginning at 3:00, I believe everyone will find this a “must attend” event. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so and get the early bird discount. Sponsorship opportunities area available now, as well. Follow the link for details: https://tappa.net/page/2023conference

We have several Board positions that will be open for election this year. These are the Vice President, the Treasurer, two additional Facility Manager Board positions, and a Business Partner Board member. If you are interested in serving on the Board, email info@tappa.net so the Nominating Committee can contact you.  Please include your full name, institution or firm, a statement of interest, and a short bio. Additional info on Board position elections is available on the TAPPA webpage.

Again, I want to remind everyone of our awards program. We have three different areas where you can recognize someone within your organization or maybe that special business partner. The three categories are:

• Facility Management Distinguished Service Award
• Business Partner Distinguished Service Award
• Stars Across Texas Award

You can reach out to myself, wls1@txstate.edu or David Reynolds at dreynolds@f-w.com with any awards questions.

Sincerely,

Wm. “Shorty” Schwartz, President, TAPPA

At this year’s TAPPA conference in Denton on April 23-25, TAPPA will be electing several Board positions to fill upcoming vacancies. These are the Vice President, the Treasurer, two additional Facility Manager Board positions and a Business Partner position. Each year we elect two Facility Manager Board positions and a Business Partner position. This year we will be adding the election of a new Treasurer and Vice President.  Mike Wheeler is ending his distinguished tenure as the TAPPA Treasure to begin enjoying the next phase of his life. Chad Crocker will be vacating the Vice President position to take over the presidency per the bylaws.  The Vice Presidency is a stepping stone to the President position and is a six-year commitment as the President remains on the Board as the “Past President” when the two year presidential term ends.

To help fill these positions we are asking that anyone interested in being considered to serve on the Board, email info@tappa.net to indicate your interest to the Nominating Committee. Please include your full name, institution or firm, a statement of interest, and a short bio.

If you are interested in serving on the nominating committee, please email info@tappa.net with your contact information to indicate your interest in picking the nominees for the next leaders of our illustrious organization.

You may be asking yourself what is required to be considered and how much time does it take. To serve on the TAPPA Board you need only be an Institutional Member of TAPPA or one of our Contracted Facilities Representatives, with an interest in serving our organization and the time to do so. As to how much time it takes, the short answer is only as much as you are willing to give. The Board meets monthly to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our organization. Most of these meetings are online which allows TAPPA to save money and reduce travel to only a couple of time a year.

If you are not ready to step up to the big time and serve on the Board but are still interested in serving the TAPPA membership, we have you covered. We have five standing committees that could use your services. These are the Nominating Committee, Special Awards Committee, the Scholarship Committee, the Membership Committee, and the Bylaws Committee. For more information about these committees please see the TAPPA bylaws starting at the bottom of page seven or reach out to one of the existing Boarding members identified on the TAPAP webpage. Additionally, various ad hoc committees may be formed as the need arises, such as our current Marketing Committee. If you are interested in serving on one of these committees, please email info@tappa.net with your name and the committee you prefer. To qualify to serve on a committee you only need to be an active member of TAPPA with a willingness to make TAPPA even better than it already is.

You will see advertising soon regarding the deadline for Board nominations. We accept offers to serve on committees at any time, but the sooner you start the more fun you can have.

We look forward to seeing at this year’s conference in Denton with our host institutions of TWU and UNT.

Chad Crocker, MBA, CEFP
TAPPA Vice President

As we set our sights on #TAPPA2023 Conference in Denton this April, we will spotlight Facility Managers from the University of North Texas (UNT) and Texas Woman’s University over the next several months. This month we spotlight Kim Nguyen, AIA, the Campus Planning Manager in the Facilities Planning, Design and Construction department at UNT. Kim has an architecture degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and over 25 years of experience in both the private and public sectors with her last seven years at UNT.  At UNT, she has led significant building renovations for the Music, Chemistry, Engineering, and other programs as well as led the way in establishing classrooms and support space for the New College at Frisco, TX. Kim has attended the TAPPA annual conference multiple times and said, “TAPPA always has a variety of educational sessions and great opportunities to meet peers from across the state. I won’t miss it!”

Bruce McNabb is a Senior Account Executive with Tarkett, the world’s largest flooring and flooring accessories manufacturer. Bruce has been with the Tarkett family since 2000 as an Educational Facilities Specialist providing soft and hard surface flooring options for schools.

His first experience with TAPPA evolved from membership in the DFWAPPA chapter in 2001. In 2002-2003, he joined his first TAPPA conference planning committee and served on the Business Partners committee for the 2003 TAPPA conference in Arlington. Since then, he has served on several TAPPA conference planning committees in different roles and as a relevant content specialist to facility managers and their industry partners.

“Many of the reasons we join associations are often not the reasons we continue in them. TAPPA promotes common interests, proficiency and professionalism in college and university facilities operations. The important work of the facility professional is critical to our communities and greater society. It is very rewarding to be part of this good work.”  

Have you or a colleague recently been or are soon to be a presenter, a panelist or serving in an advisory role that may provide beneficial information to TAPPA members? If so, we would love to hear about it! Please share your experiences with us at info@tappa.net, and follow us today!
 
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