MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF EFMA
Harold Schock
Photo by Vladimir Kostka, FortisBC.
T
he Educational Facilities Managers’ Association (EFMA) of B.C., over its long historical development from the small town of Nanaimo to the province's leading resource and advisory organization, has demonstrated an exceptional capability to adapt to an ever-changing external environment. The core values and principles that have guided this journey are fundamental to our culture and our success. The EFMA executive team has worked hard organizing this year's conference. Sharing Solutions – Challenge of Change is our conference theme for 2017 and we encourage our members to engage in the many learning sessions that are offered. Learning new technologies and sharing ideas will help your school district facility experts progress into the future. By definition, progress means change. This is not always comfortable. It may challenge our assumptions and the way we are used to doing and seeing things. Keep change in prospective and increase your leadership capacity by empowering your teams to engage in our workshops and by creating a culture of continuous learning. Being the president of EFMA has been an excellent learning opportunity. Leading our executive team to meet with the ministry of education, school districts, and other partners in collaboration to identify opportunities in attendance support and wellness, facilities energy and transportation, as well as procurement has been extremely rewarding. The province's Service Delivery Project (SDP) is an effort to find efficiencies, build sector capacity, implement effective and economical solutions, and achieve service consistency through shared delivery of services across B.C. school districts. The Facilities Management Working Group (FMWG) has been created to validate key measures that highlight potential efficiencies and savings. School District No.23, EFMA and FMWG collaborated with five underserved school districts and has hired a district-wide energy manager. The energy manager will be responsible for developing and implementing a strategic energy management plan that will meet the deliverables of BC Hydro’s Energy Manager Program. I would like to thank again our executive secretary, our current executive, and our association membership for the faith you have shown in electing me as your president. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all committee and zone chairs for their dedication and hard work. Please know that it has truly been a pleasure to serve as your president for 2016/17. n
Join us in Penticton in May 2017!
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Ops Talk • Spring 2017
