Message from President Kwofie

November 2018

The 2018 PCAPPA conference in Spokane, WA was exciting with the engagement of 280 attendees from 56 institutions and 46 business partners. Over 35% of our attendees were first timers and 8 past PCAPPA presidents spanning four decades were present. We also hosted our first “Women in Facilities” mixer, and based on comments…this event was fun and very inspiring! Finally, this educational conference would not have been a great success without all of YOU – our members, business partners and our host institution, University Washington, Bothell!

Many of you who have attended our past PCAPPA conferences may have noticed some changes that we implemented in response to your feedbacks on improving our delivery. Pre-conference tours and team building activities were included for attendees and guests to network with facilities colleagues. Our goal is to ensure your conference experience and investment of time in these activities keep you looking forward to future conferences.

In my inaugural speech, I shared my four cornerstones of success for our members, Chapters, and PCAPPA as a region: gratitude, curiosity, service and kindness. As we journey together this coming year, I look forward to working with you on these four pillars to create connections that will provide resources to support your goals and objectives. This will include opportunities with prospective institutions, business partners and affiliates within our region. At the board level, we will continue the pipeline for leadership by actively engaging members with the passion to serve in various board committees.

For next year, our 2019 Educational Conference in Las Vegas NV, hosted by University of Nevada, Las Vegas will showcase best practices from our region. With the theme of “Sharpen Your Tools through Diversity, Leadership, Creativity and Knowledge”, I’m very excited about our continued efforts and commitment as a region in providing professional development, management and leadership essentials for our members to transform their organizations and campuses. As facilities professionals, we touch every life on campus and we induce the learning experience with our diversity of thoughts, perspectives and ideas. We have the capability to lead our institutions through various changes in campus leadership, legislation, budgets and more. Our creativity and subject matter expertise enable us to provide the campus with services amidst tough budget times, and in some instances hold the campuses together through crisis or emergencies.

Our biggest legacy is the vast knowledge pooled from all of facilities including: our long service team members with years of institutional knowledge, APPA – a 104-year-old association with national and international membership, and PCAPPA as a region, together providing strategic and timely knowledge and resources.

So start making your travel plans and come prepare to share, engage and to sharpen your tools as we continue creating the path for the next generation of leaders to change communities, states, countries and the world.

It is one service request, one project, one program at a time. Let’s make it count!

Sincerely,

Winnie Kwofie, PE, MBA, MS, M.ASCE
2018-19 PCAPPA President