As we head into the new year, there is an opportunity to reimagine the Facilities organizational structure for emerging challenges. I announced in September last year that we would be posting to fill the vacant Managing Director roles for Building Operations and Energy & Water Services. However, after further review of our budgeted resources and with our current financial constraints, I would like to ensure that our limited resources are focused at the frontline of our daily work to build, operate and maintain the campus facilities.
As a result, we will be eliminating the vacant Managing Director roles for both Building Operations and Energy & Water Services, and will realign the existing directors in those areas to report directly to me. Effective immediately, the Facilities senior leadership team will be as follows:
- John Metras, Associate Vice-President, Facilities
- Jennifer Sanguinetti, Managing Director, Infrastructure Development
- Denise Pearce, Director, Building Operations (formerly Trades)
- Francis Lepage, Director, Custodial Services
- Kishani Gibbons, Director, Customer Services & Informatics
- Siu Tse, Director, Energy & Water Services
- Jenniffer Sheel, Director, Municipal Services
View the Facilities organizational chart
Our new Facilities organizational structure will enable us to work better together as an integrated Facilities team, and allow for more efficient planning, decision-making and communications. It will also reduce management costs to help address budget constraints and free resources for operational positions where workload and demands are high. The new structure aims to break down silos and will place the emphasis on Facilities as one team, as opposed to a group of individual departments.
Over time, we will also begin to reposition how we present ourselves to the campus community. Thank you to those that took the time to take the communications survey before the holidays. We will be reviewing all of your feedback, which will help us plan and move forward in improving our communications both internally and externally. You will also start to notice updates to physical assets and communications such as vehicles, signages, newsletters, and our websites as they are eventually rebranded to UBC Facilities.
All of these changes will take time, but I am excited by the potential for this streamlined approach and the opportunity to work together to further build UBC Facilities into an integrated and inclusive team within the VP Finance & Operations portfolio. Thank you again for all for your hard work for the campus community during these challenging times.
John Metras
Associate Vice-President, Facilities