AFE March/April 2012 : Page 5

2012 Board of Directors Chair Wayne P. Saya, Sr., CPE Past Chair Larry Ross, CPE, CPMM Vice Chair of Finance Stephen P. Sakach, CPE Vice Chair of Membership Virginia Gibson Academic Director John V. Massey, PhD Industry Director Roy E. Nation, Jr. CoR Chair Jerry Biron CoR Director Gerald A. Olson CoR Director Stephen W. Nicholas, CPMM Executive Director Wayne W. Carley, PhD 2012 Editorial Advisory Board Thomas A. Baxter, CPS Wayne W. Carley, PhD. A.S. “Migs” Damiani, CPE, FAFE Edmund Hulseberg, CPE Wayne P. Saya, Sr., CPE Rod Smith Richard Stukey Talisa Thomas-Hall AFEFocus AFE Members: Protectors of Building Ownership ixteen years ago, back in October of 1996, as the new director of engineer-ing for the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston, I found myself in a one-on-one meeting with Robert (Bob) Small, CEO of Fairmont Hotels. You see, Fairmont had just paid over 80 million dollars for the Copley Plaza, heralded as the fi rst air-conditioned hotel in the country, from John Han-cock. Th e hotel was in desperate need of a mechanical upgrade. Now remembering that your boss’s priorities are your priorities — a lesson learned from my Ritz-Carlton days (another story) — Bob’s corporate priority was to understand the operational dynamics of his new hotel and the importance of a mechanical upgrade, while pos-sessing a limited bucket of capital funding. Having managed a similar project in 1988 for the fi rst air-conditioned offi ce WAYNE P. SAYA, SR., CPE building in the country — the Rice Building at 10 High Street, Boston — Bob sought a second opinion from his facilities engineer when his company was confronted with a high-priced third-party contracted solution. Well, Bob and I just simply had fun. As the building’s advocate, I advised him of what the building required to perform while he advised using carefully craft ed words of the fi nancial dilemma his property operations faced moving forward. Although I was not privy to the closed door decisions of the sale, I was later aware that the needs of the building to perform were met as we had discussed. Shortly thereaft er, I received a letter of appreciation from Bob, thanking me for the “enlightening discussion” that ultimately “steered the fi nancial decisions toward a successful sale.” As a facility engineer you should be reminded not to sell yourself short. And as the late Sigi Brauer, one of the founders of the modern-day Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, repeated to me on more than one occasion, your boss’s priorities are your priorities. As Sigi’s engineer aft er our Ritz-Carlton days, he never wavered from this philosophy, and expected me to maintain this directive where it was interconnected to another of his verbal requirements: Mr. (V)ayne (with a strong German accent) just as my job is to make the boss successful, your job is to make me successful. Sigi’s boss during this period in 1992 was Horst Schulze, CEO of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and to date the only hotel hospitality executive ever to have his company awarded the Malcolm Baldridge National Wayne Saya and Robert Small, Boston Quality Award. 1996. Photo courtesy of AFE My friends, if you make your boss’s priorities your priorities, the craft of facilities engineering becomes an invaluable tool for those in the position of making the deal while protecting the assets of the building. For decades AFE members have been recognized worldwide as the building’s mouthpiece. Th ank you for advocating on behalf of the buildings we proudly repre-sent, while remembering that your boss’s priorities are your priorities. FEJ Facilities Engıneerıng JOU RNA L Association for Facilities Engineering 12801 Worldgate Drive, Suite 500 Herndon, VA 20170 p: 571/203-7171 w: www.AFE.org Richard Stukey Marketing & Business Development Wayne W. Carley, PhD, Publisher Richard Stukey , Senior Editor LouAnn Morton , Project Manager Jeff Bagwell , Production Manager For Editorial Inquiries: Maya Dollarhide p: 347/453-6435 e: dollarhidem@bnpmedia.com For Advertising Inquiries: Diana Brown p: 248/244-3911 e: brownd@bnpmedia.com Stephanie Weingartz p: 248/786-1636 e: weingartzs@bnpmedia.com For Reprint Inquiries: Jill DeVries p: 248/244-1726 e: devriesj@bnpmedia.com http://custommedia.bnpmedia.com 2401 W. Big Beaver Rd., Ste. 700, Troy, MI 48084 248/244-8264 Wayne P. Saya, Sr., CPE Chair, AFE National Board of Directors March | April 2012 Q  Facilities Engineering Journal Q  www.AFE.org 5

AFE Focus

Wayne P. Saya

AFE Members: Protectors of Building Ownership Sixteen years ago, back in October of 1996, as the new director of engineering for the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston, I found myself in a oneon- one meeting with Robert (Bob) Small, CEO of Fairmont Hotels. You see, Fairmont had just paid over 80 million dollars for the Copley Plaza, heralded as the first air-conditioned hotel in the country, from John Hancock. The hotel was in desperate need of a mechanical upgrade. Now remembering that your boss’s priorities are your priorities — a lesson learned from my Ritz-Carlton days (another story) — Bob’s corporate priority was to understand the operational dynamics of his new hotel and the importance of a mechanical upgrade, while possessing a limited bucket of capital funding. Having managed a similar project in 1988 for the first air-conditioned office building in the country — the Rice Building at 10 High Street, Boston — Bob sought a second opinion from his facilities engineer when his company was confronted with a high-priced third-party contracted solution. Well, Bob and I just simply had fun. As the building’s advocate, I advised him of what the building required to perform while he advised using carefully crafted words of the financial dilemma his property operations faced moving forward. Although I was not privy to the closed door decisions of the sale, I was later aware that the needs of the building to perform were met as we had discussed. Shortly thereafter, I received a letter of appreciation from Bob, thanking me for the “enlightening discussion” that ultimately “steered the financial decisions toward a successful sale.” As a facility engineer you should be reminded not to sell yourself short. And as the late Sigi Brauer, one of the founders of the modern-day Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, repeated to me on more than one occasion, your boss’s priorities are your priorities. As Sigi’s engineer after our Ritz-Carlton days, he never wavered from this philosophy, and expected me to maintain this directive where it was interconnected to another of his verbal requirements: Mr. (V)ayne (with a strong German accent) just as my job is to make the boss successful, your job is to make me successful. Sigi’s boss during this period in 1992 was Horst Schulze, CEO of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and to date the only hotel hospitality executive ever to have his company awarded the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. My friends, if you make your boss’s priorities your priorities, the craft of facilities engineering becomes an invaluable tool for those in the position of making the deal while protecting the assets of the building. For decades AFE members have been recognized worldwide as the building’s mouthpiece. Thank you for advocating on behalf of the buildings we proudly represent, while remembering that your boss’s priorities are your priorities.

Previous Page Next Page

Publication List
Using a screen reader? Click Here