The week of January 6, 384 facilities management professionals convened in Fort Worth, Texas at the Omni Fort Worth from January 6-9 for APPAU. There was representation from across the United States and Canada, along with attendees from as far away as Saudi Arabia and Jamaica.
APPAU traditionally consists of two signature professional development programs—the Institute for Facilities Management (IFM) and the Leadership Academy. This APPAU also offered the Supervisor’s Toolkit, facilitated by Marissa Pierson, Oklahoma State University, and Shelton Riley, Texas Christian University. This APPAU produced a total of 75 graduates between the Institute (35), Academy (12) and Toolkit (28).
APPAU kicked off with the Institute and Supervisor’s Toolkit beginning on Monday afternoon, January 6th. The Academy began Tuesday morning. In addition to the classroom learning, there were plenty of networking opportunities with other facilities management professionals during the four days of APPAU—over breakfast, lunch, breaks between sessions, the networking receptions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Congratulations to the January 2025 Institute for Facilities Management Graduates:
- Aaron Agnew, University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Ellen Agnew, University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Brandon Biro, Yavapai College
- Misty Brown, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Betty Castano, Chabot-Las Positas Community College
- Bryan Coady, St. Paul’s School
- Heath DeJager, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus
- Andrea Difuntorum, University of Pennsylvania
- Joe Fellone, Stonehill College
- Matt Fohr, University of North Dakota
- Darren Forman, Bonneville Joint School District #93
- Tom Gilmore, University of New Brunswick
- Sharon Ginn, University of Oregon
- Michael Going, II, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Justin Grishkin, University of Oregon
- Jeremy A. Katras, University of Virginia
- Richard Krebs, University of Iowa
- Steve Mack, Ohio University
- David Marlowe, University of Alabama
- Melissa Marriott, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Kristen Millward, Penn State
- Cesar Penalba, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Ryan Perry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Aaron Pompilio, University of Northwestern
- Katy Pope, Oregon State University
- Jamie Ready, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Roberto Samaniego, El Paso Community College
- Stanley L. Speed, Sr., University of Virginia
- Mitchell Stepp, University of Texas at Austin
- Rick Stewart, Cedarville University
- Lance Stone, Enterprise Elementary School District
- Malcolm Tasker, Salt Lake Community College
- Daniel Trotter, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
- Jeff Troyna, Brigham Young University
- David A. Wemhoff, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Congratulations to the January 2025 Leadership Academy Graduates:
- Betty Castano, Chabot-Las Positas Community College District
- Donny Edwards, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Christi Muller Ford, Swarthmore College
- Shawn Limrick, PennState
- Adi Manek, University of Saskatchewan
- Daniel Norton, California Baptist University
- Jesus Ojeda, Glendale Community College
- Quent Rhodes, Monroe Community College
- Roberto Samaniego, El Paso Community College
- David E. Smith, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Wes Willoughby, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Tammy Zeigler, PennState
Congratulations to the January 2025 Supervisors Toolkit Graduates:
- Maria Bedolla, Texas Christian University
- Harold Bogue, Texas State University
- Robert Brown, Texas Christian University
- Daniel Calavan, University of Alabama in Huntsville
- Connie Castilleja Mendez, Texas Christian University
- Mary Cruz, Texas State University
- Abrahm Duran, Texas Christian University
- Dwayne Fletcher, Missouri University of Science and Technology
- Kevin Graves, Texas State University
- David James Gray, Missouri University of Science and Technology
- James Alfred Hall, Pennsylvania State University
- Donna Helsel, Pennsylvania State University
- Justin Hopkins, Texas State Technical College
- Hunter Lewis, Arkansas State University-Main Campus
- Eric Litchendorf, University of Pennsylvania
- Joseph Lopez, University of Arizona
- Brandon Mills, La Vernia Independent School District
- Jared Pambid, Los Rios Community College District Office
- Manuel Perez, Texas State Technical College
- Hampton Henry Robinson, George Mason University
- Nick Rodriguez, Texas State University
- Angela Rodriquez, La Vernia Independent School District
- Alexandria Tannehill, University of Colorado Denver|Anschutz Medical Campus
- Andres Tavera, Texas Christian University
- Cody Thrasher, Texas State University
- Trevor Tyler, University of New Mexico
- Erika Wescoatt, Los Rios Community College District Office
- Evangelina Yanez, Texas Christian University
APPA U will return, this time to Orlando, Florida, during the week of June 2-5, 2025. In addition to the Institute and Academy in June, we will also be reviving the Targeted Titles and Topics (T3) focused on technology and a two-day deep dive program on institutional budgets in the current educational climate. Click here to register for June’s APPA U.
APPA staff is hard at work to curate the programming calendar for APPAU in 2026 and 2027 – stay tuned and plan to join us.
Billie Zidek is the learning and certification manager at APPA in Alexandria, VA. She can be reached at [email protected].
