Dear SRAPPA Colleagues,
It is my distinct pleasure to serve as the next President of SRAPPA. We have made many great strides during this past year. On the heels of a great annual conference, it is time to get on with the work of growing our membership, delivering unique and beneficial educational opportunities, and helping our state chapter partners to deliver useful content and technical support to our members.
As facilities professionals in higher education, each of you plays a crucial role in creating environments where students can thrive, and educators can inspire. We face numerous challenges—from budget constraints, and staffing challenges, to growing capital renewal concerns and a push for more sustainable campuses, there are so many challenges pulling us in a multitude of directions. Now more than ever, organizations like APPA, SRAPPA and our state chapters play a crucial role in supporting the success of facilities professionals in higher education.
Institutions like SRAPPA are uniquely leveraged to allow its partner institutions and Business partners to collaborate and implement solutions to many of our shared challenges. Whether it is through direct training opportunities like the annual conferences, or Supervisors Took Kit Training. or SRAPPAs many scholarship opportunities, or SRAPPAs mentorship programs, we strive to be valuable partners in the effort to develop our members professionally and personally and promote opportunities for our members to interact and share their collective experience. My goal is to work to improve the delivery of SRAPPAs resources to our members.
I encourage you to take advantage of SRAPPA as a platform for collaboration. Share your experiences, learn from one another, and build a community of facilities managers dedicated to improving our campuses. In the coming year, it is my intention to foster collaboration and help to support our member institutions. I am very excited to be leading such a great organization and want to thank the membership and the Board of Directors for allowing me to serve as President of such a wonderful institution that provides not only fantastic learning opportunities but also promotes networking with our colleagues and business partners. I am following the footsteps of some great leaders in the industry. Since 1952, SRAPPA has been fostering the success of its member institutions. I intend to continue this traditions as its president.
Over the next year we will continue to promote educational opportunities and certifications that reflect our organization and provide knowledge to our members. Whether it is our in-person Supervisor Tool Kits, or by providing scholarships to many of APPAs other educational programs, SRAPPAs goal will be to foster professionalism and develop our members professionally. I want to see our Mentor-Mentee program grow and expand, I hope to build on the success of NCAPPA’s Women in Facilities programming and help foster a regional equivalent. I hope to help state chapters that have fallen off in recent years to build back up, and to better serve their state institutions.
It is important that we focus on increasing our membership. This is a singular imperative to foster growth. It begins with the current membership. We need to make sure to tell our story and the value that APPA, SRAPPA and our state chapters provide. Here is my ask of each of you. If you find value in your experience with APPA, share that story with someone. It is as simple as that.
All the programs in the world will never replace the value of word-of-mouth endorsements that you provide. There are a lot of schools who are not represented in our membership. Let’s reach out to them, let them know that we are here to be a resource for them. Both the board and I are excited about the opportunity to increase our membership and with your help, there is no reason we cannot double our membership at next year’s annual conference in Athens.
This will take a great deal of work to bring about, your participation is essential. I encourage you to share any feedback and ideas that you may have with me and my fellow members of the board. Please reach out to me or any of our Board of Directors during the year. Let us know what we can do better, and how we can better serve you, our members.
As we move forward, let’s embrace innovation and foster collaboration. Together, we can create educational spaces that not only meet today’s needs but also inspire future generations. Thank you for your commitment to this important work!
Warmest regards,
Jeff Benjamin, PE CEFP
2024/2025 SRAPPA President
