The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) announced earlier this week its 2008 class of IFMA Fellows. Bruce Kenneth Forbes of ARCHIBUS; Jon Eldon Martens, CFM®, CFMJ, of Sonoma County, CA, General Services; W. Kirtley Miller Jr., CFM, of Himes Associates; and Michael K. Schley of FM:Systems will receive the honor of IFMA Fellowship during the association’s Awards of Excellence banquet on October 17 in Dallas, TX.
Established in 1992 to recognize members dedicated to IFMA and the facility management profession, the fellowship program creates a core of respected leaders who act as advisors to and ambassadors of the association. Being named an IFMA Fellow is the highest honor the association can bestow on a member. To date, 75 other facility professionals have received the distinction.
“Everything about this group of IFMA Fellows is extraordinary, from their passion to their constant commitment to the profession and IFMA,” said John McGee, MBA, chairman of the IFMA board of directors. “Perhaps the most important and enjoyable task I’ll have at World Workplace will be announcing this group of fellows at the Awards of Excellence banquet.”
With more than 100 years of combined facility management experience, the 2008 class of IFMA Fellows represents multiple industries and backgrounds.
Bruce Kenneth Forbes, founder, president and CEO of ARCHIBUS, holds master’s degrees in architecture and computer science from Harvard and Cornell, where he has also held research and teaching positions. Forbes’ vision for the future of the industry led to the creation of the world’s first Computer Aided Facility Management solution in 1976. He has also held positions on the IFMA executive committee and board of directors.
Jon Eldon Martens is the facilities operations division manager for Sonoma County, CA, General Services and the founder and president of JEMCOR, a facility management education and consulting firm. He is a lecturer and instructor at the University of California – Berkeley Haas School of Business. Working with IFMA and UC Berkeley, Martens was one of the founders of the association’s Recognized Certificate Program.
W. Kirtley Miller Jr. is a program/project consultant at Himes Associates and program manager for the facility management certificate program at George Mason University. Miller worked as the manager of real estate for Verizon in Arlington, VA, when the company lost 650,000 square feet of office space during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He led the planning team that provided emergency work locations for 2,300 displaced employees and created a long range plan for permanent work locations. Miller has also served as a regional vice president on the IFMA board of directors.
Michael K. Schley is the founder and CEO of FM:Systems, a software company that helped pioneer facility management systems. As chair of the Task Force on CAD Layer Guidelines and the IFMA Task Group on Area Measurement Standards, his leadership has resulted in two essential standards critical to the profession. Schley holds a master’s degree in architecture and has served as a guest lecturer at numerous academic institutions, including Cornell, Michigan State and Brigham Young universities.
To learn more about the IFMA Fellows program, or for a complete list of fellows, visit www.ifma.org/about_ifma/ifma_fellows.cfm.
