The First Facility Management Blog

The death of David Beverly at the Johnson Space Center last Friday had an unfortunate impact on IFMA headquarters. According to Reuters and other news sources:

The shooter was identified as 60-year-old William Phillips, who has been working for Johnson Space Center for 12 years as a contractor employed by Pasadena, California-based Jacobs Engineering Group, whereas, the slain hostage was David Beverly, an engineer employed by NASA. Fortunately, a second hostage escaped with minor injuries.

Though, no apparent motive for the slaughter has been found, but it is said that there had been ‘some kind of dispute’ between Beverly and Phillips that caused the bloody incident based on a poor review.

The victim in the incident was the husband of Linda Beverly, Vice President of Administration for the Houston-based International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and member of the IFMA senior strategy team. Ms. Beverly joined the IFMA staff in 1996 as chapter and council relations manager, and has also served as associate director of membership services, director of member resources and vice president of administration and member resources. She is currently responsible for administrative and accounting functions and is a member of the Senior Strategy Team.

According to Dave Brady, president and CEO of IFMA, “She is doing as well as can be expected considering this tragic loss of her husband and best friend.” Brady adds, “she is considered by most of our members to be the nurturer of the ‘IFMA family.’ Now is the time for our family to pay her back for everything she has done to make IFMA the special place it is today.”