The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) recently held its annual in Houston. More than 4,100 industry leaders from top business and government organizations attended the three-day conference held at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The conference focuses on facilities management — from groundbreaking discoveries impacting the industry, to achievable strategies.

Eight Houston Airport System employees are members of the organization and four are certified as a Facility Management Professional and/or a Sustainability Management Professional.

“We were so pleased to serve as host and show off a Houston Friendly welcome, said Shantel Woods, (FMP) Maintenance Division Manager at IAH and member of the IFMA Airports Facilities Council. “The Airport Facilities Council session during the conference allowed airport professionals an opportunity to focus on benchmarking, security practices, business development, and emergency/disaster planning within airport facilities among other airport professionals."

The Airport Facilities council’s membership is open to IFMA members who have some degree of responsibility for an airport facility and those offering specialized products or services to meet their needs. The mission of this council is to effectively address the challenges of managing airports in a global economy. 

Houston Airports Chief Operating Officer Jesus Saenz presented to the group on how to make the passenger happy while providing an opening day fresh facility.

IFMA is the world's largest and most widely recognized international association for facility management professionals, supporting 24,000 members in 96 countries. The association's members, represented in 131 chapters and 17 councils worldwide, manage more than 37 billion square feet of property and annually purchase more than US$100 billion in products and services. 

For more information about the conference, visit http://worldworkplace.ifma.org/home/#about.