Building Construction Associate Professor Kathy Roper has been elected Chair of The International Facility Management Association’s (IFMA) executive committee.  Roper, CFM, MCR, LEED AP, IFMA Fellow, will serve as the new Chair and Chief Elected Officer of the association’s Board of Directors, succeeding Francis J. Kuhn, CFM, CFMJ. IFMA is the world’s largest and most widely recognized international association for professional facility managers; Roper’s term begins July 1, 2011.

Professor Roper has more than 20 years of experience in facility management and corporate real estate. She has worked for Sprint Communications, Financial Service Corporation, the U.S. General Services Administration and the American Cancer Society — providing her with experiences in corporate, government and non-profit business environments. Roper is an Associate Professor in the School of Building Construction at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she teaches graduate courses in the Integrated Facility Management track of the School’s master’s program.

“It is indeed an honor to work with such diverse and qualified professionals, knowledgeable in a range of facility management expertise,” said Roper. “I look forward to learning from everyone and sharing in the expansion of IFMA’s strategic vision that will carry us forward to more and greater successes. This wide range of viewpoints and experiences is what makes IFMA so valuable, and I know our new board has a strong commitment to expanding the profession and making the decisions needed to bring the third decade of IFMA even more professionalism and respect.”

Also on IFMA’s new executive committee are: First Vice Chair Marc S. Liciardello, CFM, MBA, CM, vice president of corporate services at ARAMARK; and Second Vice Chair Jon Seller, general manager at Optegy Group.

The new members of IFMA’s 2011-2012 Board of Directors are: Francisco Abrantes, MBA, facility management director at Jones Lang LaSalle; Lesley Groff, CFM, facility manager at The Hershey Company; William M. O’Neill, CFM, associate director of facility management at the University of Minnesota; and James P. Whittaker, P.E.,CFM, EFP, FRICS, president at Facility Engineering Associates.

They join existing board members Isilay Civan, MSc, Ph.D.s, LEED AP, senior consultant at HOK; Michael D. Feldman, CM, deputy executive director at Los Angeles World Airports; and Joachim W. Hohmann, MSc, Ph.D., CFM, managing partner of Consultants Circle and professor at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern.

IFMA is the world’s largest and most widely recognized international association for professional facility managers, supporting more than 19,500 members in 78 countries. The association’s members, represented in 125 chapters and 16 councils worldwide, manage more than 37 billion square feet of property and annually purchase more than US$100 billion in products and services. Formed in 1980, IFMA certifies facility managers, conducts research, provides educational programs and produces World Workplace, the world’s largest facility management conference and exposition.