The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) recently held its Airports Facilities Council annual Spring conference in Houston. . Industry leaders from top business and government organizations attended the conference which focused on facilities management at Airports— from groundbreaking discoveries impacting the industry, to achievable strategies.The Houston Airports hosted the conference at its new Infrastructure Division Office, and it included tours of Hobby Airport and the Ellington’s Lone Star Flight Museum.

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.

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. This includes Division Managers Shantel Woods and Troy Donahue, who are on the board of the Airport Facilities Council, and were key in organizing the conference. Also, the Houston Airport’s Director of Maintenance, Scott Hill, and Chief Development Officer, Bob Barker, are Certified Facility Managers (CFM) through IFMA.

With the coronavirus outbreak, the main topic for facility professionals obviously was coronavirus preparedness and sharing resources. IFMA has created a coronavirus online resource center containing health and safety content, as well as online courses and webinars on infection prevention and control, strategic preparedness and risk management.

Houston Airports Chief Development Officer Bob Barker presented the Houston Airports unique approach to Infrastructure Asset Management and provided information on the International Terminal Redevelopment Program (ITRP) and Domestic Redevelopment Programs. Stephen Anderson, ITRP Executive, presented on the ITRP overall program and progress. Scott Hill, Director of Maintenance, provided some closing remarks to the conference.

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. 

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.