The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Foundation awarded over $115,000 in scholarships to 27 students at the 2019 IFMA World Workplace Conference and Expo in Phoenix, Arizona in October. These scholarships honor the outstanding achievements of students studying the field of facility management and the built environment. 
Scholarships are funded by IFMA Chapters and Councils along with organizations and companies supporting the IFMA Foundation. “We are grateful for the support of the IFMA community in providing scholarship funding to help these talented students further their facility management education and ease their financial burden of college tuition” said Joe Archie, IFMA Foundation Chair. Read about the scholarship recipients here.
The scholarships include an all-expense paid trip to the annual IFMA World Workplace conference where students interact with Facility Management (FM) professionals and their peers to network, learn and engage with IFMA Fellows and leaders. At the conference, students meet and interview with IFMA Foundation Global Workforce Initiative (GWI) Advisors including Sodexo, ABM, and FM:Systems.
“Having access to the best and the brightest students in facility management provides our GWI Advisors with the ability to fill the talent gap in our industry with top-notch students,” said Archie. “Additionally, student scholarship recipients participate in the Foundation’s IgniteFM! Student Challenge where students are placed in teams with peers from other schools whom they had never met and given three hours to solve an FM problem.”
Sponsored and led by FM:Systems, IgniteFM! student competition participants present their solutions to a judging panel and an audience of conference attendees the following day, working long hours the night before to perfect their presentations. In the audience are GWI Advisors’ talent acquisition teams observing the students and ready to interview and hire these talented future FM leaders.
“We at FM:Systems believe fervently in the mission of the IFMA Foundation to support and expand the education in facility management. GWI is critical not just in filling a workforce gap but in elevating facility management to a true profession” said Michael Schley, Founder and board member at FM:Systems.
The IFMA Foundation scholarship program has awarded more than $1.5 million dollars to more than 554 students since the program started in the early 1990’s. The 2020 IFMA Foundation scholarship applications will be posted on December 15, 2019 on the Scholarships page of the IFMA Foundation website.
“Solving the FM labor shortage will take a village of FM professionals dedicated to tackling this problem. Working with GWI advisors and major donors like A&A Maintenance, and IFMA members, chapters, communities and councils, we can all be that village that provides new approaches to tackle the FM talent shortage. Together, we can ensure there are skilled FMs to meet talent acquisition demands” said Archie.
2019 IFMA Foundation IgniteFM! Student Challenge Winners are:
- Mohammed Aldaaja, Arizona State University
- Yujin Kim, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Cailyn Poschner, Conestoga College
- Victoria Smikowski, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
IFMA 2019 Awards Of Excellence
Also at World Workplace, the IFMA Foundation announced the winners of its 2019 Awards of Excellence. These annual awards honor the stand-out achievements of people and organizations supporting the mission of the IFMA Foundation — Make FM a Career of Choice.
“Behind each of these awards is the hard work and dedication of volunteers and organizations contributing to something larger then themselves,” said Archie. “Everything that the IFMA Foundation accomplishes to meet our mission in filling the looming FM talent gap is directly attributable to the efforts of volunteers and donors. We recognize these efforts with awards to demonstrate our appreciation. These honors are our chance to step back and recognize how far we’ve come as a non-profit, and to thank those who contribute and have made a difference.”
2019 IFMA Foundation Awards of Excellence Recipients
- Global Workforce Initiative Award: Sodexo
- Volunteer Award: Darin Rose, CFM, SFP, GGP IFMA
- Chapter/Council/Community Award: IFMA Airport Facilities Council
- Student Chapter Award: IFMA Ferris State Student Chapter
- IFMA Foundation Chairman’s Award: Robert Dills
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