IFMA Fellow Eric Teicholz and the IFMA Foundation have established the Eric Teicholz Sustainability Facility Professional® (SFP®) Scholarship. This scholarship is open to young professionals with a demonstrated financial need who are currently practicing facility management (FM) or a related field and are interested in earning a specialty credential in sustainability.
IFMA’s SFP is an assessment-based certificate program that teaches facility managers to take a comprehensive approach to sustainability, focusing on data-driven analytics in managing the built environment. Those who earn the SFP gain recognition for expertise in sustainable FM practices, while impacting their organization’s economic, environmental and social bottom lines.
“In recent years, many of us have been feeling an increasing sense of urgency about the environmental impact of the built environment. In particular, we are concerned about the amount of energy consumption and the degree of pollution production involved in its construction, management and maintenance,” said Eric Teicholz. “I wanted to establish a legacy to support a future generation of facility managers in their study and mastery of climate science as related to the built environment.”
Teicholz is President and Founder of Graphic Systems, Inc., a firm specializing in facility management and real estate automation consulting. He also is the author/editor of 17 books related to FM, CAFM/IWMS and GIS technology.
“In these early months of 2020, we have been living through a still-growing pandemic as it enforces profound changes in how we live and work — even perhaps slowing for a moment the steady march of climate change and its recent spate of destructive fires, droughts and floods,” said Teicholz. “Whenever we are able to return to our pre-pandemic levels of energy consumption and pollutant-creating building usage, the consequences of that return to normal will no doubt take us right back to our old habits of slowing the sustainability initiatives of our planet, at the same time that we destroy the future well-being of its human inhabitants. I look forward to seeing these scholarships create a new generation of facility managers with competencies in this vital and evolving field.”
Skillsets taught in the SFP program lead to a better understanding of climate change and how buildings can be managed to reduce negative environmental impact. Sustainability skills will remain essential for facility managers in the foreseeable future and will increase the leadership potential for those with demonstrated expertise in maximizing efficiencies, streamlining building operations, and implementing projects that save money and positively impact the community.
Those interested in applying for the Eric Teicholz Sustainability Facility Professional Scholarship can learn more by visiting the IFMA Foundation website. Applications are due June 30, 2020.
