Boston, MA Due to the COVID-19 situation, IFMA Boston’s annual one day conference–FMForward was held as a four day summit from June 8-11 from noon to 1:30 p.m. each day and was underwritten by VVA LLC. The conference kicked off with a keynote address entitled “Managing with a Coach Approach” with Joe Hirsch, managing director of Semaca Partners LLC. Hirsch is an entrepreneur, educator and TedTalk speaker. His address was engaging and interactive and was a great way to kick off the event.

During the keynote address, Hirsch recognized the project Awards of Excellence recipients for this year. Two FMs received the Excellence in Facility Management awards for their projects–Tom Weber of UMASS Lowell and Brian Murray of Akamai Technologies. The Perry Hall Renovation project at UMASS received the Excellence in Facilities Transformation award and the Akamai Technologies HQ project received the Excellence in Building Synergies award. UMASS was nominated by STV|DPM and Akamai was nominated by Sasaki.

The next three days each included a Tech Talk which included an FM and their preferred vendor talking through a solution that they teamed on within their facility followed by breakout sessions with the attendees interacting in small groups. Those were followed by interactive best practices sessions with a deeper dive into a FM topic area.

This year’s Tech Talks included:

Implementing Energy-Efficient Goals for Multi-Use Sport Facilities – Boston Sports Institute 
Presented by: Daryl Carter, Dacon and Brian DeVellis, DeVellis

Innovative Work Order Management –The Harlo During Design and Construction
Presented by: Tim Currier, Bozzuto Company, and Michael Zeppieri, Skanska USA Building 

Winning the Battle Between Brand, Real Estate & Employee Opinion – The Akamai Global HQ
Presented by: Brian Murray, Akamai and Victor Vizgaitis, Sasaki

This year’s Best Practices Sessions included:

A Rock n’ Roll Panel on RE Risk, Moderated by Jacke Falla, Elaine Construction 
Panelists included: Ryan DeStefano, vice president, global assistance services, On Call International; David Trout, enterprise preparedness, Raytheon Company; Kevin Ruby, AIA/director of annual capital projects, Boston College; Daniel Chadwick, vice president of project delivery, Fidelity Real Estate Co.

From the Port to the Bay: John Hancock/Manulife Consolidation of 2018 
Presented by: Melodee Wagen, president, Workspace Strategies; Shaun Johnson, facilities director, John Hancock; and Susan Gilmore, director, corporate real estate, Manulife Investment Management, John Hancock

Data Based Decision Making – Informing Workplace Design 
Presented by: Emily Dunn, WELL Faculty, LEED GA, EDAC, workplace consultant, workplace performance services, Herman Miller

Our exhibitors were on hand throughout the conference to moderate the breakout session and hosted virtual exhibits on our conference app! They included:
• Creative Office Pavilion;
• Herman Miller;
• Dacon Corp.;
• Fort Point Project Management;
• Margulies Perruzzi;
• MovePlan Group;
• STV|DPM;
• VVA LLC; 
• Wentworth Institute of Technology; and 
• William B. Meyer, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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