Our first Member Spotlight for 2004 is on Mary Gauer, CFM, IFMA Fellow. Did you know that Mary has been a very happily transplanted Midwesterner in New Mexico for over 20 years, and that she’s a founding member of the International Facility Management Association?

Mary attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she received her B.S. in Interior Design in 1972. She began her career as a staff designer in a large commercial furniture dealership in Milwaukee, WI. She joined the Kellogg Company headquarters organization in Battle Creek, MI in 1976 where she subsequently developed and managed the Facility Planning Department. During her tenure at Kellogg’s, she had the opportunity to attend a number of workshops at the newly created Facility Management Institute, meeting people from all over the country who were engaged in the business of “facility management”, a newly coined term for an emerging profession. The need for an association which encompassed the many allied but segregated disciplines of architecture, design, property management, building administration, facility and plant engineering etc. which reflected the breadth of people’s broadening management responsibilities allowed the Institute to become the focal point for the birthplace of our profession and IFMA. Mary was involved in early organization meetings and signed the Constitution and By-laws for the “National Facility Management Association” at the first annual meeting in October, 1980. Our Association became international when the Toronto Chapter joined in 1982.

In 1983 Mary and her husband “sold the snow blower”, a VERY momentous occasion, and moved to Albuquerque where she worked as a Facility Analyst for Sperry Flight Systems, which today is a part of Honeywell Defense & Space Electronic Systems. She currently manages the Design and Construction team at the 533,000 SF facility, which houses offices, engineering labs and production activities. Mary is a 1990 founding member of the New Mexico Chapter of IFMA and served on the board for nine years holding every officer and numerous committee chair positions. In 1996 – 1997 she served on the IFMA international board as the Southwest Regional Vice President, and became a CFM in 1997, passing her exam in this first NM Chapter sponsored event. On an international level over the last six years, Mary has contributed her time to a number of initiatives for the Awards of Excellence program, was a member of the team which developed the new Technology Competency, and has served two years on the Fellows Nominating Task Force. She was the SW Liaison for the IFMA Foundation for the last two years, was a member of the IFMA Nominating Committee in 2003 and has been a member of the International Certification Committee (ICC) since 2000. The mission of the ICC is to sustain IFMA’s CFM as the premier designation for facility professionals worldwide.

In 1999 she was honored with the IFMA Distinguished Member Award. Her greatest achievement was becoming an IFMA Fellow in 2000. This highest of honors is a testament to her passionate commitment to both the profession and the Association.

When asked what she does in her spare time she said “What spare time!” For the last nine years, Mary and her husband have been working on their “dream home” near Old Town, which has morphed from a 1,100 SF wreck into its final 2,800 SF form. It helps that she’s a licensed interior designer and her husband’s a registered engineer and licensed contractor. They’ve done most of the work themselves, and although he’s definitely the expert, she proclaims to be pretty darned good at laying ceramic tile and is the best painter in the family. She’s also glad that their three Shelties will no longer be getting into drywall mud and paint!

When asked about her greatest career challenges, she said it was accomplishing an enormous amount of work with limited staffing resources, time and money. Focusing on goal setting at an organizational and personal level has helped her with these challenges and her many accomplishments. She concluded by saying that one of the most important components in personal and professional growth is becoming involved in an organization at a local, national or international level, which provides networking and expanded learning opportunities.

Members of the IFMA New Mexico Chapter congratulate Mary Gauer, CFM, IFMA Fellow, in her life long achievements and her diligent and unselfish efforts in promoting IFMA to the level that we all enjoy. Mary is considered “one of our own”, and we wish her many more years of success and personal happiness.

Current Member Spotlight

Past Member Spotlights:
Tristan Thomas
Mary Gauer
Dave Miller
Paul Collins
Mary Anne Giangola