Vice President for Facilities
Within Dartmouth’s Campus Services, the Vice President for Facilities (VP) is a critical senior leadership role responsible for overseeing the strategic direction, planning, and execution of all aspects related to energy management, capital construction, and facilities maintenance across the institution. Reporting directly to the Senior Vice President for Operations, this position plays a pivotal role in shaping the physical environment and sustainability efforts on campus.
The VP will work collaboratively with senior academic and administrative leaders as well as with the Board of Trustees to develop and implement a comprehensive strategic plan for the institution’s energy, capital projects, and facilities management, aligning it with the overall mission and goals of the institution. The VP is responsible for developing and staffing an integrated, strategically aligned facilities organization that demonstrates a commitment to excellence and service in all it does. The VP is responsible for the performance of approximately 340 employees and for the management of a $148 million annual operating budget and a $34 million utility budget.
Serving as an institutional resource for the application and interpretation of facilities policies, the VP will interact with senior academic and administrative leadership to support Dartmouth’s mission and will cultivate and sustain cooperative working relationships with all constituencies. They will sustain an inclusive, principled, and learning-oriented environment for all employees and build on current strengths to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of services, deliver critical initiatives, and develop a vision for facilities that will align its resources and priorities with Dartmouth’s current and emerging goals, while fostering and incubating a pervasive culture of safety that guides daily practices, decision-making, and long-term planning, and reflects a deep understanding of the institution’s impact on its local environment.
Dartmouth’s 5-year, $1.4 billion capital plan will ramp up capital initiatives and aligns with strategic investments led by President Beilock and is part of a years-long effort to allocate resources to the capital and renewal needs of the College. The major capital investment strategies are focused on three areas: housing, energy, and renewal and upgrades across campus.
Projects include a $500 million vision for undergraduate housing and the continuation of the housing renewal program, a staged upgrading of approximately 60% of existing undergraduate residences over 15 years. The Dartmouth Climate Collaborative is a $500 million dollar investment over five years to accelerate campus decarbonization efforts, including a target of reducing 100% of campus carbon emissions by 2050. Infrastructure upgrades will include the installation of geo-exchange borefields and high-capacity heat pumps, the continued transition from steam to hot water heating, and improvements to overall energy efficiency.
Required Qualifications - Education and Yrs Exp:
Bachelors plus 6 or more years' experience or combination of education and experience
Required Qualifications - Skills, Knowledge and Abilities:
- Extensive leadership experience in energy management, capital projects, and facilities management within a higher education setting or a similarly complex organization
- A track record of implementing meaningful initiatives to advance sustainability goals, including experience overseeing energy conservation, environmentally sensitive construction, and renovation initiatives
- Budget management expertise
- Demonstrated success advising senior leadership and boards on strategic investments in a campus-like environment and the resources necessary to optimize them
- Experience in creating and leading diverse and collaborative teams to address challenges and opportunities
- Demonstrated ability to engage respectfully with community members at all levels, including trustees, administration, faculty, students, staff, alumni, and donors
- Exceptional strategic planning and project management skills and excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- An undergraduate degree in engineering, facilities management, or a related field
Preferred Qualifications:
- An advanced degree, ideally with a focus on design, architecture, engineering, business, public administration, planning, or a related field
- An understanding of higher education operations and business models and the unique challenges and opportunities they present
- Experience working in a research university environment
- Experience working with unionized staff
Strategic Facilities Leadership
- Team Leadership: Build and lead a high-performing team of professionals, providing guidance, support, and mentorship to ensure the successful execution of departmental responsibilities
- Innovation and process improvement: Develop a culture of high performance, accountability and inclusion in delivering services across the campus to all stakeholders
- Customer service: Ensure a culture of continuous customer satisfaction and improvement using technology, metrics, and key performance indicators to drive success
- Budget Management: Ensure budgets for energy, capital projects, and facilities are in line with budgets and are optimizing resource allocation and cost-effectiveness
- Reporting and Communication: Provide regular updates and reports to the SVP for Operations and other stakeholders regarding the status of energy, capital projects, and facilities management initiatives. Prepare for and present regularly to the Board of Trustees as a part of the team staffing the Resources Committee of the Board
- Safety and Accessibility: Manage the maintenance and renovation of campus facilities, prioritizing safety, accessibility, and functionality for employees and all members of the community
- Sustainability: Champion sustainability initiatives, fostering a culture of environmental responsibility within the institution and identifying opportunities for energy conservation and sustainable development
- Living Lab: Enable faculty and students to engage with Dartmouth facilities both to inform College planning and operations and to share best practices nationally and internationally
- Regulatory Compliance: Stay abreast of relevant laws, regulations, and industry best practices, ensuring the institution’s compliance and proactively addressing emerging issues
- Succession Planning: Focus on building depth within the organization to ensure key roles and functions are adequately trained and mentored to take over key roles
- Collaboration: In a highly complex environment, foster an atmosphere of collaboration with and among Dartmouth constituents including customers and other facilities offices (Real Estate Office, Office of Residential Life, Athletics, School of Arts & Sciences and the professional schools)
Energy Transformation
- Lead efforts to reduce the institution’s carbon footprint by implementing a decade-long program to convert from steam to hot water and replace the current central steam plant with distributed non-combustion technologies
- Develop an approach to efficiently manage construction and build the operational capabilities to maintain and operate the new technologies deployed
Capital Projects
- Oversee the planning, design, and execution of all capital construction projects, ensuring they are completed on time, within budget, and in accordance with quality standards
- Ensure collaboration and communication between project delivery and operations throughout all phases of the projects
Culture and Employee Belonging
- Demonstrate a commitment to developing a culture that values diversity, mutual respect, and belonging
- Participate in Campus Services’ culture and employee belonging initiatives and training, including promotion of the 7 Principles (Empathy, Fairness, Dependability, Inclusivity, Consideration, Vulnerability, and Respect)
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