17 August 2022

Dear Members and Colleagues,

Reflecting on recent travel to our TEFMA strategic partner conferences in the UK (AUDE) and the USA (APPA), I have been blown away by how advanced many institutions are in their net zero and sustainability agendas, integration of physical estates with digital twins, and the internationalisation and associated development plans that are knocking hard on the door of our South East Asian and Middle Eastern international student markets. The University of Birmingham shone brightly as their campus was presented to athletes and media across the world during the Commonwealth Games, and the United States athletics departments are at the seasonal change of sports, with new stadiums, arenas and facilities opening for the first time – a great way to put COVID behind us. And when discussing how and when Estates departments should execute their plans to enable future academic and research success, I was reminded that whilst the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.

In all these reflections, the one thing that remains constant is how open and willing to share our network and members are, often globally, and many times through the success of our trusted vendors and business partners. Our Tertiary Education Management Conference is to be held in Hobart next month, and the program will provide delegates with many opportunities to share, network and engage in best practice and thought leadership across Australia and New Zealand. If you can’t make it in person, consider joining us for the Friday virtual event before the big gig kicks off.

The 2022 TEMC will be my final event after 9 years on the Board and a few acknowledgements are due before I leave. Firstly, I must acknowledge the University of Canberra, our leaders and especially my teams for their long-term support of both myself, and TEFMA. It’s been a lot of hard work, but the benefit has definitely been returned many times over. I encourage you all to see how you can get involved in future TEFMA workshops, webinars, discussion forums, white papers, committees or the Board to benefit yourself, your teams and your institution. Contact info@tefma.com for more info or follow TEFMA on LinkedIn and our Community Portal to keep yourself updated.

I would like to thank the network of brilliant leaders on successive Boards whom I have worked with, who have all brought their own flavours, experiences and expertise for me to learn from. I’d like to give a big shout out to Hilary Kavanagh, and Trevor Humphries who have been phenomenal mentors and exec support through my last couple of years of leading the Board. Collectively, and with the entire Board, I believe we have all created strong foundations, new products and relationships and have established a great platform from which to grow. I have many lasting memories and friendships created through my tenure and I look forward to creating many more at future events.

Our strategic partners, corporate partners and TEFMA business partners have all provided expertise and brought innovation to our network to generate efficiencies, savings and better ways of doing business. I encourage you all to think about what you could do differently in your own workplace to lead or change the world, and then call a TEFMA partner as our contacts will likely have ideas and inspiration to make your vision a reality. On that note I would like to thank Paula and her team at Leishman Associates who have very ably engaged and assisted our Board, delivered workshops, webinars and conferences throughout my time, enabling us to pivot and continually deliver despite COVID impacted years.

And finally, I would like to thank my family. My better half, Cassie is a massive inspiration to me and has encouraged and supported me for many years as I dove headfirst into understanding, embracing and loving the higher education facilities sector, listening patiently to my excitement about everything related to the built environment and exemplar activities from all around the world. Whilst we all work hard at what we do, there is always time to stop, reflect and give thanks. Some please help me celebrate at TEMC and the TEFMA Awards Dinner before I step back and wish Kathleen Packer and the incoming TEFMA Board all their own successes and many more.

Kind regards, thank you all and best wishes to your own successful futures.

Glenn Mowbray

TEFMA President

For all enquiries, please contact:

TEFMA Secretariat
E: info@tefma.com
Ph: 03 6234 7844

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