Caren Albarian has more than 30 years of experience in Human Resources. She is currently the Human Resources Manager at CDS Muery, a civil engineering firm in San Antonio, TX. Prior to joining CDS Muery, Caren worked in various industries including SeaWorld for 28 years. She grew up in San Diego, CA and transferred around the country several times until she landed in San Antonio. In addition to working in HR full-time, she has been teaching human resources related courses for the past 16 years.

Caren holds a master’s degree in Human Resources Development from Villanova University and a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from The University of Phoenix. She is a certified Senior Human Resources Professional (SPHR) and strives to keep up with the ever-changing laws and legislation that govern human resources policies and practices. She was previously a board member for the San Antonio Human Resources Management Association and Christian Senior Services.

Dennis Ford has more than 25 years of experience in Healthcare Facilities Management (FM), engineering and construction. He is currently working for Atrium Health, based out of Charlotte, NC, leading the Corporate Facilities Operations division. His current duties include representing Plant Operations and Maintenance (POM) on all new hospital design and construction projects and overseeing a team of project coordinators who bridge the gap between construction and maintenance. As of 14 July 2021, Atrium Health consists of 40 hospitals and more than 1,400 care locations and continues to build new and acquire existing facilities.

Dennis received a BS in Civil Engineering from UTSA, completed the Air Force (AF) ROTC program and started his career at Eglin AFB in Ft Walton Beach, FL. While in the AF, Dennis served in FM roles and at headquarters where he led the development of a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) currently in use at all military hospitals (DMLSS-FM). He has served as Director, Facilities Engineering at Baptist healthcare system in San Antonio, TX, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, TX and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, TX. Dennis also served in Facilities Engineering at USAA in San Antonio, TX (a large insurance provider) where he was involved in engineering design/construction management, data center reliability, document management, and IT project management (i.e., software development).

Dennis is a member of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) where he has earned fellow status (FASHE), Certified Healthcare Facility Manager (CHFM) and Certified Healthcare Constructor (CHC). He frequently provides presentations at annual ASHE conferences. In 2021, Dennis was elected to the Advisory Board of ASHE, representing Region 3 (North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky). He also serves on the Customer Advisory Board of Facility Survey Incorporated (FSI) Services, a provider of healthcare CMMS used by Atrium Health.

Dennis received his Master of Health Administration from Texas A&M.increase individual competency, business sustainability, and organizational longevity.

Thomas Mitchell is the current senior vice president and chief operations officer for FM3IS Associates, L.L.C., and he oversees organization strategic and market development activities, as well as directs corporate business operations for independent contracted consultants who specialize in the development and delivery of service offerings in the areas of facility portfolio performance, workforce capability development and organization functionality alignment. Thomas was previously employed with the Fortune 500 strategy & technology consulting firm of Booz|Allen|Hamilton, where he provided facilities & asset management services that helped clients and colleagues develop a vision, strategies, and solutions that shaped, improved, and optimized the built environment. With over 35 years of facility and asset management experience, Thomas is committed to advancing the performance of an organization’s two most valuable assets – the workforce and the workplace – by providing solutions that increase individual competency, business sustainability, and organizational longevity.

In 1998, Mitchell joined the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and served on the Global Board of Directors from 2005 to 2011. He became board chairman from 2009-2010 and was awarded the IFMA 2012 Chairman’s Citation and bestowed the IFMA Fellow designation in 2013. Thomas presently serves as chairman of Florida A&M University’s Facility Management Degree Program Academic Advisory Council, and as vice-chair for Professional Certifications and Partnerships on the Society of American Military Engineer’s National Facility Asset Management Committee. In addition to earning the Certified Facility Manager designation and recognition as a licensed IFMA FM course instructor, Mitchell’s list of credentials also includes a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies, a Master of Arts in Management, and Master of Military Operational Arts and Science degrees, as well as a Master’s Level Certificate in Facility Management.

Michael D. Noll, a licensed Texas Real Estate Broker, is the current Senior Vice President of AqueInvestment Group and is responsible for the management over one million square feet of office product. He has 25 years of experience in the development, leasing, management, and brokerage of commercial real estate.

Noll has achieved the designations of Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) and Certified Property Manager (CPM) by his work in the commercial real estate community. He is a member of both organizations’ local chapters and is currently serving as the chairman of the Legislative Committee for the local IREM Chapter. Noll is also a member of San Antonio’s Independent Commercial Broker’s Association and is among the “Who’s Who in Commercial Real Estate” by the San Antonio Business Journal.

Michael D. Noll graduated in 1985 with a BBA, and in 1990 with an MBA, both from the University of Texas at San Antonio. As a member of the adjunct faculty at UTSA, he teaches courses in facilities management and property management. He is also a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of the Incarnate World where he teaches courses in finance and marketing.

Dave Riker has more than 40 years of experience in engineering, facilities management, and construction. He served as the Senior Facilities Officer (SFO) for the University of Texas at San Antonio for fourteen years, before accepting the challenge of building an online facility management graduate certificate and master’s degree program. Before coming to UT-San Antonio, Mr. Riker served four years as the Facility Manager for Experimental Science Facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, after serving as the Los Alamos County, NM, Public Works Director for nine years. Riker also served 14 years in the United States Air Force as a Civil Engineering Officer involved in construction and maintenance at various military installations throughout the world.

Riker holds master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado and in Systems Management from the University of Southern California- and a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from New Mexico State University. He is a Certified Facility Manager (CFM) with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).

Dave Riker has long been a proponent of achieving excellence in all areas of facilities management. As a result of more than ten years of sustained efforts to achieve excellence, the University of Texas at San Antonio was awarded the 2016 APPA Award for Excellence, the highest honor in higher education facilities management. In 2017, UTSA Facilities was awarded the inaugural “Stars Across Texas” Award for Facility Management Excellence from the Texas APPA (TAPPA).

Dr. Lorenzo D. Sanchez is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) and Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) with over 15 years’ experience developing, coordinating, and implementing emergency preparedness and business continuity programs across diverse industries, including local government, higher education, and financial services. He currently serves as the Emergency Manager for Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.

Prior to working at Trinity University, Dr. Sanchez held various emergency management and business continuity positions with the United Services Automobile Association (USAA), The University of Texas at San Antonio, City of San Antonio, TX – Office of Emergency Management, Miami-Dade County, FL – Department of Emergency Management & Homeland Security, URS Corporation, and the City of Austin, TX – Austin Energy. Dr. Sanchez’ emergency and crisis management experience includes responding to local and federally declared emergencies, such as the recent 2021 Texas winter storm, statewide power outages, COVID-19, severe weather, Tropical Storm(s) Fay & Hermine, Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Harvey, and large special events among many other situations.

In higher education, Dr. Sanchez led the Office of Risk & Emergency Management at The University of Texas at San Antonio for 11 years as Director, and provided oversight of key campus safety areas including emergency management, business continuity, fire prevention and life safety, occupational health, worker’s compensation, construction and environmental health, and risk management with the goal of preventing, preparing and responding to campus emergencies to lessen the lasting impact of these events on the campus community.

Dr. Sanchez holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (B.A. ‘03) degree from The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A. ‘06) from the University of North Texas, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D. ‘18) in Applied Demography degree from The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Dr. Lindsay Wagner has over 20 years of experience in Facilities and Construction Management with a focus on utility production and distribution, energy management, and sustainability. Her career started as a student maintenance worker on the Northern Arizona University campus and spans a wide range of positions from plumber, construction project manager, director of utilities and infrastructure, director of operations to consultant.

Dr. Wagner is the owner and lead collaborator at The Knowledge Collaborative, an independent consulting firm providing services to higher education facilities management departments. Her current focus has been the facilitation, development, and implementation of strategic planning and organizational change initiatives for the University of Chicago Facilities Management Department and the Columbia University Facilities Management Department. As a result of the effort, the University of Chicago achieved the APPA Award for Excellence in 2021.

Dr. Wagner has instructed and built curriculum for courses in Facilities Management, Construction Management, and Sustainable Construction and Operations focusing on teaching technical skills as well as the soft skills required for success. Dr. Wagner is a faculty member for the APPA Leadership Academy and the APPA Facilities Management Institute and served on the APPA Board of Directors from 2012-2017.

Dr. Wagner holds a Ph.D. in Education and Human Resource Studies from Colorado State University, a M.ADM. in Project Management and a B.S. in Construction Management from Northern Arizona University and is a Certified Educational Facilities Professional (CEFP).

Dr. Samuel Beaumont has over three decades of experience working in higher education in a variety of roles including enrollment management, marketing, auxiliary services, facilities, construction, NCAA athletics, and online faculty member. He currently serves as the Vice President of Student Affairs and Support Services at Hallmark University in San Antonio and as an adjunct faculty member at Bryant and Stratton College (NY) where he teaches business and marketing courses.

Dr. Beaumont’s portfolio of experiences includes vendor management for on-campus vending, on-campus dining programs, transit services, distributed printing fleets, on-campus print shop, laundry services, property management for two university-owned shopping centers, athletic facilities, forestry management of 7,000 acres, on-campus post office, central receiving, warehousing, institutional customer service training, facilities and maintenance department, selected construction and renovation projects, campus safety and security, and managing operational budgets exceeding $60M. Some of the more unique construction projects Dr. Beaumont assisted with include an equestrian center, ice rink, Olympic pool and diving well, 70-mile hiking trail system, and a year-round snowless ski slope.

Dr. Beaumont also has served as the liaison and point of contact with authorities with jurisdiction including the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ – Virginia), the Department of Conservation Resources (DCR – Virginia), the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, the planning division of the city of Lynchburg, VA and the planning division of the city of San Antonio, TX. He also spearheaded an environmental restoration project for the Department of Justice.

Dr. Beaumont has also served on several public boards and commissions including the Greater Lynchburg VA Transit Company (8 years), the Central Virginia Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Central Virginia Technical Transportation Committee (part of the Virginia Department of Transportation) for five years, and the Lynchburg, VA Chamber of Commerce for three years.

Dr. Beaumont earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University, a Master of Science in Biology from Lamar University, and a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Grand Canyon University. He also holds graduate certificates in Project Management from Cornell University, and Facilities Management from UTSA. His research has been published in the Journal of Scholarly Engagement, the International Journal of Education and Practice, and the Aviation Technician Education Council Journal. Dr. Beaumont also serves as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Higher Education Research. He currently possesses professional certifications from the Project Management Institute, the American Marketing Association, and the Professional Association of Resumé Writers and Career Coaches. A Six Sigma Black Belt rounds out his credentials.

Dr. Medina has over 16 years of project management experience with a focus on design and construction of facilities, building commissioning, problem solving and mechanical systems. She has served as a technical authority in the design, development and modernization of mechanical and HVAC systems. She has managed teams of owners, architects and contractors from design through construction, occupancy and operation. Her design expertise ensures compliance with Whole Building Design Guide, UFC, state building codes, and various campus and district construction standards. Her experience includes sustainable design, functional testing, system commissioning, retro commissioning, contracting, HVAC, controls verification, and lighting controls integration.

Dr. Medina earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Carolina, where her research was focused on sustainable design and the built environment.

Dr. Sandeep Langar is the Graduate Advisor of Record and Program Chair for the Facility Management Program at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). He is also an Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Construction Management at UTSA. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning from Virginia Tech., USA. Dr. Langar’s primary research interests lie in the core concept of interdisciplinary research, categorized into three interrelated topical areas: Innovation adoption and implementation among facility stakeholders, Adaptations in buildings to climate change and natural disasters, and Resilience in education. He has authored more than fifty publications (journals and conferences) and has worked on funded projects approximating one million dollars as a PI or a Co-PI. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional with industry experience in the US and India. He is also a reviewer of numerous journals and international conferences.