Facility Rockstars

As Facility Rockstars and IFMA Boston continue to strengthen our partnership, we're revisiting a conversation that reflects our shared commitment to supporting, connecting, and elevating facilities professionals. Through this growing collaboration, we're working to bring more industry voices, valuable insights, and opportunities for professional development to the facilities community. This episode is a great reminder of why that mission matters and the importance of learning from the leaders who are helping move our industry forward.

In this episode, Jay Culbert sits down with Colby Fillippelli, Senior Vice President of Facilities at JLL and **President of IFMA Boston**. With over 25 years of facilities management experience, including leadership roles at Dunkin' Brands, Hasbro, and Novartis, Colby shares his journey from HVAC technician to executive leadership and the lessons that shaped his career. At the heart of his philosophy is a simple but powerful belief: facilities is a people business that just happens to involve buildings.

From navigating unexpected emergencies to using data to build more proactive teams, Colby shares practical insights on leadership, communication, and professional growth. He also emphasizes the importance of mentorship, staying connected to the industry, and giving back to the next generation of facilities professionals.

As Facility Rockstars and IFMA Boston continue working together to strengthen the facilities community, conversations like this highlight what we can accomplish through shared knowledge, meaningful connections, and a commitment to advancing the profession.

And we're just getting started! Stay tuned for more information about upcoming Facility Rockstars events and opportunities to connect with fellow industry professionals. We may even have a surprise or two in store!

Takeaways:

• Be honest and ask questions constantly. Admitting what you don't know and asking for help isn't weakness — it's how you grow. The most effective facilities professionals don't fake it; they ask, learn, and communicate openly at every stage of their career.
• Shift from reactive to proactive using metrics. Tracking patterns in your work orders and recurring issues isn't just good practice — it drives cost savings, reduces risk, and transforms how your team operates. If you're not measuring it, you can't improve it.
• Communicate early, even without all the answers. Don't wait until you have perfect information to update your team or clients. Timely, honest communication — especially during a crisis — builds credibility and keeps everyone moving in the right direction.
• Your vendor relationships are your lifeline. Know your vendors personally before you sign a contract. When something goes wrong at 10 PM, those relationships are what keep operations from falling apart. Invest in them the same way you invest in your team.
• Know when to defer maintenance — and when you absolutely can't. Deferring critical infrastructure like HVAC PMs, arc flash updates, or major MEP work is a risk not worth taking. A seasoned facilities leader knows how to make the case for doing it right the first time.
• Pay it forward to the next generation. The industry is losing decades of institutional knowledge as Baby Boomers retire. Those with experience have a responsibility to mentor, educate, and actively invest in emerging professionals — both inside their organizations and through groups like IFMA.
• Mindset and attitude are as important as technical skills. Showing up with energy, professionalism, and a team-first mentality isn't optional — it's what makes everything else work. As Colby puts it: you're not curing cancer, so bring some levity to the work.

Quote of the Show:

•  "Follow-through matters more than intent, and your reputation compounds over time."

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colby-fillippelli-cfm-8591097/ 
• Company Website: https://www.jll.com/en-us/ 
• IFMA Boston Website: https://ifmaboston.org/ 

What happens when safety requirements and operational deadlines collide? For Kristie Boissonneault, the answer isn't to point fingers or shut everything down. It's to find a way forward together.

In this episode of Facility Rockstars, host Jay Culbert sits down with Kristie Boissonneault, Associate Director of Environmental Health and Safety at Moderna, to explore what it really takes to build trust, influence others, and create a lasting safety culture. With more than a decade of experience spanning hazardous waste management, environmental compliance, sustainability, and EHS leadership, Kristie has learned that technical expertise is only part of what makes a great safety professional.

Kristie shares how she's learned to embrace pushback, build confidence through taking risks, and work alongside facilities teams rather than acting as a roadblock. From finding creative solutions to complex compliance challenges to navigating a real-world hot work permit situation, she explains why curiosity, collaboration, and accountability can turn everyday challenges into opportunities for long-term improvement.

Takeaways:

• The best leaders never stop learning. Kristie explains why humility and recognizing that you don't have all the answers are essential to becoming a stronger leader and building trust with others.
• Safety professionals should be partners, not rule enforcers. Understanding the goals and challenges of other departments helps EHS leaders create solutions that protect employees without unnecessarily disrupting operations.
• Don't take pushback personally. Resistance often comes from competing priorities, budgets, or deadlines. Great leaders work to understand those concerns rather than becoming defensive.
• Confidence comes from doing uncomfortable things. Kristie shares how taking risks, making mistakes, and learning to recover from setbacks helped her become more confident throughout her career.
• Technical expertise alone doesn't create influence. Strong communication, relationship-building, and interpersonal skills help EHS professionals inspire action, even when the people involved don't report directly to them.
• Look for solutions before accepting limitations. When a refrigerant management program needed improvement but new software wasn't financially feasible, Kristie worked with facilities to find a solution using existing systems.
• Build a culture of learning instead of blame. Through a real-world hot work permit example, Kristie demonstrates how addressing process gaps collaboratively can create lasting improvements in safety culture.

Quote of the Show:

•  “What differentiates good leaders from great leaders are those who can work with the pushback and not take it personally.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristieboissonneault/ 
• Website: https://www.modernatx.com/ 

What does it take to find your voice in an industry where you're often the only woman in the room?

In this episode of Facility Rockstars, host Jay Culbert sits down with Laurie Geringer, Facilities Specialist at RTX, to discuss the challenges of navigating a male-dominated industry, managing complex facility projects, and adapting to the changing demands of the modern workplace. With more than two decades of experience supporting organizations like Cisco, MITRE, and RTX, Laurie has built her career around solving space challenges, coordinating stakeholders, and finding creative solutions to keep organizations moving forward.

From managing multimillion-dollar construction projects to navigating the complicated return-to-office transition, Laurie shares why curiosity, confidence, and adaptability have been essential to her success. She also explains the surprising psychology behind workspace planning, why facility professionals need to embrace uncomfortable situations, and how asking questions helped her find her voice and build a career on her own terms.

Takeaways:

• Find your voice, even when you're the only one in the room. Laurie shares her experience navigating a male-dominated industry and explains why confidence, assertiveness, and standing your ground are essential to building credibility.
• Don't be afraid to ask questions. Early in her career, Laurie worried about appearing inexperienced. Now, she sees curiosity as one of the most valuable tools for learning, solving problems, and bringing fresh perspectives to the table.
• Growth happens when you get uncomfortable. Whether taking on an intimidating project or stepping into an unfamiliar situation, Laurie encourages professionals to embrace challenges and break overwhelming tasks into manageable pieces.
• Facility planning is about people, not just square footage. Laurie compares space planning to solving a puzzle, where building constraints, employee needs, and operational requirements must all come together to create a functional workplace.
• Workplace changes are as much psychological as they are operational. From employees reluctant to give up private offices to the challenges of returning to work after COVID, Laurie explains why understanding people's emotional attachment to their workspaces is critical.
• Prioritization is essential when no two days look alike. Facility professionals constantly balance competing demands, unexpected requests, and major projects. Laurie emphasizes understanding deadlines, assessing priorities, and recognizing how your work affects others.
• Take ownership of your career development. Laurie's advice to emerging professionals is to speak up, volunteer, ask questions, and pursue opportunities rather than waiting for someone else to create a path for them.

Quote of the Show:

• “I ask lots and lots of questions. So I found my voice, and I just haven't stopped since.” 

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriegeringer/ 
• Website: https://www.rtx.com/ 

What does leadership look like when the stakes are at their highest? And what happens when those same lessons are applied to the everyday challenges of leading a team?

In this episode of Facility Rockstars, host Jay Culbert sits down with retired Navy SEAL Master Chief Rick Kaiser, Executive Director of the National Navy SEAL Museum, Silver Star recipient, author of Frogman Stories, and veteran of 34 years of military service. Rick shares lessons from his time with SEAL Team Two and SEAL Team Six, including his experience during the Battle of Mogadishu, and explains why some of the most important lessons in leadership come down to staying calm, holding people accountable, and being willing to do the same jobs you ask of your team.

Rick also takes Jay inside the leadership challenges of running the Navy SEAL Museum, where facilities, volunteers, operations, and unexpected problems all come with the territory. From cleaning toilets in Bosnia to handling logistics at SEAL Team Six, Rick's stories reinforce a simple idea: titles don't excuse leaders from getting their hands dirty. Great leaders step up, set the example, listen to their people, and make the call when it matters.

Takeaways:

• Being a good follower and listener helps you become a better leader. Leadership isn’t always about taking charge. Rick emphasizes recognizing when it’s time to lead, when it’s time to follow, and when it’s time to get out of the way.
• Leaders have to be willing to do the jobs they ask of others. Whether taking the least desirable seat during a mission or cleaning toilets for his team in Bosnia, Rick believes leaders have to set the example through their own actions.
• Accountability keeps teams operating effectively. Rules and expectations only work when they’re reinforced. Rick explains why someone has to “hold the line” and why a lack of consequences can quickly lead to chaos.
• Mental toughness can outweigh raw physical ability. Rick says succeeding in BUD/S requires physical capability, but the defining characteristic is the mental toughness to continue when quitting becomes the easier option.
• When a challenge feels overwhelming, focus on getting through the next hour. Rick describes approaching some of the hardest moments of SEAL training hour by hour rather than allowing the entire challenge to become overwhelming.
• Staying calm allows leaders to make better decisions under pressure. Instead of getting swept up in workplace chaos, Rick believes leaders should put the situation into perspective, gather input from the people around them, and make a decision.
• Great facilities teams make everything else possible. Now running the Navy SEAL Museum, Rick sees firsthand how much an organization depends on its facility professionals. When the building and its systems work, everyone else can focus on accomplishing the mission.

Quote of the Show:

•  “A bad call is better than no call at all.”

Links:

• Email: [email protected] 
• Website: https://www.navysealmuseum.org/ 
• Book: “Frogman Stories: Life and Leadership Lessons from the SEAL Teams”
  • https://a.co/d/08asAYst 

Shoutouts: 

• Elaine Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laineryan/ 
• Swim with a Misson (SWAM): https://www.swam.org/ 
• Navy Seal Museum San Diego: https://navysealmuseumsd.org/ 
•  Admiral McRaven
• Jack Carr
• Sal DeFranco
• Matt Anthony

Facilities teams can spend their entire day putting out fires, but without the right systems in place, that cycle never ends.

In this episode of Facility Rockstars, host Jay Culbert sits down with Dean Vieira, Facilities Maintenance Manager at CA Design, to talk about his transition from technician to facilities leader and what he has learned about building more proactive, reliable maintenance operations. Dean shares how one team went from roughly 80% reactive maintenance to 80% proactive and preventive maintenance, why tracking the work was a critical first step, and how consistency helped make the change stick.

Dean also explains why technical expertise alone isn't enough when you move into leadership. He discusses learning to view problems through a business lens, earning management's trust by delivering on promises, getting teams to embrace new systems, and protecting yourself from burnout in a career that rarely fits neatly into traditional working hours.

Takeaways:

• Stop accepting firefighting as the norm. Without systems and processes in place, reactive maintenance will continue consuming the team's time.
• Track before you try to improve. Dean's team used maintenance software to understand what they were actually doing and identify recurring failures that could become preventive tasks.
• Facilities leaders have to think beyond the repair. Moving from technician to manager required Dean to consider production value, priorities, downtime, and the overall needs of the business.
• You don't need to use every feature of your CMMS. Dean's team eventually identified the functions that mattered most and focused on consistently using those instead of trying to do everything.
• Consistency creates lasting change. Dean describes persistence, rather than demanding immediate compliance, as one of his most effective approaches to changing behavior.
• Trust gives your ideas more runway. When leadership knows you deliver on what you promise, they're more likely to listen when you bring them difficult news or ask for additional resources.
• Protect yourself from burnout. Facilities work often means weekends, off-hours calls, and interrupted vacations, making the ability to switch off especially important.

Quote of the Show:

•  “If you don't put systems in place, you will never stop firefighting.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-vieira-cfm-60891abb/ 
• Website: https://c-a-design.com/ 

Facilities work often goes unnoticed when everything is running smoothly. In this episode of Facility Rockstars, host Jay Culbert sits down with Andrew MacFadyen, Regional Vice President of Engineering at UG2, to discuss the lessons he’s learned over more than two decades in facilities, including his experience at some of New England’s most recognizable sports and entertainment venues.

Andrew shares stories from major projects at Gillette Stadium and TD Garden, along with his approach to leadership built on honesty, empathy, and communication. He also discusses how AI is helping him work more efficiently, why human judgment still matters, and the importance of hands-on experience and strong relationships in facilities.

Takeaways:

• Facilities success often happens behind the scenes. Andrew compares facilities professionals to offensive linemen and a duck swimming across the water: everything may look effortless from the outside, while an incredible amount of work is happening underneath.
• Trust starts with how you treat people. Andrew’s biggest leadership lesson is simple: treat others the way you want to be treated. Honesty, empathy, and transparency can create a strong foundation for relationships with employees and customers.
• Emotional intelligence changes how you communicate. Transparency does not mean communicating with everyone in exactly the same way. Strong leaders learn to read the room and understand what to say, when to say it, and who needs to hear it.
• Preparation needs contingency plans. During a major TD Garden renovation, Andrew’s team balanced construction with an active event schedule. Success required constant communication between stakeholders and backup plans for when materials, schedules, or other variables changed.
• Facilities can shape the customer experience. Facility teams cannot control what happens on the field, court, or ice, but they can control the environment around it. Cleanliness, comfort, security, food service, and reliable building operations all contribute to the experience.
• AI works best as a tool, not a replacement for judgment. Andrew has found value in using AI for difficult communications, SOP development, reporting, data analysis, and troubleshooting, while still emphasizing the importance of human oversight.
• The trades need the next generation. With an aging workforce, Andrew sees significant opportunity for young professionals willing to learn technical skills, ask questions, and gain hands-on experience.
• Build your network before you need it. Looking back, Andrew wishes he had invested more time earlier in his career attending conferences, continuing his education, and developing industry relationships. In facilities, the person who can help solve your next challenge may only be a phone call away.

Quote of the Show:

•  “Stay true to who you are and continue to treat others the way you want to be treated.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-macfadyen-391b494/ 
• Email: [email protected] 
• Website: https://ug2.com/ 

Every facilities professional has a story about the moment when things didn't go according to plan.

In this special compilation episode of Facility Rockstars, we're revisiting conversations with Robert “Bob” Mack, Director of Facilities and Laboratory Operations at Korro Bio; Andrew DelPrete, Senior Facility Manager at Liberty Mutual Insurance and former President of IFMA Boston; Mark Netherton, Maintenance Manager at Grower Direct Farms; Carrie Battafarano, formerly Maintenance Manager at Nouria and now Business Development Manager at A-PRIME; Jeff Chierepko, Vice President of Global Facilities Management, Construction, CRE & EHS at SIG Sauer; Derek Earp, formerly Facilities Manager at UG2; and Jeff Beaudry, Regional Facilities Director at Appleton Corporation.

Together, they share some of the toughest challenges they've faced throughout their careers and what it took to work through them. From a devastating facility fire and high-stakes safety incidents to troubled construction projects, vendor communication breakdowns, transitioning into management, and developing the next generation of leaders, these stories show just how much can land on the shoulders of a facilities professional.

More importantly, they reveal what happens next.

You'll hear how preparation can make the difference when an emergency strikes, why communication and trusted relationships matter when solving problems, and why sometimes the biggest leadership challenge is resisting the urge to do everything yourself.

Takeaways:

• Preparation shows its value when something goes wrong. Training, procedures, and strong safety programs give teams something to fall back on when they're faced with an unexpected incident.
• A strong team can make an enormous difference during a crisis. One facilities team went from losing power, water, technology, and major portions of its operation in a fire to restoring essential systems within days.
• Direct communication can prevent small problems from becoming recurring ones. When information has to pass through multiple vendors, the original expectations can easily get lost.
• Get the right people in the room. Construction, design, facilities, and project teams working in separate "pods" can create unnecessary meetings and slow down decision-making.
• Not every meeting needs to be an hour. Focused conversations with the people who can actually make decisions can keep projects moving.
• Doing it yourself isn't always good leadership. Taking the time to teach, delegate, and let others take ownership is essential for developing a team that can operate without relying on one person.
• Developing leaders requires continued support. Promoting talented people is only the beginning. Leaders need to stay engaged, check in, and help the people around them grow.
• Challenges become experience you can use later. The lessons learned from past mistakes and difficult situations can make teams better prepared for whatever comes next.

Quote of the Show:

•  “It’s the best way to learn is making mistakes, and I’ve made, like, all of them.” — Jeff Chierepko

Links:

• Mark Netherton 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marknetherton2/  
  • Email: [email protected]  
• Derek Earp
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekearp/  
• Carrie Battafarano 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-battafarano-82ab3a59/  
  • Email: [email protected] 
• Jeff Chierepko
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-chierepko-2126964b/  
• Bob Mack
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmack9/ 
• Andrew DelPrete
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-delprete-a2b5807a/ 
• Jeff Beaudry
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-beaudry-a132b311a/ 
  • Email: [email protected]  

Facilities management is demanding. Between 24/7 operations, unexpected failures, tight deadlines, and the responsibility of leading a team, it can be easy to put your own well-being on the back burner.

In this episode of Facility Rockstars, Jay Culbert sits down with Jonathan Gendron, Field Engineering Manager at TJX Companies, to talk about the human side of facilities leadership. Jonathan shares why prioritizing mental health has become one of the biggest lessons of his career, how empathy and vulnerability have shaped his leadership style, and why great leaders need to be willing to show up alongside their teams when things get difficult.

Jonathan also reflects on a catastrophic facility failure that cost millions of dollars in lost product, the importance of balancing proactive and reactive maintenance, and his journey from vocational school to a 15-year career spanning biotech, life sciences, power generation, and commercial retail.

For Jonathan, strong facilities leadership ultimately comes down to a few fundamentals: keep learning, own your mistakes, care about your people, and bring the right attitude every day.

Takeaways:

• Prioritize your mental health. Facilities professionals are often expected to be everywhere and solve everything. Jonathan believes leaders need to take care of themselves if they expect to effectively take care of their teams.
• Never stop learning. Jonathan learns from mentors, leaders, direct reports, certifications, classes, and his own mistakes. Continuous learning keeps both his career and his work from becoming stale.
• Turn mistakes into teachable moments. Leaders aren't flawless. Jonathan believes admitting mistakes and sharing what you learned gives your team permission to do the same and can prevent them from repeating those mistakes.
• Empathy is a leadership skill. Understanding that employees have families, health concerns, and challenges outside of work can build trust and morale that people remember.
• Be the example you want your team to follow. When Jonathan's team responded to an emergency at 3:00 AM, he drove two hours to Boston to be there alongside them.
• Prepare to be proactive AND reactive. Preventive maintenance matters, but unexpected equipment failures will still happen. Strong facilities teams need a plan for preventing problems and responding when prevention isn't enough.
• Attitude can outweigh credentials. Jonathan's advice for someone entering facilities is simple: attitude is everything. Experience and credentials matter, but having the right attitude can take you a long way.

Quote of the Show:

• “When you genuinely show that you care for your team, they will care for you. And they’ll care for their job as well.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-m-gendron/ 
• Website: https://jobs.tjx.com/global/en 

What if the biggest problem with workplace safety is the way we think about failure?

In this episode of Facility Rockstars, Jay Culbert sits down with Ron Gantt, Vice President of Environmental Health and Safety at Beale Infrastructure, to challenge some of the traditional thinking around human error, incident investigations, and workplace safety.

Ron explains why mistakes often aren't simply failures of the individual, but signs of a mismatch between people and the environments they're working in. Instead of asking who made the mistake, he encourages leaders to look at the demands people face, the resources available to them, and what can be changed to help them succeed.

Jay and Ron also explore psychological safety, creating stronger relationships with contractors, moving away from punitive safety cultures, and why meaningful change doesn't always require a massive organizational initiative. Sometimes, the best place to start is with the part of the system you can actually control.

Takeaways:

• Get the right people in the room when solving problems. The people closest to the work often have context that leadership doesn't. Ron stresses involving the people who will actually be affected by a decision instead of designing processes for them without their input.
• Human error is often a symptom, not the root problem. Rather than assuming a mistake lives within an individual, Ron encourages leaders to examine the mismatch between a person and their environment. Look at what made the task difficult, what pressures were present, and whether the person had the resources needed to succeed.
• Build systems that account for the fact that people will never be perfect. Mistakes are inevitable, especially in complex and changing environments. Strong safety systems don't just try to prevent errors. They include safeguards that help people recover when something does go wrong.
• Incident investigations should help you decide what to do next. Understanding what happened matters, but Ron argues that the real value of an investigation is using what you learn to improve how the system operates today and tomorrow, rather than simply assigning blame for the past.
• Safety is more than the absence of accidents. Ron defines safety as the capacity to succeed even when conditions change. That means understanding the demands workers face and ensuring they have the resources, tools, training, and support needed to adapt.
• Ask, “What did we actually fix?” Punishment, retraining, or corrective action can make it look like an organization responded to an incident without addressing the conditions that contributed to it. The better question is whether the response actually made future work safer.
• Start small and focus on what you can control. Meaningful change doesn't always require a massive initiative or complete buy-in from senior leadership. Ron encourages safety professionals to change what they can within their own sphere of influence, demonstrate that it works, and allow those small wins to create momentum.

Quote of the Show:

•  “Human error is a problem that lives in a mismatch between the person and their environment.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-gantt/ 
• Email: [email protected] 
• Website: https://bealeinfra.com/ 

The best facility leaders don’t just tell their teams what needs to get done. They show up and do the hard work alongside them.

In this episode of Facility Rockstars, Jay Culbert sits down with Sean Dearnley, GxP Facilities Manager at CRISPR Therapeutics, to talk about the lessons Sean has learned working his way from hands-on HVAC and maintenance roles into facilities leadership.

Sean shares why small acts of discipline can have a major impact, how thoughtful planning can turn an intimidating facility shutdown into a smooth operation, and why creating a strong maintenance culture requires constant reinforcement. He also explains how his years as a technician continue to shape the way he plans, communicates, and leads today.

From predictive maintenance and GMP documentation to communication and team building, Sean offers a practical look at what it takes to keep critical environments running while building a team that trusts one another.

Takeaways:

• Do the work upfront. Strong planning, preventative maintenance, and redundancy can make difficult situations much easier to execute when the time comes.
• Leadership doesn’t require a title. You can lead from any position by recognizing opportunities, communicating clearly, and helping the people around you succeed.
• Show up when the work gets difficult. Leaders build trust through action, especially when they are willing to work alongside their teams during the jobs no one wants to do.
• Listen to the people closest to the equipment. Operators and technicians often have valuable information that can make troubleshooting faster and more effective.
• Communication and documentation matter. In GMP environments especially, completing the repair is only part of the job. The ability to clearly communicate and document what happened separates good technicians from great ones.

Quote of the Show:

•  “I don't think there's any better team-building exercise than being in a crappy situation and figuring it out with your team and getting through it.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-dearnley-171a1399/ 
• Website: https://crisprtx.com/