Watching Paint Dry

Trevor Truax is the Chief Engineer for Paramount Property Company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has worked in building management for over ten years, learning the ins and outs of what it takes to maintain a clean and friendly atmosphere while meeting the tenant's needs. With a background in aeronautical maintenance, Trevor has a specific expertise in fine-tuning problems and getting to the meat of the matter in building repairs and renovations.

Facility management is one of the many career paths that few people purposefully pursue, or even know about. This is a position that offers skill-building, on-site training, and the ability to advance across different career paths. Take Trevor Truax: he started his career as an aeronautical mechanic. He then transitioned to a career where his hands-on experience and understanding of human interactions and desires are put to the test daily.

In this week's episode of Watching Paint Dry, host Greg Owens interviews Trevor Truax, Chief Engineer at Paramount Property Company. They discuss the challenges of building management, the future of leasing, and facility management as a career. Trevor recalls his journey to becoming a chief engineer at Paramount Property Company and the next generation of facility management.

David Lobato is a Practice Lead at Aerotek, a company that specializes in recruiting and staffing needs. Aerotek has won countless awards over the last 30 years, becoming a global company that meets the high demand for top talent in various organizations. David started specializing in recruiting during his college years when he helped various students and other job seekers get a steady foot into the corporate and traditional workplaces.

Who works behind the scenes to hire the right facility manager for your office building? Who helps clients identify their needs and evaluate talented individuals based on skill sets and prior knowledge? Five years ago, Aerotek made a formative decision when they opted to promote David Lobato instead of hiring someone from outside the company who was experienced in facility management. Since then, he has helped other managers in his company move into the same role and thrive.

In this week's episode of Watching Paint Dry, Greg Owens interviews David Lobato, Practice Lead at Aerotek, about the attributes of an excellent facility manager, the importance of trade skills, and the future of facility management. David also recalls how he got into recruitment, his role at Aerotek, and the need for apprenticeship programs in facility management and beyond.

Don Maroney, is the Director of Business Development at C&W Services. He has over 25 years of experience in facilities management with a knack for sales and operational leadership.

C&W Services launched in 2015 as a new brand dedicated to providing integrated facility services. C&W Services brings a new identity, outlook, and purpose to the facility services industry while providing strategic business decisions and creating a positive occupant experience. Don uses his expertise in graphic communication to create on-demand printing and high-end content, all while guaranteeing smooth and concise communication for clients and operators across the country.

If you want to expand your business, you might want to take a look at the value that you're able to add to your business relationships. More companies now opt to work with a single company that they can fully trust versus working with multiple companies to run different parts of their building. And C&W Services has capitalized on this market through strategic business development and expanded its reach with the help of Don Maroney, the company's Director of Business Development.

According to Don, now is the perfect time to reach out to business associates and clients with accurate information and consistent communication. Why? Because now more than ever, people need to know who they can trust and who they can depend on to get the job done.

In this week's episode of Watching Paint Dry, Greg Owens talks with Don Maroney, the Director of Business at C&W Services, about the importance of cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit in the workplace. They also discuss how Cushman & Wakefield has taken the reins of helping companies as they adjust to the changes caused by Covid-19, the benefits of staying optimistic despite the pandemic, and why companies should use this opportunity to finish deferred building projects. Stay tuned.

John Stephenson is The Leak Doctor, a licensed contractor, plumber, and leak detection specialist who works for a leak detection company in the Bay area. John has capitalized on his brand as a leak specialist using social media to build his platform as The Leak Doctor, providing insight and information about common leaks and plumbing humor.

When an outlet doesn't work, you call an electrician. If you want to replace a broken load-bearing beam in your house, you call a contractor. If there is an unexpected leak in your home, there are a few different people you could call, like a plumber or a leak specialist. But how do you find a leak specialist?

Commonly referred to as "The Leak Doctor" on social media, John Stephenson works for a leak detection company in the Bay Area. Online, he provides humorous-yet-educational insight about the ins and outs of leak detection.

Got a leak? Join us in this week's episode to learn about how John Stephenson uses his experience as a Leak Detection Specialist to find evasive leaks and the success behind his growing Instagram platform. Greg Owens, the host of the Watching Paint Dry Podcast, interviews John Stephenson, The Leak Doctor, as they discuss common leaks in residential properties, the rise of home repairs, and the future of leak detection.

Eric Horn is the Director of Workplace & Real Estate at Wish. He is also the CEO of CREW Consults, a consulting agency that helps startups expand and connect to the right vendors and maintenance managers in the industry. Eric has worked in facility management for over 15 years, with Opendoor, Optimizely, Airbnb, and many more.

When a new challenge arises at your workplace, how do you pivot your team to face it? Many companies have dealt with the obstacles associated with COVID-19, whether a loss in office clientele or decreased profits. Eric Horn, Director of Workplace & Real Estate at Wish, as well as CEO of CREW Consults, has worked with countless vendors and co-workers to lead the charge on understanding how to get their employees back to work while maintaining a clean and safe environment.

Greg Owens, host of the Watching Paint Dry Podcast, interviews Eric Horn, Director of Workplace & Real Estate at Wish, as well as CEO of CREW Consults, as they discuss the challenges associated with facility management and COVID-19. Eric highlights some of the tough questions about health, employee rights, and office space. He also recalls how he started his career in facility management and the resources that helped him grow.

Dave Tompkins is the Director of Facilities for Trinity SF. Under Trinity SF's wings are commercial divisions, office spaces, and storefront retail, including some of the most high-end retailers in the city of Union Square. Their specialty, however, is in multifamily real estate, working with their team to develop, own, and operate multifamily buildings throughout San Francisco. Dave has worked in facility management for the last 20 years, with a driven focus towards project and maintenance management.

If you were to stand atop a high rise building in San Francisco, you would notice a few things. You would realize how organized the streets are from afar, the vast number of residential areas strategically grouped to provide ease of access to their residents, and the vendors that rely on the business they gain from the residents in the city—a balanced ecosystem. Behind the scenes making sure the ecosystem continues to run are facility and project managers like Dave Tompkins, Director of Facilities at Trinity SF.

Join us as we take a more in-depth look at what it takes to manage a variety of commercial and residential facilities in the heart of San Francisco with host Greg Owens and Dave Tompkins, Director of Facilities at Trinity SF. Dave discusses what steps Trinity has taken to ensure their residents' safety, and what it means to be a building manager in the face of the current pandemic. He also takes a moment to talk about his path to facility management and what others can do to enter the industry.

Greg Owens is the owner of McCarthy Painting, a company that specializes in serving commercial and residential spaces in the San Francisco Bay area. McCarthy Painting was founded in 1969 and has since worked with influential companies like Google, Autodesk, First Bank, Abercrombie and Fitch, SPIN, FICO, and many more. Greg now works closely with building and facility managers to help create efficient and relaxing workspaces.

While we wait for the daily numbers of new COVID-19 cases to drop, we have started to think about what it takes to create better workspaces. With the new normal, building managers have unique challenges to address, from how to bring employees back to work to the appropriate spacing required when working in an office. Greg Owens, the owner of McCarthy Painting, helps to address some of the concerns and creative measures facility managers have taken to ensure the safety of the building occupants.

Join host, Greg Owens, and John Corcoran of Rise25 Media as they discuss how facility managers are tackling bringing employees back to a safe workspace. Greg shares his experience with handling painters as they create new and efficient workspaces and the concern about office space. He also advises on the necessary steps and concepts building managers will need to consider as they begin to re-open their office spaces.

Ben Ouwinga is the Vice President of Operations for KKR & Co. - West Coast, where he manages the day-to-day operations of their two facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area. KKR & Co. is a leading global investment firm with over 150 billion dollars worth of assets under management in the areas of real estate, finance, private equity, and many more.

Prior to joining KKR & Co., Ben served as the Department Head of the US Navy Reserves in Dublin, California. He was also an Operations Manager, HR specialist, and Facilities Manager with Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Ben brings his expertise in organizational structure and an eye for creating frameworks that take on big challenges with simple solutions.

If you were to solve a puzzle, you would generally start with the corner pieces and make your way towards the center. Think of building management as the same concept: a giant jigsaw, with each day presenting new ideas, problems to solve, and the adventure and mystery of a never-ending brain teaser. Managing a building is a versatile and sometimes daunting task, yet, it is also immensely rewarding when the environment you create facilitates innovation and productivity. Ben Ouwinga, Vice President of Operations at KKR & Co., knows the joys and pains of piecing together effective building management along with what it means to create a lasting relationship between building engineers and architects.

In this week's episode of Watching Paint Dry, host Greg Owens talks with Ben about the ins and outs of what it takes to seamlessly manage two buildings while creating a framework for people to return to the office gradually. He delves into his start in Facility Management and the resources he uses to stay up-to-date on innovative ideas while creating a comfortable, yet inspiring environment. Stay tuned!

Javier Maldonado is the Director of Corporate Facilities at VF Corporation - Outdoor Coalition. He has spent more than 25 years working in building management, starting from Real Estate and Property Management to his current Building Management position. Javier is detail-oriented and customer-focused, and he works with building budgets from $1M to $63M, making sure that even the most complex projects produce amazing results.

Building management is a balancing act. Finding an equilibrium between making a building comfortable and creating a place where people can be efficient is a key component to managing a building with care and detail. Asking the right questions on important details such as air regulation, plumbing, and sanitation on a regular basis is crucial to the work of a facilities manager.

Javier Maldonado deals with concerns around the different facets of building management as the Director of Corporate Facilities at VF Corporation - Outdoor Coalition. With the coronavirus pandemic, he needed to pivot his work and his team from working in the office to working from home in an instant. And he found out that providing his team with the right tools allowed them to remain productive and effective despite the work proximity.

In this week's episode of Watching Paint Dry, Greg Owens chats with Javier Maldonado, of VF Corporation - Outdoor Coalition, about how to effectively manage facilities remotely. Javier discusses how he moved his work from the office to the home and how he led his team in doing the same, and he also shares how he uses technology and agile methodologies in building management. Stay tuned.

Jeanina Ghadieh is the Senior Facilities Operation Coordinator at Pfizer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pfizer is a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company that is currently at the forefront of developing the vaccine and other related treatments for COVID-19. Jeanina wears many hats in the company, from making sure employees follow protocol with sensitive information to providing the right tools to help improve their productivity.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a facilities manager for one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies? Now, imagine being one but with the added constraint of only being to do your work from your home? This is exactly what Jeanina Ghadieh, Senior Facilities Manager at Pfizer in the San Francisco Bay Area, is going through right now. She was pushed into a position where she not only has to do her function well but she also has to do it remotely. And as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to roll across the US, she is forced to put in place measures that follow government guidelines as she prepares her team to go back to work as the economy slowly eases into opening again.

In this week's episode of the Watching Paint Dry podcast, Greg Owens interviews Jeanina Ghadieh of Pfizer about countermeasures she's putting in place for her team as they work remotely and the preparations she's making for them as they slowly ease back into office. She also talks about what it's like to work in a major pharma company in the middle of the pandemic, their company's top priorities, and the importance of knowing the building you work in from the inside out. Stay tuned.