Ask the Expert: Facility Planning and Maintenance

Description

About our Speakers:

Roger Swanson: 

Roger Swanson spent the first 35 years of his architectural career in the planning, design and management of large-scale healthcare projects.  After receiving his Masters of Architecture degree from the University of California at Berkeley he joined the San Francisco-based global firm of Anshen & Allen Architects (later Stantec Architecture), where he became President and CEO. In addition to leading the design of numerous large new medical campuses, including the UCSF Mission Bay campus in San Francisco and the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, Roger has been involved in the planning and design of several guest houses serving families with hospitalized children, including the Weston House at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital and Family House at UCSF, where he has also served as a Board member for the past twelve years. 

Rick Bolton:

Rick Bolton is a Facilities Manager/Project Manager for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital GMP Facility. He has worked directly for St Jude for the last 21 Years. His past responsibilities at St Jude are as project manager, owner’s commissioning agent and owner’s validation agent. Mr. Bolton has been associated with St. Jude directly or indirectly since 1987.

During that time Mr. Bolton also worked as a computer consultant for two years while serving as a mechanical consultant to Turner Construction regarding multiple building issues with St. Jude. Prior to his consulting work, Mr. Bolton was a senior mechanical engineer for five years working for Turner Construction based in Columbus Ohio. He worked for Turner at St. Jude for those five years along with additional duties on pharmaceutical and hospital and other major mechanical projects in the Ohio area.

His initial mechanical experience was gained from sixteen years with Southland Mechanical Contractors based in Memphis Tennessee. Mr. Bolton ended his career with Southland as the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the State of Georgia. Mr. Bolton holds a degree in Computer Science.

Tom Cowing:

Tom grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. Shortly after graduating high school, he joined the United States Navy. Following boot camp in Orlando, Florida, and specialized training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Tom reported to my his ship, the USS McKee AS-41, in San Diego, CA. Many more commands would follow, including the USS Cape St George CG-71 (Plank Owner) Norfolk VA, NATTC Millington TN, SIMA Mayport Florida; USS Eisenhower CVN-69 Norfolk VA; USS Saipan LHA-2 Norfolk VA, and MARMC Norfolk VA. After 22 years and attaining the rank of Chief Petty Officer, Tom decided to retire from the US Navy. The US Navy taught him many valuable trades, from boiler operation, electrical generation steam turbine repair, refrigeration operation and repair, pump and valve operation and repair, and many others.

Following his retirement from the US Navy, Tom worked for Wesley Housing Corporation in Memphis, TN as their maintenance supervisor. Responsible for over twenty-two residential complexes and several nursing and assisted living centers. Responsible for everyday household repairs, including plumbing, electrical, mechanical, and structural. He would only stay at Wesley for one year after accepting an offer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

After accepting an offer at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Tom started as a Shift Engineer in the Central Energy Plant responsible for monitoring and operating the hospital’s steam-generating boilers and chiller plant and monitoring building systems throughout the campus. After being at the Central Energy Plant for seven years, Tom became the building maintenance supervisor for the research buildings on campus. Responsible for building systems including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, structural, and all other mechanical systems ensuring all systems are in optimal operating condition. After eight years as a building supervisor, Tom accepted the position of Facilities Manager of Housing in that capacity for five months. Responsible for all maintenance and repair activities for Target House 1 & 2 (98 Apartments) and under construction The Domino’s Village (140 Apartments), with building occupation set for late spring 2023 and Tri Delta Place (99 hotel-style rooms to include 34 suites) FOM department set to take over 01 February 2023.