Strategic Facility Planning for Colleges
Facilities are no longer just buildings to maintain – they are strategic assets that can shape the future of higher education.
On Saturday, July 18, FEA CEO John Edwards will join John Kambic, Associate Vice President for Facilities Planning and Support Services at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), to present “The Facilities Identity Shift: Turning Assets into Institutional Advantage” at the APPA Summer Conference, held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
Higher education institutions are facing unprecedented change. As enrollment patterns evolve, workforce demands shift, and funding remains uncertain, facilities leaders are being asked to do more than maintain aging buildings. They must help their institutions make informed decisions about where to invest, what to modernize, and how to align facilities with long-term strategic goals.
Drawing on NOVA’s experience, John Edwards and John Kambic will share how the college developed a master planning framework built around three guiding principles: invest, divest, and fix. Rather than planning for growth alone, NOVA evaluated its existing facilities to determine which assets best support its mission, where strategic investments would have the greatest impact, and how to address a significant backlog of deferred maintenance.
Working together, NOVA and FEA used facility condition data and long-term capital planning to prioritize investments, reduce reactive maintenance, and create a roadmap that supports both operational efficiency and institutional resilience.
Session attendees will gain practical insights into how facility assessments, asset management, and data-driven capital planning can help transform facilities organizations from service providers into strategic partners that influence institutional success.
If you’re attending the APPA Summer Conference, be sure to join John Edwards and John Kambic on Saturday, July 18, to learn how a thoughtful facilities strategy can turn assets into a lasting institutional advantage.
