Associate Vice President and Chief Facilities Officer Michael Coleman to retire
Associate Vice President and Chief Facilities Officer Michael Coleman has announced his retirement for later this year.
A national search for his successor will commence immediately. Coleman will continue to serve as the associate vice president during the search.
“Mike has worked tirelessly to bring service orientation to Facilities Services and to improve business operations, and he has been quite successful at both,” said Vice President for Administrative Services Sherwood G. Wilson. “Mike has transformed Facilities Services from a decentralized organization to a well-organized team that utilizes technology and industry best practices that will serve our community for years to come.”
Under Coleman’s leadership, Facilities Services has undergone a dramatic transformation for the advancement of the services it provides to the university’s many constituencies. Since his appointment in 2008, he has provided the vision and commitment to excellence that has enabled the Facilities Services organization to improve service delivery despite the impacts of the recent economic recession.
As associate vice president and chief facilities officer, Coleman provided leadership and oversight for all university facilities assets on the main campus and off campus including the development, maintenance, operation, utilities, planning, real estate, construction and renovation of space serving faculty, staff, students and visitors. The Blacksburg campus consists of 411 university-owned buildings with over 10.1 million square feet of facilities on 2,600 acres with additional facilities in 16 other locations within Virginia.
Coleman provided oversight of the university real estate portfolio consisting of 170 leases and licenses valued at approximately at $24 million annually along with its capital design and construction program that has been exceeding $150 million in construction costs annually with total project portfolio approaching three-quarters of $1 billion. He was also responsible for utility procurement, generating and distribution systems for chilled water, steam, and electric energy including Virginia Tech Electric Services that serves the campus and approximately 5,000 customers in the Town of Blacksburg.
Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Coleman spent 10 years working in facilities management at the University of Pennsylvania. Coleman also worked in the private sector for a significant portion of his career including for Trammell Crow Company, Trigen Energy Corporation (Veolia Energy now), and Amtrak.
He holds a bachelor's degree in liberal studies from Neumann University.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
