Vice President Real Estate and Facilities

Job Summary

The Vice President of Real Estate and Facilities will be the steward of Drexel’s built environment both on and off campus. Reporting directly to the Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer (COO), the Vice President for Real Estate and Facilities (VP-REF) will provide strategic/master planning, general management, and professional direction for all of Drexel’s buildings and properties. The Vice President will be charged with managing the departments within Real Estate and Facilities – Business Operations, Environmental Health & Radiation Safety, Facilities Management, Planning, Design & Construction, and Real Estate & Lease Management – and articulating a vision for the team that encompasses cross-functional projects including but not limited to the campus master plan, capital budgeting, modernization of campus facilities and infrastructure, real estate development, and emergency preparedness. The VP of REF will manage the relationship with and support the leadership of the Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS), a subsidiary of Drexel University, through participation on the ANS Assets Committee. The successful incumbent will be expected to create and sustain an environment that supports the University’s core educational and research mission and that attracts, retains and supports the best and brightest students, faculty and professional staff.

The Vice President of Real Estate and Facilities will be involved, along with the President and Executive Vice President, in the ongoing stewardship of the University’s ambitious Schuylkill Yards innovation neighborhood development project, in partnership with the project’s third-party master developer, Brandywine Realty Trust. The goal of the project is to transform 10 acres of University-owned, contiguous real estate adjacent to Drexel’s University City Campus and Amtrak’s 30th Street Station into Schuylkill Yards -- a dynamic, mixed-use, urban destination where students, faculty, entrepreneurs and industry-leading firms are encouraged to engage in innovative research, cooperative education, technological advancement, inclusive growth and civic engagement. The selected candidate will also actively manage the University’s ongoing relationship with Wexford Science & Technology, the third-party master developer who has constructed the K-8 Powel Elementary/Science Leadership Academy Middle School and the Drexel Academic Tower, which houses Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions and various functions of the College of Medicine. The VP-REF will also participate in and/or lead collaborative campus planning solutions for other strategic partnerships impacting facilities and real estate, such as with Spark Therapeutics, Gattuso Development Partners, American Campus Communities, and the University’s partnership with Tower Health.

The Vice President of Real Estate and Facilities is responsible for supporting and navigating business development discussions with prospective business partners associated with each of its development partners, helping to spur and support interest, and to collaboratively create a business environment that attracts prospective Drexel business partners in research, development and technology.

The VP-REF also serves as an advisor to Academic Properties Inc. (API), a wholly owned, non-profit subsidiary of Drexel University, that owns, manages, leases or operates a portfolio of over 1 million square feet of both commercial and residential holdings. API is responsible for the acquisition of strategic properties that give control to Drexel, with the goal of obtaining significant growth potential upon development.

The selected candidate must have excellent interpersonal, communications and relationship-building skills and be able to lead a staff of 366, including 320 union personnel, with seven direct reports. The VP-REF must develop and maintain effective relationships with University administration, faculty, students, partners, developers and other campus constituencies. Organized, technically sound and credible, the ideal candidate will be a flexible, responsive manager who is hands-on, proactive and a good problem solver.

Essential Functions

• Develop a vision and strategic plan for REF that reflects a clear understanding of Drexel University’s direction as well as national trends and innovations in the management of higher education facilities departments. Recommend and implement policies, planning guidelines and procedures in areas of responsibility. 
• Lead the development and implementation of the campus master plan in support of the mission, vision, goals and objectives of the University’s Strategic Plan. Provide continuous maintenance of short- and long-range master plans, concentrating on a proactive plan to address deferred maintenance and renovations, as well as a plan to consolidat