Annual Awards Presented at TAPPA 2024

Every year, TAPPA recognizes key members of our TAPPA community at the annual Conference. This year, TAPPA recognized our Business Partner Distinguished Service Award selectee as PBK Architects. PBK has been an active supporter of TAPPA both at the conference level and in supporting the organization with a past Business Partner representative to the Board as well as providing committee member for the Marketing Committee. Congratulations PBK on this award!

Andrea Tutoki, Assistant Director of Facilities Resources at Texas State University was awarded the Facilities Management Distinguished Service Award for her initiatives at her university. Andrea led the implementation of “Bobcat Fixit,” which features a customized facilities-centric bobcat logo and an associated QR code. The QR code provides a method for anyone with a NetID (student, staff, and faculty) to report maintenance issues around campus. Another remarkable improvement Andrea spearheaded was the institution of a Facilities Quality Assurance (QA) Team. The QA Team is charged with surveillance of facilities contracts, as well as response to customer concerns. This team focuses on continual improvement through the constant monitoring of facilities service deliverables. The QA Team works hand-in-hand with her Customer Service Team and serves as a customer’s first stop for issue resolution. Capitalizing on the information gathered through the work management system, Andrea has also begun developing business analytics and has led her programmers through the process of defining productivity metrics for Facilities to use in measuring success. Her team has already instituted several performance metrics available to all facilities employees through SharePoint, which provides relevant, actionable information pertaining work order completion. Congratulations to Andea on this award and her successful efforts at Texas State University.

A Special Recognition Award went to Jim Norcom of the University of Houston. Jim recently wrapped up a 20-year career at the university. Jim has served TAPPA as a President, Vice-President, Past President, and Board Member. As TAPPA President and while he was on the board, Jim made great progress in professionalizing the management of our association, developing a scholarship process for attendees, and building relationships with CAPPA and APPA. TAPPA is in a very sound financial position and able to advocate for facility management professionalism and education thanks to Jim’s hard work. He is incredibly deserving of recognition for his years of service to The University of Houston and commitment to TAPPA and the Facilities Management industry.

The 2024 Stars Across Texas Award was presented to the University of Houston, which also recently received the APPA Award for Excellence in Facilities Management. Congratulations to the University of Houston Facilities/Construction Management team, who were selected for the 2023 APPA Award for Excellence in Facilities Management (AFE). The award was presented to David Oliver, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities/Construction Management at APPA’s Spring Conference in Nashville in Aril 2024. The award is designed to recognize and advance excellence in educational facilities. Initially established in 1988, the AFE is APPA’s highest institutional honor and provides educational institutions the opportunity for national and international recognition for their outstanding achievements in facilities management. Watch a video about the University of Houston team here: Facilities/Construction Management APPA Award of Excellence (youtube.com)

For background and details on submitting for TAPPA 2025, please visit our website at: TAPPA Awards - Texas Association of Physical Plant Administrators