Sameer Kapileshwari has been named interim executive director for Facilities Management – Plant Operations. The university will begin a national search to fill the post.

Kapileshwari, who has been serving as senior director in Facilities Management, was named interim with the departure of Melissa Rockwell-Hopkins, former executive director. Sameer is a Professional Engineer and has also earned credentials as a LEED Accredited Professional, a Facilities Management Professional and a Sustainability Facility Professional. He brings 19 years of experience – more than 11 of which have been spent at UH – specializing in the fields of facilities management and operations, facilities planning and construction, and energy management.

During Kapileshwari’s tenure of directorial leadership within Facilities Management, he has been integral in numerous initiatives, all of which have the same goal: to support the university’s Tier One objectives. Such initiatives include the development of a facilities support model which entailed a systematic approach to facilities planning, operational maintenance and capital planning through a comprehensive centralization of resources and shared service funding.

Under his leadership, Facilities Management undertook a large-scale facilities condition audit, which has been useful in providing key facility data to help develop an infrastructure plan that will allow the university to plan proactively for the future and help address and replace critical systems prior to failure by helping guide future site and design decisions. This infrastructure plan is essential to the university’s support of the research mission and future business continuity.

He also led the initiative to align the university with APPA (Association of Physical Plant Administrators international association of educational institutions) managed care level 3, the development of the service level agreements with auxiliary units, centralization of key service contracts like the current custodial contract, and was essential in the university being recipients of several key energy grants. As interim executive director, he will continue to shepherd not only these programs and services but will help continue the surge forward as the university continues on its Tier One path.