Alana F. Dunoff, MS, ProFM, FMP, IFMA Fellow, has over 30 years’ experience in strategic facility planning and project management in the corporate, commercial, healthcare, and retail industries. She has had her own strategic facility planning consulting and training practice, AFD Professional Services LLC, for nearly 2 decades.
Alana is passionate about FM education and has over 18 years’ experience as an adjunct professor; she currently teaches in the Facility Management Bachelor of Science Program at Temple University. Alana is a qualified instructor for the IFMA FMP and the ProFM and was the first woman to earn her ProFM credential. Over the past decade, Alana has helped over 600+ students earn their FM credential; provided corporate training and workshops to FMs all over the world, she is proud to be a part of their professional development journey.
Alana has been a keynote speaker and presenter at dozens of Facility Management industry conferences and seminars and served on numerous industry panels. She is a Subject Matter Expert for the IFMA FMP Body of Knowledge and has had numerous articles published in FM trade journals. Alana has served on local and international IFMA boards and is currently on the Board of Women in Facility Management (WIFM). In 2014 she was honored to become an IFMA Fellow. Alana earned her B.S. in Psychology from Boston University and her M.S. in Facility Planning & Management from Cornell University.
How did you get into Facility Management?
I was a disillusioned psychology major who didn’t like clinical psychology but became fascinated with Environmental & Social Psychology, the study of how humans interact with their environment. I was also interested in Architecture and Archeology, even took an engineering course. After a summer program in Urban Design and Planning I learned about a graduate program at Cornell University called Design and Environmental Analysis. I didn’t know what I would be when I was done but it was a blend of everything that I was interested in – environmental psychology, architecture, real estate, ergonomics, leadership, management, and design. I graduated with my MS in Facility Planning & Management in 1992 and have been immersed in the industry ever since.
Tell us about a favorite project.
One of my favorite projects was a renovation of a 50,000 SF 2 story building. I was initially responsible for the programming and space planning of the building which including both office space for 250 persons and a 30,000 SF conferencing center and a cafeteria. I had never planned a facility quite like this before. I was also responsible for crafting new space standards in consideration of functional work, workflow, collaboration, and access to natural light. With a space plan in place, I then organized and managed the $2Million dollar request for proposal process for all new furniture in the building. And then after construction and furniture installation was complete, I shifted into logistics and was responsible for all the move management and final implementation.
What is your greatest success story?
I have been an adjunct professor for 18 years; my first 8 years was teaching programming and planning to interior design students at Moore College of Art & Design. For the last 10 years I have been at Temple University teaching in their BS of Facility Management Program. When I was President of IFMA Philly in 2001-2002 we were having continuing conversations with several local universities and colleges about considering an FM academic program. It was Community College of Philadelphia that first stepped up in a meaningful day to create an associate’s program in FM, but it took another 3 years until their program came to fruition in 2005. It then took Temple University and lot of other members of the Philly IFMA Chapter 6 more years until the FM program at Temple opened to its first students in 2011. One of my greatest successes, the 136+ students who have graduated with their degree in Facility Management, most of whom are working in FM and doing amazing things. A close second, by the way, is the over 550+ students who I have helped to earn their IFMA FMP credential or their ProFM. Being part of so many people’s path toward success is unbelievably rewarding.
Tell us about a challenge or obstacle that you faced in the Facilities field and how you overcame it.
I was asked to lead a project for my client where senior leadership was eager to have their staff be more collaborative. With the help of furniture vendor and working with several departments, we began by looking at new furniture options that would create new opportunities for engagement and teamwork. We decided to embark on a small pilot project to ‘test’ out a variety of these new solutions. After installation, we gathered all kinds of data and find that we had missed the mark considerably on some of the furniture choices. We went back to the drawing board and made some revisions and presented the updates to a cross section of the staff. Half of the staff loved the revisions, the other half hated it and they were not particularly nice about it. As it turns out, what we really missed in the process was assuming that ‘one size’ would fit all. It does not (nor should it). When we went through our 3rd furniture and space plan updates, we found a series of flexible solutions that would be meet the needs of the entire organization. The result was a functional space that work for everyone.
What is something that most people do not know about you?
I used to go hang gliding over Key Biscayne Bay in Miami with my husband Glenn.
What learning experience would you pass onto future FM’s?
I am very big into ‘process’. I like the order and organization of having a process to help me manage through the chaos to get to a final successful solution. If I have a project or a problem that I have never experienced before, if I trust and follow the process, the answers eventually appear. For me, the process is about first really understanding the issue and collecting data and information from as many resources as possible. Once I understand the current state and dig into the data, the future state or goals become a whole lot clearer. And with a clear goal to focus on, I can then identify and implement the necessary steps to reach the objective or deliverable. I think the real learning experience is to not shortchange the time it takes to understand the problem before jumping into solutions. When we leap before we look, we often fall.
Alana F. Dunoff, MS, ProFM, FMP, IFMA Fellow, has over 30 years’ experience in strategic facility planning and project management in the corporate, commercial, healthcare, and retail industries. She has had her own strategic facility planning consulting and training practice, AFD Professional Services LLC, for nearly 2 decades.
Alana is passionate about FM education and has over 18 years’ experience as an adjunct professor; she currently teaches in the Facility Management Bachelor of Science Program at Temple University. Alana is a qualified instructor for the IFMA FMP and the ProFM and was the first woman to earn her ProFM credential. Over the past decade, Alana has helped over 600+ students earn their FM credential; provided corporate training and workshops to FMs all over the world, she is proud to be a part of their professional development journey.
Alana has been a keynote speaker and presenter at dozens of Facility Management industry conferences and seminars and served on numerous industry panels. She is a Subject Matter Expert for the IFMA FMP Body of Knowledge and has had numerous articles published in FM trade journals. Alana has served on local and international IFMA boards and is currently on the Board of Women in Facility Management (WIFM). In 2014 she was honored to become an IFMA Fellow. Alana earned her B.S. in Psychology from Boston University and her M.S. in Facility Planning & Management from Cornell University.
How did you get into Facility Management?
I was a disillusioned psychology major who didn’t like clinical psychology but became fascinated with Environmental & Social Psychology, the study of how humans interact with their environment. I was also interested in Architecture and Archeology, even took an engineering course. After a summer program in Urban Design and Planning I learned about a graduate program at Cornell University called Design and Environmental Analysis. I didn’t know what I would be when I was done but it was a blend of everything that I was interested in – environmental psychology, architecture, real estate, ergonomics, leadership, management, and design. I graduated with my MS in Facility Planning & Management in 1992 and have been immersed in the industry ever since.
Tell us about a favorite project.
One of my favorite projects was a renovation of a 50,000 SF 2 story building. I was initially responsible for the programming and space planning of the building which including both office space for 250 persons and a 30,000 SF conferencing center and a cafeteria. I had never planned a facility quite like this before. I was also responsible for crafting new space standards in consideration of functional work, workflow, collaboration, and access to natural light. With a space plan in place, I then organized and managed the $2Million dollar request for proposal process for all new furniture in the building. And then after construction and furniture installation was complete, I shifted into logistics and was responsible for all the move management and final implementation.
What is your greatest success story?
I have been an adjunct professor for 18 years; my first 8 years was teaching programming and planning to interior design students at Moore College of Art & Design. For the last 10 years I have been at Temple University teaching in their BS of Facility Management Program. When I was President of IFMA Philly in 2001-2002 we were having continuing conversations with several local universities and colleges about considering an FM academic program. It was Community College of Philadelphia that first stepped up in a meaningful day to create an associate’s program in FM, but it took another 3 years until their program came to fruition in 2005. It then took Temple University and lot of other members of the Philly IFMA Chapter 6 more years until the FM program at Temple opened to its first students in 2011. One of my greatest successes, the 136+ students who have graduated with their degree in Facility Management, most of whom are working in FM and doing amazing things. A close second, by the way, is the over 550+ students who I have helped to earn their IFMA FMP credential or their ProFM. Being part of so many people’s path toward success is unbelievably rewarding.
Tell us about a challenge or obstacle that you faced in the Facilities field and how you overcame it.
I was asked to lead a project for my client where senior leadership was eager to have their staff be more collaborative. With the help of furniture vendor and working with several departments, we began by looking at new furniture options that would create new opportunities for engagement and teamwork. We decided to embark on a small pilot project to ‘test’ out a variety of these new solutions. After installation, we gathered all kinds of data and find that we had missed the mark considerably on some of the furniture choices. We went back to the drawing board and made some revisions and presented the updates to a cross section of the staff. Half of the staff loved the revisions, the other half hated it and they were not particularly nice about it. As it turns out, what we really missed in the process was assuming that ‘one size’ would fit all. It does not (nor should it). When we went through our 3rd furniture and space plan updates, we found a series of flexible solutions that would be meet the needs of the entire organization. The result was a functional space that work for everyone.
What is something that most people do not know about you?
I used to go hang gliding over Key Biscayne Bay in Miami with my husband Glenn.
What learning experience would you pass onto future FM’s?
I am very big into ‘process’. I like the order and organization of having a process to help me manage through the chaos to get to a final successful solution. If I have a project or a problem that I have never experienced before, if I trust and follow the process, the answers eventually appear. For me, the process is about first really understanding the issue and collecting data and information from as many resources as possible. Once I understand the current state and dig into the data, the future state or goals become a whole lot clearer. And with a clear goal to focus on, I can then identify and implement the necessary steps to reach the objective or deliverable. I think the real learning experience is to not shortchange the time it takes to understand the problem before jumping into solutions. When we leap before we look, we often fall.
IFMA Philly Newsletter Winter 2025 Upcoming Events, Past Event Highlights, New Members, and much, much more! Click on the image below to view newsletter.
IFMA Philly Newsletter Fall 2024 Past Event Highlights, Upcoming Events, Learning Opportunities, FM Spotlight Highlights, and much, much more! Click on image to view newsletter!
IFMA Philly Newsletter Summer 2024 Past Event Highlights, Upcoming Events, Learning Opportunities, FM Spotlight Highlights, and much, much more! Click on image to view newsletter!
