My professional career started in the chemical and oil industry, and I worked in sales for BASF Wyandotte and Burmah Castrol Ltd, covering the western half of the US and Northern California. Living and working in California was a great experience, and I was able to take advantage of the terrific university system, getting an MS in Organizational Psychology.
Having grown up in Ambler, PA, I moved back to Philadelphia, and headed to work for an HR/OD firm affiliated with Penn. I later started two companies, one being The Clean Air Company, dba, Edifice Rx. We started out in the era of Sick Building Syndrome, when we showed up to investigate evacuated buildings and dealt with the news media. The field of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ/IAQ) morphed over the years, and we went through the Mold is Gold phase of IAQ investigations; Ground Zero, where we worked in a 2 M square foot building damaged by the I Beams of the North Tower; the LEED phase and now additionally WELL building performance testing era. Like almost everything else, the healthy building field continues to evolve and change.
Edifice Rx turns 30 this year and we have been a WBE (Woman Business Enterprise) for the past two years. We look forward to continuing to adjust to the marketplace and to making buildings healthy and sustainable for people and the environment.
How do you interact with Facility Managers?
Facility Managers are the building management who contact us when there is a health and safety problem in a building. FM’s are unique in that they are responsible for both the health of the building and the health of people in the buildings, so they know best practices for both.
Tell us about a favorite project related to working with a Facility Manager.
A project that comes to mind is one where we had a long standing relationship with the FM who was progressive, choosing to do a very proactive IEQ evaluation of his building. Study components included occupant surveys, microbial characterization of the HVAC, testing for unique analytes, acoustics and lighting and a preliminary pilot for circadian lighting. It is always nice when the client leads the way.
What is your greatest success story related to working with Facility Managers?
Our largest project was an industrial hygiene/environmental evaluation and testing at a very large building at Ground Zero. The six month project was complex and complicated and included working with many different departments, executives, occupational health physicians, government, contractors, subs, etc. To have completed the work with a successful re-occupancy was a growth experience and one that I will never forget.
Tell us about a challenge or obstacle that you faced working with a Facilities Manager and how you overcame it.
A university needed to do an engineering evaluation, including the presence of mold growth in several older buildings, and the FM team did not want to do the microbial testing. We were supported by the engineer who said they would not do the project without the microbial evaluation to support their work. The project was ultimately successful, and we added IAQ Monitors for long-term monitoring of the engineering upgrades.
What is something that most people do not know about you?
My husband (deceased) and I rescued an eighteenth century historic house
(Washington and Lafayette met during the Revolution) and saved the land and house from townhouse development. I love the old growth trees and work to preserve them.
What learning experience would you pass onto future FM’s?
The health, sustainability and environmental psychology literature is continuing to show us how much the interior environment affects our health, productivity, and learning. Optimizing employee health improves capabilities and skills and makes us all more productive. This higher productivity and wellness will improve the organization’s bottom line, and FM’s can help put their company at a huge advantage.
My professional career started in the chemical and oil industry, and I worked in sales for BASF Wyandotte and Burmah Castrol Ltd, covering the western half of the US and Northern California. Living and working in California was a great experience, and I was able to take advantage of the terrific university system, getting an MS in Organizational Psychology.
Having grown up in Ambler, PA, I moved back to Philadelphia, and headed to work for an HR/OD firm affiliated with Penn. I later started two companies, one being The Clean Air Company, dba, Edifice Rx. We started out in the era of Sick Building Syndrome, when we showed up to investigate evacuated buildings and dealt with the news media. The field of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ/IAQ) morphed over the years, and we went through the Mold is Gold phase of IAQ investigations; Ground Zero, where we worked in a 2 M square foot building damaged by the I Beams of the North Tower; the LEED phase and now additionally WELL building performance testing era. Like almost everything else, the healthy building field continues to evolve and change.
Edifice Rx turns 30 this year and we have been a WBE (Woman Business Enterprise) for the past two years. We look forward to continuing to adjust to the marketplace and to making buildings healthy and sustainable for people and the environment.
How do you interact with Facility Managers?
Facility Managers are the building management who contact us when there is a health and safety problem in a building. FM’s are unique in that they are responsible for both the health of the building and the health of people in the buildings, so they know best practices for both.
Tell us about a favorite project related to working with a Facility Manager.
A project that comes to mind is one where we had a long standing relationship with the FM who was progressive, choosing to do a very proactive IEQ evaluation of his building. Study components included occupant surveys, microbial characterization of the HVAC, testing for unique analytes, acoustics and lighting and a preliminary pilot for circadian lighting. It is always nice when the client leads the way.
What is your greatest success story related to working with Facility Managers?
Our largest project was an industrial hygiene/environmental evaluation and testing at a very large building at Ground Zero. The six month project was complex and complicated and included working with many different departments, executives, occupational health physicians, government, contractors, subs, etc. To have completed the work with a successful re-occupancy was a growth experience and one that I will never forget.
Tell us about a challenge or obstacle that you faced working with a Facilities Manager and how you overcame it.
A university needed to do an engineering evaluation, including the presence of mold growth in several older buildings, and the FM team did not want to do the microbial testing. We were supported by the engineer who said they would not do the project without the microbial evaluation to support their work. The project was ultimately successful, and we added IAQ Monitors for long-term monitoring of the engineering upgrades.
What is something that most people do not know about you?
My husband (deceased) and I rescued an eighteenth century historic house
(Washington and Lafayette met during the Revolution) and saved the land and house from townhouse development. I love the old growth trees and work to preserve them.
What learning experience would you pass onto future FM’s?
The health, sustainability and environmental psychology literature is continuing to show us how much the interior environment affects our health, productivity, and learning. Optimizing employee health improves capabilities and skills and makes us all more productive. This higher productivity and wellness will improve the organization’s bottom line, and FM’s can help put their company at a huge advantage.
IFMA Philly Newsletter Spring 2025 Upcoming Events, Past Event Highlights, New Members, and much, much more! Click on the image below to view newsletter.
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!
