"Performance Review" A regularly featured interview with one of our chapter's professional members.     

Meet Shannon Schiermann, Sr. Strategic Real Estate Planner for Symantec Corporation

Provide some insight on your Employer/Company's core function/service.            
Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help businesses and consumers secure and manage their information. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 40 countries.

Identify Company's total number, sq. ft., types, and locations of offices, e.g., corporate, industrial, owned, leased, downtown, suburban, local, regional, international.
World Wide Symantec has 110 Sites with over 4.8 million total square feet.  We have 8 campus locations which are company owned.  The remainder of our office space is leased.  Symantec has a total of 27,300 employees.

What are your primary job functions?
I am responsible for the strategic real estate planning of 28 sites in N. America and 18 sites in northern Europe (1.6 million SF).  My responsibilities include developing reports for analysis for initiating potential projects, allocating and tracking space, working with business units to support their growth and space requirements, and supporting Facilities Operations for space management and move logistics.  I am also responsible for the programming, space planning, design implementation and furniture coordination for assigned relocation, expansion and acquisition projects.  I also organize and work with Facilities to implement project moves.  I am responsible for the development and for maintaining Symantec’s corporate design, space and construction standards.

Who do you report to?
Sr. Director Real Estate Planning & Project Management.

Who reports to you?                                    
I have no direct reports.

What functions do you outsource?
Symantec outsources its Facilities Operations function to Cushman & Wakefield and is in the process of outsourcing our IT functions to EDS.

Describe your recycling program, if applicable.
Symantec strives to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Reduce: We reduce by purchasing as much sustainable product as possible.  Reuse: Symantec explores alternatives before disposal such as donating to schools and by using E-waste program.  Recycle: Symantec takes the following steps in recycling in our owned facilities:  Locate recycle bins at each workstation; have recycling collection points for mixed trash, mixed paper, plastic, glass, metals, and batteries through our work sites.

In our leased sites we supply at minimum the same recycling containers to encourage employee awareness, and take a "lead by example" approach by encouraging the landlord to undertake recycling.

Describe any energy conservation measure you have implemented in your facilities.
The following are Components of Sustainability at Symantec:
Corporate Responsibility -- 'Do the Right Thing,' Policies, Practices, Products
Personal Responsibility -- 'Reduce, Re-use, Recycle'
Community Responsibility -- Green Teams
Programs -- EnergyStar, LEED/LEED India, Green IT, renewable power

How sustainability is currently measured at Symantec:
Carbon foot printing -- tracking the physical amount of energy and fossil fuel used by a facility, campus, and/or person
and calculating the relative carbon emissions; then measuring our effectiveness at reducing our overall carbon 
emissions.
Landfill Diversion -- tracking our waste stream and ensuring the practice of recycling far outweighs the practice of
populating landfills.
Water Consumption -- tracking how much water is consumed, and measuring our effectiveness at reducing it.
Energy Efficiency -- tracking the consumption of energy consumed by various equipment and systems across each site, and measuring our effectiveness at achieving higher levels of efficiency.

Identify some FM challenges you face within your organization.
From the standpoint of facilities planning, it's trying to manage the constant growth and change of the company.  We have many corporate acquisitions and company directives that change the business strategy which force us to come up with ways to create more space within existing sites.  It seems as soon as we start down one path such as consolidating two sites into one, all of a sudden there is a change of direction and we are looking to increase square footage.  The fact that we have only three strategic planners in a company of 27-thousand employees makes keeping up with work load quite a challenge.

Identify some challenges the FM industry as a whole must face in the near future.
Controlling costs and looking for new ways to control costs.

What are some of your hobbies and interests outside work?                               
I love the outdoors and doing most anything outdoors, so I couldn't be happier living in Austin.  That includes gardening, riding my bike, hiking, camping, and hanging out by the water.  Of course, doing all these things with my husband and two teenage sons is even better.  I also enjoy traveling, live music, cooking, and entertaining with friends.  In reality, most of my free time is spent watching my 15-year-old son's soccer games and preparing my 19-year-old for life in the real world, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you, Shannon! 

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"Cold Call"   with Robert Keeton of Furniture Marketing Group (FMG)                     

"Cold Call" is a regularly featured interview with an associate member.  

Is your company affiliated with any others?
Furniture Marketing Group (FMG) is affiliated with Facility Interiors (FI), a sister company that is a minority-owned, fully accredited HUB Company. FI was founded as a full service installation company that provides warehouse and installations services for FMG. In 1994, Charles Griggsby, the owner of FI, partnered with Greg Almond, the owner of FMG, and became a provider of new furnishings as well as offering complete installation and asset management services.

FMG is also affiliated with Wave, a project management and asset management network based company. Wave gives FMG the capability to provide these services to companies such as EDS and Capital One in a world wide international market.

FMG’s industry affiliations include: IFMA, International Interior Designers Association (IIDA), American Institute of Architects (AIA), United States Green Building Council (USGBC), Corporate Real Estate Network (CoreNet), The Real Estate Council (TREC), Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), Workplace Alliance, and Office Furniture Dealers Alliance (OFDA).

Describe your company's core competency.
FMG is a total office solutions provider, partnering with our clients and their business for over 25 years. We provide workspace solutions, processes, and services that can be configured and integrated to support our clients businesses and embrace the changes of tomorrow. Our goal is to be your single source provider for all interior products and services where ever your business may take you.

Services provided include:

Facility Change Management, Move and Churn Management, On-Site Solution Centers, Inventory and Warehouse Management, Project Management, Procurement and Order Management, Account Management, Reconfiguration Services, Design Specifications and Space Planning, Furniture Maintenance and Refurbishment, Project Coordination and Customer Service, Web-Based Reporting, Delivery and Installation, Vortex

Describe your primary job functions.
My primary job function as Director of Sales for FMG is to provide direction and manage all aspects of the sales related process for my company.  That includes managing a commercial sales team, developing relationships within the market, and driving sales into the dealership.

Describe an average day.
Unless I have a breakfast networking meeting, I will usually hit the office around 6:30am. This gives me time to get a head-start on the day “before” the phone starts ringing or sales folks start knocking on my door. The rest of the day is usually focused on making team sales calls with end users, and networking lunches. Also thrown into that daily mix are various sales strategy meetings with my individual sales people. When you add in the occasional industry related events that are usually in the evening that adds up to a pretty full day.

What type of clients do you work with?
That runs the gambit of Fortune 500 type companies like EDS to major health care providers like Seton as well as Scott & White Hospital. FMG has supplied products and services for multiple start-up companies, law firms, call centers, and manufacturing companies. We appreciate the opportunity to work with any and all end-users regardless of size or scope.

The consistent growth of our sales of remanufactured office systems attests to our ability to hit the style and budget of any customer.

What percentage of your work and clients is local/regional/national?
Our Austin branch is focused primarily on the central Texas area so most of our clients are in the local / regional market. FMG has offices in Dallas, Houston, Sydney, and London so company wide 45% of our market comes from national and international markets. When Haworth has a large national or international opportunity they will often call in FMG. Wave, our network based sister company, can provide world wide asset-facility management services and complete furniture solutions. 

FMG / Wave has 3 people on-site full time in Virginia providing facilities management services for 10 floors of furniture.  In Austin, we have 8 people on-site full time providing furniture and facilities services for Applied Materials.

How long have you been in this field?  Tell us briefly about your career, education, certifications.
I have been in this industry since 1980.  After cramming a four-year college plan into 10 years, I graduated with a BA in history from the University of Texas Permian Basin. I had the pleasure of getting into this industry in Odessa, Texas during the oil boom of the 1980’s. With the end of the oil boom, I moved to Austin in 1984 to work for the first Haworth dealer in Austin. I was a commercial sales rep for SW Office Interiors for 5 years, and then took a position with Haworth as a Sr. Territory Manager for 10 years. When FMG opened the Austin branch in 1998, I was approached to run the sales division, and here I am today.

Tell us about an interesting situation you've encountered related to your current work.  End result?
Even though we are having one of our most successful sales years, we are all operating with a high stress levels these days. To help deal with this we created a “fun” committee that comes up with various ways to keep the team excited, i.e., bowling night. Recently everyone in the office was given a beta fish which sits on everyone’s desk (of course we all named our own fish).  Each person was tasked with the feeding and care of their individual fish; should your fish possibly pass-on, you are required to perform a memorial service for your fish. We all learned quickly to keep lids on our fish bowls since these guys like to jump out. The end result has been a great team building experience for our group, and give us a little something extra to look forward to every day.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from a client?
We work in a solutions based customer service business. There will always be challenging issues related to our industry. When we are faced with problems or challenges, just face those problems head on, and come up with a solution. Customers just want to know that you can be depended on to provide the best solution regardless of any potential set backs.

How's business right now?
This is our best year as a company in almost nine years, and FMG Austin has had the largest increase in business of all the offices!

Identify some challenges in your industry.
The Austin market is still strong, but everyone seems to be waiting to see if national issues are going to affect our market.  This is a very competitive industry, and even though I believe FMG offers the best products and services we do compete with some quality companies.  That alone challenges us to be the best, and provides our customers with some great solutions.

Tell us about your personal life, family, hobbies and interests outside work.
When my wife, Cindy, and I are not dodging hurricanes between trips to our bay house in South Padre, I split my time between visiting my grandson in Oklahoma and my father in Lubbock. My father, SW Keeton, will be 85 years young next month, and is still the pastor at McKenzie Terrace Baptist church. My daughter graduated from high school in Pflugerville and went off to Southern Nazarene University (SNU) in Oklahoma City.  My daughter met her husband, Craig, while at SNU and has a wonderful life with my soon to be one-year-old grandson, Carter Robert Buck.  I do have pictures of Carter shortly after his birth wrapped in a Longhorn blanket!

Can we quote you on that?
Being the ever obedient husband, at my wife’s recommendation I am currently reading one of Oprah’s favorite books,  "Eat – Pray – Love."  While I might not see eye-to-eye with some of the author’s philosophy, I have found one small quote that has become one of my daily mantras:

“I will not harbor unhealthy thoughts anymore.“

It’s short and simple, but for me it clears out a lot of junk!

Thanks, Robert!

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