Bert Gumeringer, vice president of Facilities Operations and Support Services at Texas Children’s, received the 2019 Executive of the Year Award from the Texas Association of Healthcare Facilities Management (TAHFM).
This prestigious award recognizes an active TAHFM member who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and achievements in the field. Gumeringer received the award at the annual TAHFM Interlink Conference in April, where he was recognized for his leadership as past president and for his many contributions to the growth of the organization, which is now the largest community of health care facilities management professionals in Texas.
“I am so grateful to receive this incredible honor,” Gumeringer said. “I’ve done a lot for the TAHFM organization over the years, and I’ve always done it out of my spirit of volunteerism and education. I’m honored to receive this award, and I look forward to working with our members to continue to build on the great work that we started.”
At Texas Children’s Hospital, Gumeringer’s leadership has been instrumental in helping the organization cultivate and sustain an environment that is safe, clean and customer-focused that fully supports the hospital’s mission.
As vice president of Facilities Operations and Support Services, Gumeringer oversees a team of more than 1,000 who handle the daily operations and maintenance of all of Texas Children’s owned and leased buildings, which equates to 12.2 million square feet of space spanning over 125 locations across Greater Houston and Austin.
Gumeringer credits his team for helping to lead the organization through several transformations including the successful implementation of Mission Control, which has helped reduce transportation times, improve the patient acceptance process and optimize system communications. By successfully bringing the hospital’s operations into a unified state-of-the-art command center, Texas Children’s received the coveted 2017 Excellence in Healthcare Facility Management Award from the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE).
Gumeringer and his team have also been involved in other system wide initiatives including implementing new traffic flow processes for valet parking so families can get to their appointments on time; revamping shipping and receiving processes to ensure timely delivery of supplies; and leveraging vendor relationships to maximize the full value of every contract, while reducing operational costs and growing our hospital’s savings year-over-year.
Gumeringer says one thing he is most proud of is working with Texas Children’s Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline and the Baylor Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) to develop training programs for facilities and IT professionals at the Centers of Excellence (COE’s) in Africa and Romania. BIPAI has developed a network of clinics that treat patients with pediatric AIDS and other diseases. Collaborating with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), Gumeringer and his team were able to provide training in facility maintenance, financial management, project management and emergency management on site in Africa. Through this program five trainees have now been certified by IFMA as Facility Management Professionals overseeing facilities and IT operations at their respective COE’s.
Beyond his leadership responsibilities at Texas Children’s, Gumeringer also devotes much of his time serving the community. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Rise School of Houston, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to ensuring students with and without disabilities have access to a first-class education.
“Texas Children’s has had a long partnership with the Rise School that helps children discover their potential for achieving great things in life,” Gumeringer said. “My son, who has developmental disabilities, has had a profound influence on what I think and believe as a leader. Some of my best leadership lessons I have learned from him.”