Dan Hounsell: Names Change, but the Mission Remains the Sametest

By Dan Hounsell, Editor

February 2015

You're holding this magazine in large part because of Dick Yake. Twenty-two years ago, Dick, our former vice president of content development, and a group of other company executives founded Maintenance Solutions, which two years ago became Facility Maintenance Decisions.

Their goal in 1993 was simple. Deliver the latest information and insights to a segment of the institutional and commercial facilities market that had gone overlooked and underappreciated for too long — maintenance and engineering managers. These departments remain underappreciated in too many organizations.

But thanks to the efforts of Dick and others 22 years ago, maintenance and engineering managers and their staffs in a large number of organizations now are better informed about the technology, regulations, bottom-line considerations, and management trends that affect their departments, facilities and organizations. And for many in maintenance and engineering management, their work has evolved from simply a job into a robust profession.

Our January 2015 issue marked the last one under Dick's leadership, and he leaves behind innumerable contributions to maintenance and engineering management, as well as to institutional and commercial facilities in general. He also guided several generations of editors, including me, in performing the essential role trade publications play — in print, as well as across a growing array of digital platforms — in delivering information that helps managers both improve the performance of facilities and contribute to the evolution of their profession.

With this issue, Renee Bassett joins us as vice president of content development. Her long career and broad experience helping media companies deliver essential information to readers across an array of print and electronic platforms will be invaluable in guiding Facility Maintenance Decisions on the mission it started in 1993 and continues today.

Dan Hounsell offers observations about trends in maintenance and engineering management and the evolving role of managers in facilities.

Agree? Disagree? Have something to say? We want to hear from you. Visit myfacilitiesnet.com/danhounsell, and start a conversation.