Spotlight on Staff: Miguel Perez

by Cheri Plavnick of the Radical Generosity Committee

In this inaugural article on First U staff, we spotlight Miguel Perez, our Director of Facilities. New Mexico is Miguel’s chosen home after having grown up in New York State and living there until he retired from government work in Buffalo NY. Coming to NM was a quality- of-life choice after years of coping with Buffalo snowstorms.

As our part-time Director of Facilities, Miguel’s primary role is keeping on top of all aspects of maintaining our physical plant and remaining within budget for all upgrades and repairs that need to be done to keep our buildings and campus in safe working order. By being “in the business” for 35 years, Miguel has made friends and found ways to maximize the quality of essential repairs while minimizing the cost. A major example of this is the almost thousand-dollar savings he achieved through meetings with contractors and finding rebates that decreased the cost of the essential work that was recently funded by the Raise the Roof campaign.

Security is also a very important aspect of his responsibilities since there is typically vandalism somewhere on our campus on a weekly basis. In addition to break-ins, less known damage occurs resulting from our being in a high-traffic and very visible and open location. In short, our Director of Facilities is responsible for keeping all our buildings and grounds in top working order so that all that is offered through First U can keep going on safely.

What personally nourishes Miguel is spending time outdoors and enjoying his family that includes his wife, 10-year-old daughter, and two grown sons. We thank Miguel for all he does for First U!