CLEVELAND - The Collegiate Event and Facility Management Association (CEFMA) is proud to announce the winner of its 2023 Facility Manager of the Year Award, Dan McGarry, associate AD of facilities, event management and capital projects at Rice University.

The Facility Manager of the Year Award is intended to recognize an athletics administrator that has gone through extraordinary efforts working on and completing construction and maintenance projects on their campus. 

"I am proud to have the honor of congratulating Dan McGarry as the CEFMA Facility Manager of the Year," said Julie Cribbs, the director of game/event management at LSU and current CEFMA president. "Dan's innate ability to find innovative ways to solve problems, while being fiscally responsible, is a testament to both his work ethic and ability to think outside the box to get the job done. Our industry is lucky to have him as a leader and forward thinker as we navigate these ever-changing environments."

Dan McGarry
In McGarry's current role as associate AD of facilities, event management and capital projects at Rice University, he handles facility maintenance and construction projects throughout the athletics department. One of his largest construction projects included renovating Rice's 70-year-old football stadium. In just a 4-month construction window, he was able to accomplish a myriad of upgrades to the facility, including but not limited to, installing new seats, new bathrooms, LED lighting on the concourse, and a new scoreboard. In addition, McGarry orchestrated construction of loge boxes (including all of the electrical to accommodate televisions and fridges), resurfacing of an aging concourse, and laying brick around the entire field level wall. 

In addition to construction on the football stadium in the past year, McGarry led the renovation of the women's basketball and women's soccer locker rooms, converting the baseball field from natural grass to turf, and the replacement of a 14-year-old track surface which had significant foundational issues. He accomplished all of this during a time when Rice Athletics and McGarry's unit were very short-staffed.