IMCOM Leaders host housing manager symposium

Story by Courtney Dock on 08/26/2019

More than 60 Army housing managers from installations around the world traveled to San Antonio, Texas, Aug. 19-23, for the inaugural housing executive course hosted by Installation Management Command.

The week-long symposium offered more than 36 different classes focusing on traditional housing, privatized housing, unaccompanied housing and program management, with an emphasis on group discussions, demonstrations and hands-on learning opportunities.

“This has been a great training environment for everyone to do hands-on exercises and take back this knowledge to their installations,” said Connie Glenn, chief, Housing Division, IMCOM G-4. “As the senior housing careerist on the installation, this training gives them the ability to speak from a position of authority on all things housing.”

This housing manager training has been a year in the making. One area of focus was in resource management, specifically budgeting.

“For me, I’ve been doing this for a very long time,” said Mary Scott, housing manager, Fort Gordon. “The housing budget we’ve been working on now gets into the depth and knowledge that we need to manage our budget.”

“The spreadsheet we’re working on now gives us a hands-on experience and makes it comfortable to make mistakes,” said Scott. “It’s a safe environment to test our knowledge and test our understanding on what we need to know about our budget.”

“This training is wonderful, absolutely wonderful,” said Ingrid Misch, housing manager, U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach. “I’ve been challenged and have learned a lot. The budget process has been eye-opening to me.”

Misch said the networking has been a great help to her as well as hearing from IMCOM senior leaders. “I can get the help I need when I have a challenging case,” she added.

“Every course has been great,” said Misch. “I draw it up like a sponge and am exhausted at the end of the day. I’m proud to be a part of this team.”

Glenn added this type of training and networking provides valuable opportunities for housing managers to share best-practices that will improve service at every Army garrison.

“At the end of the day, what everyone is able to learn and take away from this training will directly support Soldiers and their families,” said Glenn. “Our enduring effort is to ensure we remain focused on providing quality housing and services for our Army.”