VCU news

By Mike Porter

A former director of the Virginia Department of General Services has been named associate vice president of the Facilities Management Division at Virginia Commonwealth University, effective Jan. 1. Richard Sliwoski has been serving in the role at VCU in an interim capacity since December 2015. He oversees one of VCU’s largest departments, which is responsible for the university’s facilities planning, design, construction and maintenance.

“Rich’s depth of experience in public sector construction, real estate and facilities management made him a natural fit for this position,” said Meredith Weiss, Ph.D., vice president for administration. “He has been serving in this role at VCU on an interim basis for more than a year and has proven to be a highly qualified and capable leader of our facilities management team.”

Sliwoski joined VCU after retiring in October 2015 from DGS, where he served nearly 16 years with the department — 10 of those as director and six leading the Division of Engineering and Buildings. Previously, he served 22 years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including a command as the district engineer of the Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts; a master’s in international relations from Salve Regina College, Newport, Rhode Island; a master’s in national security and strategic studies, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island; and an MBA in finance from Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.