VCU news

By Mike Porter

A former director of the Virginia Department of General Services has been named interim associate vice president of the Facilities Management Division at Virginia Commonwealth University. Richard Sliwoski will take the helm of VCU’s central services for facilities planning, design, construction and maintenance, effective Dec. 4.

The department is one of the largest at VCU, with more than 440 employees responsible for the university’s buildings and grounds and related services.

“Rich brings tremendous depth to this position with more than a decade leading the state DGS,” said Brian Shaw, interim vice president for administration. “His experience in public sector construction, real estate and facilities management makes him uniquely qualified for this job.”

Sliwoski retired from DGS in October after 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 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.

Sliwoski replaces Harry Wyatt, who will now lead VCU’s sustainability planning initiative.