American Campus Communities Invests in New Trainings to Keep Facilities Team Members Sharp

Director of Facilities Training David Bowles Shares How He’s Using His Teacher Training and Ops Experience to Create Cutting-edge Courses

Taking care of any home is a big job, with a perpetual to-do list of tasks to keep things functional, comfortable, clean and organized. Now imagine doing this for 180 student housing communities serving over 140,000 residents! That’s the daily charge for American Campus Communities facilities team.

Navigating both the human and technical aspects of student housing maintenance requires these teams to have specialized training. That’s where David Bowles, ACC’s director of facilities training, comes in. He’s leading the charge to create new training programs to keep our facilities team members sharp, efficient and aligned. This is a full-circle move for David: Although he’s worked for ACC for over two decades in various operations roles, he originally intended to become a teacher. He obtained a bachelor’s in technology education at Langston University and a master’s in educational leadership and administration at Prairie View A&M University. We talked to David about how all of his experiences and passions have come together in facilities training.

Facilities Training Center Grand Opening

You’re based out of the American Campus Communities Facilities Training Center in Prairie View, Texas. What kinds of training happens here?

We opened this facility in January 2023 to provide in-person training to our property- level facilities team members. Our company has always invested in training and development, and this is another valuable tool to equip leaders with the knowledge and resources necessary to effectively oversee systems and processes to ACC standards. Our current focus is training new area maintenance managers and maintenance managers, and our next step is to expand to offer a more formalized technical training program for maintenance techs and service techs. Our goal here is to build our “bench” of team members that will be the next facilities leaders of ACC.

What is the benefit of having a dedicated training center?

Before we had the center, training consisted of a regimen of online courses, with on-site sessions that addressed more property-specific topics. The center provides an additional layer of training that enables attendees to learn as they network with other new managers. This collaborative environment and a more central focus can be difficult to achieve onsite. The networking helps our maintenance leaders to not only learn from each other, but also feel valued and connected to our company. We emphasize that this job goes beyond work orders–we’re here to provide a high caliber of service. We train our teams to notice all the small details, be proactive and take pride.

How did you create the facilities training programs and what are their focus?

I worked with fellow directors of facilities to design the curriculum. Our seven directors are the “regional managers” of facilities, with each serving portfolios consisting of 25-35 properties. Our curriculum development is guided by our culture and goal to deliver consistent results across the portfolio. The trainings develop new managers to be well-rounded, balancing technical, administrative and procedural skills with interpersonal and employee management skills.

Additionally, we keep the groups small, with 2-4 participants. This is extremely helpful for engaging attendees and learning what’s going on at the properties and the real deal about the challenges they’re facing. We get them what they need to be successful and train them to plan ahead and operate proactively rather than reactively.

What is the Facilities Inside Track program?

It’s an intensive professional development program launched in 2022 for maintenance techs who have the potential to become maintenance managers. After an extensive nomination process to find our best and brightest talent, the selected team members participate in an initial training conference followed by six months of structured learning and mentoring by our corporate training and corporate facilities teams.

This program is modeled after Inside Track, which is our program to develop the best and brightest managers to become general managers. Inside Track has been around since 2003. Fun fact: I was part of the inaugural Inside Track class, as was my wife, Tosha Bowles, who is ACC’s SVP of property operations!

You originally studied education. How did you get into this work?

I joined ACC in 1998 as a community assistant in undergrad at ACC’s second development as a company: Centennial Court Apartments at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. While attending graduate school at Prairie View A&M, I was promoted to AGM. However, my objective was still to finish grad school, teach for three years and then begin in school administration with the ultimate goal of becoming a high school principal. Needless to say, I am not a high school principal. After obtaining my master’s, I was offered a GM position in Weatherford, Texas, and have been in the student housing industry since. I left ACC in 2005 only to return in 2016 as a project manager in construction overseeing five new construction projects, the renovation of ACC’s first clubhouse, and numerous capital projects. In 2022, I joined the corporate facilities team as director of facilities training.

What are you enjoying about your current position?

The mentorship component of the role is always rewarding. In addition, improving the experiences, development, and productivity goes far in maximizing job satisfaction and quality of life for all involved. This positively impacts assets, teams and ultimately the residents we serve. Training is one of the most valuable processes an organization can have to ensure teams and their day-to-day efforts are aligned with company goals and expectations. I believe that is the most rewarding.

What do you like about working at ACC? What excites you about the future?

Culture is high on my list of must-haves, right under evolution, and it is great to see both of these happening in real time. It is apparent ACC is headed toward next-level status regarding overall efficiency, fiscal performance and solutions to capitalize on the opportunities ahead.