SDCCD: Service With District Caps 40-Year Career For Vice Chancellor Of Facilities Chris Manis

Press release from San Diego Community College District:

February 10, 2022

The impact of Vice Chancellor of Facilities Management Chris Manis’ career will be
felt throughout the San Diego Community College District long after his retirement.

Manis, who draws comparisons between managing facilities as a Lieutenant Colonel in
the U.S. Marine Corps and those of the SDCCD, one of the largest of California’s 73
community college districts, retired earlier this month after eight years with the
District. 

“You manage facilities designed to serve a purpose,” Manis said, “be it a military
base or a college campus, the criteria are the same. Your decisions are driven by
what’s important for the people you serve.”

“Ultimately, you want to provide the best facilities possible so people can do what
they need to do effectively, efficiently, and with purpose,” said Manis of his life-long
career in physical plant operations and as a public servant. 

In his more than 30 years with the Marine Corps, 28 as an active officer, and four
years as a civil servant, Manis brought extensive qualifications as an expert logistician
to the SDCCD when he joined then-Chancellor Constance M. Carroll’s cabinet as vice
chancellor of Facilities Management in February 2014. 

As vice chancellor, Manis was responsible for managing the District’s College Police,
Facilities Services, and Facilities Management units. He oversaw the District’s $1.6
billion Propositions S and N construction bond programs, which has provided for the
construction of new instructional and career training facilities and extensive modernizations,
public safety and accessibility enhancements, parking and infrastructure projects
at San Diego City, Mesa, Miramar, and Continuing Education colleges. Under his tenure,
the District received clean, independent audits and earned top bond ratings from both
Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. The bond programs also generated more than 10,000 prevailing
wage jobs.

Before joining the District, Manis served as deputy director of Installation and Logistics
at MCAS Miramar. His tours of duty took him across the globe, from Okinawa, Japan, to Kuwait, Egypt,
Saudia Arabia, and other overseas installations. Stateside, he spent time at Camp
Lejeune, North Carolina, and in Moscow, Idaho. He also served as the Marine ROTC instructor
at the University of Idaho, teaching history and military leadership. 

He credits these experiences with providing a fortuitous merging of his passion for
public service and educational leadership for his post-military career. They also
instilled in him a desire to lead with integrity and lift and motivate those around
him.  

“My Marine Corps career has had a lot of people who’ve been great mentors to me,”
Manis said, “and I’ve always tried to pay that forward.” 

Manis recalls serving under General James Mattis, a four-star general, as part of
the U.S. Joint Forces Command. Mattis was a “boots on the ground” leader who regularly
visited all Marines in security positions.

“He taught me that you can’t understand your organization if you sit in your office,”
Manis said. “You have to get out, walk the sites, check on your teams, and find out
what is happening at the ground level.”    

General Mattis’ mentorship is reflected in how Manis viewed his relationships with
employees within the Facilities Management division, where he made sure they were
allowed to continue to bloom and accept positions of additional responsibility.

“I had commanding officers who wouldn’t let good people grow,” noted Manis. “Give
good people opportunities; otherwise, you risk losing that capacity when you could
be making for a better, more cohesive organization.”

Visiting campus and project teams had been a mainstay practice of Manis’ time at SDCCD,
helping to deepen his connections with campus leadership. Eschewing perhaps faster
responses by email, Manis preferred to come down the hall or visit a campus directly
to meet with colleagues in person.

“Chris was a true servant leader in the District,” said Pamela Luster, president of
Mesa College. “He managed by getting to know our campuses and always worked hard to
create solutions that benefited our students.”

She added: “His legacy will live on in our beautiful campuses.”

He also leaves behind a legacy of philanthropy, having given generously given his
time and other resources to the San Diego Promise, the San Diego Mesa College Foundation,
and other initiatives.

For Chancellor Carlos O. Turner Cortez, one of Manis’ lasting impacts is his “commitment
to sustainability practices and their global impact felt throughout the District.”

As stated in Board Policy BP 6980, which Manis helped author, “A core tenet of sustainability
requires that the present generation meet its needs without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their needs,” Cortez added, pointing out that Manis’
leadership did so in many ways. 

Under Manis’ guidance, the District vastly expanded its renewable energy portfolio.
The number of photovoltaic installations across the District are at the maximum allowed
by current state utility policies. A solar thermal heating system at Miramar College
will generate an estimated $1.9 million in savings over 30 years; and a thermal energy
storage tank will pay for itself at the end of this year, providing an estimated $13
million in savings over 30 years. Manis recently pursued advanced energy storage systems
for multiple campuses, allowing the District to offset peak demand with stored heat
and electricity.

The direction with sustainability to be more energy efficient is something in which
Manis takes pride. “Being able to integrate existing solar with fuel cells and thermal
energy and put us on track for the future is something I can look back on and see
that it’s made a difference in the District becoming more energy-efficient, more independent,
and more modern,” he said.

He also is proud of closing the bond programs fully and successfully. “We completed
projects as committed to the voters and with a surplus,” he said.

Retirement for Manis doesn’t mean slowing down. He is looking forward to spending
more time with his wife of 37 years, Cordelia, whom he met while pursuing his double
degree in history and political science at the University of Idaho in Coeur d’Alene, where they have a second home. He also is happy about seeing more
of his four adult children — all accomplished in their own right with successful careers
as a doctor, lawyer, animation production coordinator, and interior designer. There
are also three grandchildren eager to have more “grandpa time.” 

His parting advice?  

“Figure out your niche and succeed at it,” said Manis. “I had a boss tell me once,
‘Chris, you are the best fire putter-outer I know. I can put you anywhere, and you
take a bad situation and make it good again.’ ” 

His ultimate career goal has been met. “I always believe you leave an organization
in better shape than when you began,” he said. “And I’ve been fortunate to do that
throughout my career.”

This press release was produced by San Diego Community College District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.