Stephanie Patton doesn't claim to be a professional cartographer even though she has a high degree of proficiency in what she terms as "developing road maps."

The road maps Patton creates aren't available at bookstores, service stations, or through the American Automobile Association, and even if they were, they probably couldn't direct a motorist anywhere.

Hers are developed for NBBJ, the second largest architecture firm in the world with offices in Columbus, Raleigh, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oslo, London, Taipei, Tokyo, Istanbul, and Adu Dhabi. These road maps, officially known as programs, are intended to help make the firm's many clients more satisfied and productive in their workplaces.

Patton is a facilities planner for NBBJ, working out of the firm's Columbus location at 1555 Lake Shore Dr. She's also heavily involved in planning for the central Ohio IFMA Chapter as co-chair of the Program Committee, which has already presented members four outstanding and well-attended programs this year.

Both of these jobs are soon to be shelved for a few weeks as Patton and her husband, Andy, a sales representative with Bell-Haun Systems, undertake the taxing but wonderful responsibilities of parenthood. If all goes according to schedule, the stork should make its visit by June 12.

With respect to the Program Committee and the impending birth, Patton says the committee is in good hands with co-chair Brittany Hauptman and members Bill Luallen, Gary Nuss, and Lin Smirniotopoulos. She predicts the exciting and well-planned programs of the past will continue uninterrupted.

"The most difficult challenge for the committee," according to Patton, "is to develop fresh ideas for programs that will be of interest to a large part of the chapter. Because of the diverse background of chapter members, it's difficult to come up with relevant topics as well as to find eloquent speakers. That combination can be tough!

With respect to her position at NBBJ and impending birth, Patton has her boss and IFMA member Vicki Simons, a principal with the firm, to fall back on. She and Simons have worked together for three and one-half years although the two also worked together for a short time when Patton was in graduate school at The Ohio State University and interned at NBBJ over the summer.

At NBBJ, Patton and Simons are primarily responsible for corporate programming although they do assist the firm's studios with various projects as well. Corporate programming entails getting involved at the beginning of projects to "learn what makes clients tick." This knowledge allows programmers to meld each company's unique brand with its square footage and workflow requirements to create a functional and satisfying environment that will help them exceed their business goals.

"Vicki and I work with clients on the front line of the design process. We are well-versed in workspace trends and have our fingers on the pulse of the corporate design world," Patton said.

While a good bit of the time is spent with facilities people or the project representatives, "We conduct a lot of interviews with various user groups within a company. We work with everyone, from CEOs to those in the trenches to develop a road map for a cohesive workplace environment that responds to both the general goals of the company and to the specific functional needs of each user group.

"Along with these interviews, we use many planning techniques, including questionnaires, on-site observations, behavioral mapping, workflow and adjacency diagrams and inventories of existing spaces. From this programming process comes the road map, a tailored program that is then translated by interior designers and architects into a finished project that responds to both the aesthetic and functional needs of NBBJ's clients

"Vicki and I ensure that this is so. We see ourselves as watchdogs for client needs throughout the life of each project. This intense level of involvement with all levels of our client groups in all phases of our projects is what keeps things exciting for us," Patton said.

Patton is a native of Portsmouth and now a resident of Upper Arlington. She came to central Ohio to attend Ohio State where she received a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's in city and regional planning. She originally thought about a career in law, but soon realized she had the skills and interests to become a good planner.

Patton gravitated toward facilities planning because it offered "more bang for the buck" and eliminated the problem of developing plans for communities that often just "sit on shelves and get dusty" once they are completed.

Her first job was with the architect's office at Ohio State where she did facilities planning for the university and served as a liaison on other projects.

It was her association with NBBJ and Simons while interning at NBBJ during graduate school that brought her back to the architecture firm, and it was Simons who recruited her for membership in IFMA. Actually, Patton was no stranger to IFMA because she had attended a few of the meetings as Simon's guest while an intern at NBBJ.

During her three and one-half years as an IFMA member, Patton has been a member of the Program Committee and its co-chair for two years. She also is a volunteer for the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State and is deeply involved in the "Hair Ball," a fundraiser for family and children's programs at the center.

In addition, Patton serves on the alumni advisory board of Pi Beta Phi, a social sorority at Ohio State, and recently become involved with the Roy G. Biv gallery in the Short North area of Columbus through her husband's participation as a board member for the gallery.

With respect to the Pattons and the impending birth, they haven't spent a lot of time pondering whether their new arrival will be a boy or girl, and are still debating name choices. They will gladly take what comes, hoping only that it will be a happy and healthy addition to their family, and, perhaps, a future IFMA member.

While DuPont is one of the oldest continuously operating industrial enterprises in the world-founded nearly 100 years ago-DuPont Flooring Systems (DFS) is the far-flung corporation's first-of-a-kind "new kid on the block," and doing quite well, thank you.

DFS is a service and distribution network created to improve the quality of commercial flooring services. The division was started in 1997 through a combination of company buyouts--principally Wilson Floors--and new locations, and has since expanded into 97 operations nationwide. Ohio is well represented with five: Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, and Cleveland.

DFS is DuPont's first service division and one that incorporates a "cradle-to-grave" philosophy with regard to product sales, installation, maintenance, and reclamation.

It's an effort to "raise the bar," with all a company has to offer, says Tony Nixon, regional vice president of the Columbus office at 3445 Millennium Court. The 65,000-square-foot facility is in the City Gate Business Park near Port Columbus International Airport.

DFS Columbus has been responsible for a good bit of the new division's success. Although the central Ohio area, according to Nixon, ranks 36th nationally as a specific commercial flooring market, DFS Columbus has been in the top five for the company for three consecutive years, and is currently responsible for maintenance of 25 million square feet of carpeting in the area.

DFS offers:

• A team of responsive local service providers, backed by a nationwide network.

• A specialist in carpet of DuPont Antron® nylon who can also assist clients in flooring to fit all project needs.

• Knowledgeable people trained in the latest services.

• State-of-the-art installation and maintenance technologies.

• Installation services that include complete project management, floor preparation and inspection, and materials handling.

• Environmentally responsible carpet disposal.

• Rigorous attention to safety.

• Certification by supporting manufacturers.

While product, installation, and maintenance are vital to the new division, reclamation seems to be a major player at the moment with Nixon vowing, "We won't allow any of our carpeting to go into a landfill. We have reclamation centers for removed carpeting, and we claim it and send it to DuPont to be converted into new products. If carpet is put in a landfill, it doesn't break down; even after 100 years you still have carpet."

Nixon pointed out that facility managers and companies who use landfills for disposal of carpeting remain liable for what is placed there, and the "end users will share in the cost of cleaning up the landfills" if and when that becomes necessary. DFS relieves facility managers and companies of this potential liability through its reclamation program and issues clients certificates confirming their release and outlining the recycled path of their old carpet.

DuPont's recycled products include rubber (Reptile) flooring, air cleaners and other parts for Ford vans, commercial (Echo Soft) carpet pads, and synthetic components (Hummer Turf) for soccer fields. Nixon also says unless maintained by DFS, 50 percent of the weight of the removed carpet is dirt. This, too, is recycled and used in potting soils.

DFS is so heavy into reclamation that it is developing a recycling program for colleges and universities across the state. Though details are still being worked out, Nixon said the plan is to put recycling bins at strategic locations on campuses for facility managers to use when disposing of carpet. He expects to have six to12 institutions enrolled in the program by year's end.

Two years ago, The Ohio State University represented the largest account in DuPont's reclamation program; last year it was Cuyahoga County.

While carpet represents 60 to 65 percent of DFS Columbus's workload, the company offers a full range of flooring products, laminate, hardwood, ceramic, access flooring and other specialty items, and is able to install flooring without dismantling office cubicles or unloading fully-stocked shelves, reducing downtime.

And while DFS will sell, maintain, or dispose, according to a customer's needs, Nixon and the force of 150 employees support a complete cycle for their products to assure quality, longer life through proper maintenance, and the prescribed disposal.

Nixon, along with Mark Zimmer, state contract business manager, are long-time affiliates and strong supporters of the central Ohio IFMA Chapter; Zimmer as an associate member, and Nixon as head of an operation that supports the chapter as an Initiator Level sponsor.

Both maintain that IFMA membership provides DFS with a great opportunity to develop relationships with facility managers and to "show them how things are done and how we can make their jobs much easier. We want to take them out of the flooring business by helping them make educated decisions that they can live with."

DFS and Zimmer also have been heavily involved with the chapter's Community Service Committee and its Adopt-a-Family program that is designed to assist families in need throughout the year. Zimmer participated in the Thanksgiving and Christmas purchase/delivery programs for selected families, and has been instrumental in securing carpet remnants for installation in several of the homes that the chapter supports.

If you ever doubt the benefits of IFMA membership, contact Daphne Swayze, regional manager of Designed Moves, Inc., in Raleigh, N.C., and she will be happy to convince you otherwise.

For Swayze, her association with the entral Ohio chapter not only led to an new employment opportunity but a chance to return to the area of the country where she grew up and where most of her family will be living.

And even though she will be a few hundred miles away, Swayze will maintain Ohio ties in her new position with Designed Moves, a Columbus-based company founded in 1994 by IFMA member and chapter treasurer Dorothy Leachman and W. Daniel Cordray, president of Commercial Movers, Inc.

Designed Moves is a design planning and move coordination company that offers professional services ranging from conceptual interior space design and planning to move coordination, facility management, and inventory assessments.

Since its beginning, the company has expanded to Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Charlotte. When profiled last December, Leachman announced the company's next moves would be to Raleigh and Louisville.

In her new position, Swayze will concentrate on the rapidly developing Raleigh area and the numerous industries and educational resources that dominate so much of that part of the state. Swayze expects to be operating by early June.

Swayze, formerly an outside sales representative and resource consultant, with Continental Office Furniture, said she had always planned to return to the area where she spent her earlier years. She was a student at East Carolina University when her parents moved from the south to Cincinnati where her father worked for Proctor & Gamble. Her parents plan to return to Raleigh soon and Swayze has two brothers living in that area.

After a brief stop at the University of Cincinnati, Swayze transferred to The Ohio State University and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in business management.

Swayze isn't certain just how she and Leachman came to terms on the move and new position; however, each apparently knew of the other's desires and plans and became more and more involved as Designed Moves forged ahead with its expansion.

"I talked with Dorothy on several occasions, visited the area, met the other people involved, and we decided it was a good fit," Swayze said. "This is a new position and up to me to make it work. I will have control of my own destiny, and I am looking forward to it."

Swayze added that "membership in IFMA certainly paid off for me from a career and personal standpoint." She also said IFMA enabled her to meet a lot of people and to learn what facility managers go through and what they actually need.

"Membership really helped me, and I gained a lot of good friends who I am going to miss," she said.

Swayze served as co-chair of the Membership Committee for about two years and was a member of the Program Committee. At the May chapter event, Swayze received a plaque from the membership and a gift certificate from Bath and Body Works. She plans to become active in the Raleigh Chapter.