Jeff Payne
Manager of Facilities Operations
Expertise
HVAC Management • Plumbing • Electrical • Facilities Safety Compliance • Property Management
I oversee the operations and maintenance of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity facility and its over 500 acres of property, including the 225-acre Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary within the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. Responsibilities include managing facilities staff, maintaining buildings and grounds safety compliance, monitoring the facility’s complex HVAC systems while analyzing systems data and trends to implement strategies and best practices to ensure energy conservation and reduce operating expenses where possible.
I have over 30 years of welding experience (shop/construction/repair and fabrication, gas and steam line as well as heavy equipment repair), 10 years of managing shop operations, and over 13 years managing facilities, including five years as the facilities manager of McGraw Central School district before starting my present position at the Cornell Lab in 2013.
