The master planner
At the office with Director of Facilities Management Mark Leighton
91自拍鈥檚 campus looks very different than it did 20 years ago, thanks in large part to Director of Facilities Management Mark Leighton.聽
For the past two decades, he has been instrumental in the planning, construction and project management of several new Academy buildings including The David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance, the William B. Thompson Field House, New Hall, the Hahn Center and renovations of the Davis Center and the Academy Building.聽
When he鈥檚 not thinking about what鈥檚 next, Leighton manages a team of more than 100 people who maintain the Academy鈥檚 nearly 150 buildings and 1,400 acres, including areas not contiguous to campus. Leighton does all this from his corner office in the single-story brick building on the south end of campus where mementos from past projects adorn his bookshelf.聽
鈥淲hat鈥檚 fun about my job is that it changes every day,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檒l be working on a to-do list and something like a frozen pipe will come up. When you work in facilities, you get used to rolling with the punches and problem-solving.鈥澛�
鈥淲e refer to maps like these when considering how to improve the infrastructure of our electrical system. We are looking at how to convert the campus to electric and eliminate fossil fuels by incorporating our geothermal wells, among other things. We鈥檙e always thinking about how best to do all these major projects without digging up the entire campus in the process.鈥�
鈥淭his flag was a gift recognizing my time managing building projects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in the early 2000s. My wife and I were tired of Maine winters, so we moved with our 3-year-old son to Cuba 鈥� his brother was born on the base. We鈥檇 go to the beach as a family and we鈥檇 be next to Humvees with a gunner on top doing their security patrols, and we just got used to that being normal life.鈥澛�
鈥淎 couple times a week, if not daily, I鈥檒l switch into my steel-toed boots and get out to a project site. We have a great team that keeps me updated, so sometimes it鈥檚 more important for me to stay out of the way. But other times, going out and just asking questions highlights things that maybe need to be thought of or done differently.鈥�
鈥淚 salvaged this plaque from the Thompson Cage. The design of the Cage was basically a bridge design, so it makes sense that the Boston Bridge Works sign would be there. My kids grew up in the Cage. We鈥檇 come over on weekends and play baseball or football, or run around on the elevated track. It was really perfect.鈥�
This installment of “91自拍 Annotated” first appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of The 91自拍 Bulletin.