Meet Leo Bobadilla – Chief Operations Officer

Leo Bobadilla is the district’s new Chief Operations Officer, which in layman’s terms means he oversees the facilities and maintenance department. That’s no easy task for a department that is on call with 119 schools and three main administrative offices. After 15 years in Orlando, Florida, Bobadilla made the move to GCS with his wife and son.

Bobadilla has a broad range of experience including real estate due diligence, strategic planning, design development, contract administration, construction management, project closeout and facility management interface. He has a master’s degree in business administration, is a licensed general contractor, licensed attorney in Florida and a certified project management professional by the Project Management Institute. In fact, during the last decade, Bobadilla successfully implemented about $2 billion of corporate and government construction programs. He provided management, oversight and guidance to some very complex projects and building plans, including the construction of the second largest convention center in the nation and oversight to one of the largest school construction programs for the 11th largest school district in the country.

With so much success in Florida, what brought Bobadilla to GCS? He saw an opportunity to utilize his strengths to help a school system challenged by a need for new schools and upgrades to existing schools. In addition, he felt the GCS core values of diversity, innovation, integrity, empathy and equality were important values in both his personal and professional life. “I look forward to the opportunity to work with others who also have a desire to see children in schools that can prepare them for the 21st century,” Bobadilla explained.

The facilities department has a dedicated staff operating on all cylinders to keep up with the day-to-day needs of the district, and when Bobadilla joined them, he hit the ground running. In addition to overseeing the projects currently in construction from the 2003 bond referendum, he is counteracting the six-month delay in the 2008 construction bond referendum by doing as much planning as possible now.

When it comes to the importance of voter-approval on the 2008 construction bond referendum, Bobadilla cites the number of families, just like his own, joining the community, which causes a need for more classrooms. In addition, there are schools with 30- and 40-year-old heating systems. “They are being held together by our maintenance staff with small miracles whenever these systems fail,” he said. But as these systems age, these failures become more common, and there is only so much the maintenance teams can do.

Despite the hurdles associated with overseeing 119 schools, Bobadilla is excited about working with others who want to see children succeed and thrive in their classrooms. “I look forward to working with my staff, a talented group of people, who truly have the best interest of the children at heart,” he said. “I also look forward to working with the leaders of our community in both the private and public sectors. We can do more together than we otherwise could do alone.”

Knowing that the condition of our schools impacts the education of children, Bobadilla has a vision for GCS: “I envision a GCS where we provide our children with the best learning environment possible. Our schools should be something that we as a community take pride in.”