After more than a decade with the Vilcek Foundation, Chief of Facilities and Security Ronnie Mewengkang is moving on to take an exciting step forward in his career. He has accepted a leadership role in facilities and properties management with a prominent client-facing commercial firm with offices in cities throughout the United States. As Ronnie departs, another familiar face within the Vilcek Foundation is being promoted with expanded duties: Seamus McKillop.
Ronnie Mewengkang has worked with the Vilcek Foundation for more than 10 years, leading initiatives and taking on new responsibilities as the foundation has grown and expanded. He started in the fall of 2009 as facilities manager and has served in his current post since January 2017. We wish Ronnie the highest congratulations and all of the best as he transitions to his new role.
In his career with the foundation, Ronnie has accomplished a great deal personally and professionally, with heart and dedication. An inquisitive problem-solver, he is committed to providing information, skills, and tools at the forefront of building management to any project he takes on. While working with the foundation full-time, Ronnie pursued studies in the evenings, earning a Master’s in Construction Administration from Columbia University in the City of New York, and Facilities Management Professional credentials from Pace University.
Shortly after beginning at the foundation, Ronnie was tasked with coordinating the installation of a major exhibition of photographs and memorabilia from the ABC/Disney television program “LOST” in the foundation’s headquarters. The delivery of exhibition materials required a permit from the City of New York to shut down the street, which Ronnie coordinated and secured on short notice—no easy first assignment. He went on to coordinate the facilities management plans for dozens of other exhibitions, installations, and events for the foundation.
When the Vilcek Foundation moved its headquarters from 73rd Street to its current location, Ronnie was instrumental in developing the transition plan, from coordinating leases for a temporary WeWork location for the team to working with the architects at ARO on the implementation of construction and maintenance for the renovation. In coordinating the project, Ronnie was tasked with proposing technological and building management solutions that both fit the needs of the foundation and were aligned with the historic building requirements.
In his new role, Ronnie will manage buildings and facilities operations; advise on implementations for technology, equipment, and space usage; and provide the high level of precision, quality, and care that he always delivered in his role with the Vilcek Foundation.
As Ronnie departs the foundation, Registrar and Collections/Exhibitions Manager Seamus McKillop is being promoted to registrar and manager of collections, exhibitions, facilities. In his previous role, Seamus has overseen the registration of the collection, managed loans to institutions, traveled as a courier with artwork, and supervised shipping and storage. He coordinates all aspects of foundation exhibitions, managing the logistics from conception and installation to deinstallation and dispersal. In his new role, Seamus will assume further responsibilities regarding the management of the onsite facilities, building requirements, and logistics needs for the Vilcek Foundation.
We are enormously proud of all of our Vilcek Foundation employees, and are particularly excited for Ronnie and for Seamus as they assume these new roles.
