The Smart Buildings Center (SBC) and Building Operator Certification (BOC) program are proud to announce the 2025 BOC Operator of the Year: Sam Spector, retired Head Custodian and Facilities from the Sweetgrass County High School!
Each year, BOC requests nominations for people working to improve the energy efficiency of their work environment using skills they learned in the BOC program. We received many impressive 2025 nominations detailing how methods learned in BOC classes are helping people make improvements in their work environments, but Sam’s story stood out among the rest.
In his role at the Sweetgrass County High School, Sam managed many energy conservation projects over his 25-year tenure including lighting retrofits, HVAC system improvements, high-efficiency motors, high-efficiency domestic hot water system, exhaust controls, and finally a HVAC control system renovation all resulting in greatly increased comfort and improved efficiency. Improvements also include indoor air quality and lower maintenance costs. Sam was responsible for completing over thirty conservation projects during his tenure, which resulted in reduced electrical consumption by 50 percent.!
Sam has championed methodology and skills he learned from the BOC program, completing Level I and Level II, from benchmarking to LED lighting and advanced controls systems. Culminating in the installation of a 50 KW solar electric generation system, his passion for sustainability and energy improvements saves the school district more than $48K per year! His BOC training and hard work created the following real-world impacts for Sweetgrass County High School:
- Energy savings of 62% of total electrical energy cost.
- Energy Usage Intensity (EUI) score of 54 which is in the top 95 percentile of US Schools.
The SBC and BOC program applaud Sam on his efforts and congratulate him on being named as 2025 BOC Operator of the Year!
Know someone who deserves recognition for their work in the industry? Nominations will open for the 2026 BOC Operator of the Year award in April, so stay tuned!
