From the Trades to Policy: Centralizing Facilities for Efficiency & Resilience

In this episode of Facility Voices, Eric Krause, Director of Regional Facilities Hospital Operations at Allina Health, shares a career journey that began in the trades and grew into system-level leadership. Eric reflects on starting as a plumber, building deep hands-on experience in healthcare environments, and how that foundation continues to shape his approach to facilities operations today.The conversation explores Allina Health’s move to centralize facilities teams, breaking down silos to improve consistency, efficiency, and collaboration across hospitals. Eric discusses what it takes to standardize “where it makes sense,” balance rural and metro needs, and use risk-based decision-making to prioritize capital projects and aging infrastructure. Throughout the episode, he emphasizes the value of institutional knowledge, trusted vendor partnerships, and investing in frontline teams to build resilience for the future.Tune in to hear Eric Krause’s story and insights from the front lines of facilities management.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Each episode of Facility Voices includes supplementary content that expands on key themes and insights from the conversation. You can find that additional material at: https://www.arcfacilities.com/facilityvoices ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eric Krause is the Director of Regional Hospital Facilities Operations at Allina Health, overseeing facilities across seven hospitals. With a career that began in the trades as a master plumber, he brings deep technical expertise to healthcare facilities leadership and infrastructure planning. Eric is dual-certified as a CHFM and CHC and remains active in industry leadership through professional associations focused on advancing healthcare engineering and operations. Thanks for listening. Follow David Trask on LinkedIn to share feedback. Visit the ARC Facilities LinkedIn page-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed by third-party guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of ARC Facilities and ARC Document Solutions. We provide a platform for diverse perspectives and discussions and ARC Facilities/ARC Document Solutions assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content provided by our third-party guests.