John Leck is the director of space planning and utilization at the IU School of Medicine. Below he discusses his new role, background, and the importance of space utilization in research.
Question: What is your role at the IU School of Medicine, and when did you get started?
Leck: I’m the Director of Space Planning and Utilization. I oversee a great team of individuals, and we oversee all space planning, scheduling, renovations, construction, moving and operations for everything that has to do with the school of medicine. This includes all our buildings and all the regional campuses. I began my journey here at IU School of Medicine in December of 2024.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you?
Leck: I usually get to the office and check in with the team, then sit down and check emails, plan out the day and do any last-minute, needed meeting prep. Generally, the day is full of meetings and working with the team regarding all the different aspects of our department. Sometimes that’s meeting with school leadership, and sometimes that’s meeting with department chairs, and sometimes that’s meeting people in our great spaces. Generally, it’s a lot of planning and making sure everything is going as planned to support the great researchers we have here.
Q: What roles have you worked in previously? How did you start in this line of work?
Leck: I’ve worked in many roles regarding managing facilities and construction, but I started as a union carpenter. From there, I became the director of facilities for the University of Indianapolis, then was promoted to the director of construction. I was there for about 10 years before moving back to the general contractor side of construction; I worked as a project manager for Wilhelm Construction in the Life Sciences Group. After that, I went to Tonn and Blank Construction as a pre-construction manager and then went back to the sub-contractor world prior to coming here. It’s been facilities, higher ed construction, and a lot of health sciences-based construction.
I got my start in construction, in general, when I worked for a pool company during the summers in high school and college. I was offered a position as the construction superintendent for the pool company, and that catapulted me into the construction world.
Q: Why is space utilization so important to the work being done at the IU School of Medicine?
Leck: The biggest reason space is important is due to funding and the data piece that’s involved regarding what space means to researchers, students, and the usability of the space they’re learning it. Proper usage of space gives them the best opportunity to be successful in their endeavors, whether it’s researchers trying to cure a disease or students getting access to the tools and space they need to become great doctors. Space is huge for us; using it efficiently and as best as we can is a big priority here.
Q: How long have you lived in Indianapolis? How do you like spending your free time?
Leck: I’ve been here my whole life. I’ve been a South-sider since birth, so almost 46 years. I’m big into my family, sports and coaching. We have three kids, and I’ve coached everything from kickball to basketball, so that fills a lot of my free time. As a family, we like to go camping and being outside as much as we can.
Q: What have you enjoyed the most so far about working at the IU School of Medicine?
Leck: The thing I’ve enjoyed most, outside of getting to know the team we have here in our department, is being part of such a great community of professionals doing some wonderful things to change the landscape of not only central Indiana, but the nation and world. There are a lot of big things happening here. It’s nice to hang your hat on the fact that we’re trying to help these amazing people do some great things, which is the reason we’re all here.
