Gloria Aguiar

If you spend any time with Gloria Aguiar, you start to notice two things almost immediately. First, she’s always in motion—physically, mentally, relationally—connecting people, solving problems, anticipating needs before they surface. And second, there’s almost always a song playing somewhere. Maybe not out loud, but in her head, in her step, in the way she moves through a campus. Gloria is, as she puts it, “always bebopping.” It’s not just a personality quirk—it’s a metaphor for how she leads.

She began her career with the Napa Valley Unified School district 26 years ago as a single mom, humbly starting as a swing custodian. She was later promoted to Director, and at that time did not yet have a degree. "The district took a chance on me,” Gloria said.

What she did have was drive, curiosity, and an instinct for people, Today, she continues to grow and is currently working towards her Master's degree. 

Today, she oversees 26 sites and roughly 140 employees, including custodial teams, substitutes, warehouse operations, purchasing, and even district mail services. It’s a sprawling responsibility that would challenge even the most seasoned executive. For years, it was just her—starting at 6:00 a.m. and often not done until 10 or 11 at night—making sure every campus was supported, every event staffed, and every problem addressed. Only recently did she gain an evening supervisor, a change that finally allowed her to sleep through the night without wondering if a late-night crisis might be unfolding.

And crises do happen. Gloria recalled waking up at 1:00 a.m. to a message from an employee who had suffered a head injury. In those moments, the weight of leadership is real and immediate. But what stands out is her sense of responsibility. She doesn’t describe her role as being “the boss,” even though she oversees a small army of staff. “Sometimes I have to remind myself,” she said with a laugh. “Oh yeah, I am the boss.” Titles don’t drive her. Impact does.

That mindset shows up in her leadership philosophy: “When you shine, I shine.” It’s not a slogan—it’s an operating principle. Gloria is deeply invested in helping her team understand that their work matters, that custodians and operations staff are not invisible, but essential to the student experience. She knows this firsthand. Her mother was a head custodian in the same district, and Gloria saw early on the profound, often overlooked influence that role could have on students and staff. Ask her what she would be doing if not in operations, and she doesn’t hesitate: human resources, counseling, investigations—something rooted in people. “People come to me for encouragement,” she says. That instinct to listen, to support, to guide threads through everything she does.

It also shapes how she navigates complexity. Gloria is deeply involved in professional organizations, including the National School Plant Management Association, where she contributes to scholarship and education committees, helping design training and learning opportunities for peers across the country. She’s also active with ACSA, CASH and CASBO, lending her voice to course selection and legislative discussions. These networks became especially critical during COVID, when collaboration across districts was necessary. By being involved in the world of FM outside the school district, Gloria has formed valuable relationships, who have shaped what she says to folks interested and intrigued by facility management as a career.

“Making connections” is how she described it. Whether it’s coordinating with risk management groups spanning around 15 districts, consulting with maintenance directors, or leaning on long-tenured staff and trusted vendors, Gloria builds ecosystems of support. She knows she can’t be everywhere at once and she doesn’t try to be. Instead, she creates channels where information, ideas, and solutions can flow.

Still, the scale of what she manages is staggering. Consider a typical graduation season: multiple ceremonies, sometimes two a day, each requiring meticulous setup, staffing, and cleanup, often stretching late into the evening. Or the district’s marquee rivalry event—the “Big Game”—which draws 7,000 to 8,000 people to a single stadium. For Gloria, these aren’t just events; they’re logistical marathons that demand coordination across departments, from operations to maintenance to security. “The planning and executing,” she said, “is insane.” And yet, she says it with a smile.

But if you ask Gloria what matters most, she won’t talk about logistics or scale. She’ll tell you a story.

She remembered a student who reached out years later, recalling how, during a difficult childhood, Gloria made her feel seen—letting her help with small tasks, giving her a place to belong. Another former student approached her at a gas station to say that a moment Gloria intervened during a confrontation helped change his path away from gangs. These aren’t stories Gloria went looking for. They found her.

“You don’t always know the impact you make,” she said. “But just being present…that’s everything.”

That belief fuels how she leads her team today. When she visits sites, she looks for more than clean facilities—she looks for connection. Custodians building relationships with students. Staff creating moments of belonging. The small, human interactions that ripple outward in ways no metric can fully capture.

Gloria Aguiar may carry the title of Director of Operations, but that only tells part of the story. She is a builder of systems, yes—but more importantly, she is a builder of people, of trust, of community. And like the music always playing in her head, her impact is constant, rhythmic, and—whether you notice it right away or not—impossible to ignore.

In sharing her enthusiasm for the work she does, Gloria offered these encouraging words:

“If you want a career where you can directly impact people’s lives, you’ll love facility management,” she said. “You’re involved in everything from construction projects and HVAC upgrades to special events and every day is a learning experience.”