ANAHEIM, Calif. — Source Refrigeration & HVAC announced that Bruce Buchholz has been named president and chief executive officer. Buchholz replaces Lauren Abrams, who resigned as CEO of Source for medical reasons.

Abrams joined Source in 2009 as chief operating officer and was named CEO in April 2011. Brad Howard, Source chairman, said, “Lauren brought high energy, and a level of commitment that have been evident to all of those who had the privilege of working with her. Her relentless dedication to customer service excellence and business process improvements has made Source a better company for our customers and employees. We thank Lauren for her leadership and wish her well in her recovery.”

Source said that Buchholz has been a senior executive in the HVAC industry for over 25 years and brings to the company extensive leadership experience in domestic and international operations. Most recently, he led two companies focused on green solutions in the HVAC and clean technologies markets. He was the chief operating officer for Clean Energy Developments (CED), headquartered in Toronto, a supplier of custom integrated HVAC solutions across Canada. Prior to his work at CED, Buchholz was president and CEO for Green Comfort Systems Inc., an international energy conservation company specializing in novel dehumidification systems. He also served as president of Alltrista Thermoformed Products, a major industrial thermoforming company. In addition, he spent over 15 years with Carrier Corp. in various executive leadership roles including, regional vice president – North American Operations, managing director – Miami Region, Latin America Operations, vice president – Global Window Room Air Conditioner Business, and director – Corporate Advanced Manufacturing and CAE/CIM Systems. Buchholz assumed responsibility for global management of Carrier’s Research and Development and Advanced Manufacturing practices and led the successful growth of several distribution and service businesses in the commercial and residential markets.

Source Refrigeration & HVAC is a leading provider of commercial refrigeration and HVAC services, serving supermarket chains, convenience store chains, and telecom companies. It is a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital Partners, a private equity firm.

“We are excited about Bruce leading the Source team,” said Sal Gagliardo, an operating partner at Arsenal Capital Partners. “His deep experience in the energy solutions and HVACR industries, his proven history in successful business growth through process improvement and increased customer satisfaction, and his multi-site operations experience make him a great fit for the Source business model.” Gagliardo added that, “We expect to accelerate Source’s growth in the mission-critical refrigeration and HVAC industry and believe Bruce is the leader to help us achieve our goal.”

For more information, visit www.sourcerefrigeration.com.

Publication date: 03/12/2012