I recently sat down with Sophia Bellos, vice president of product development at Ducted Systems, Johnson Controls. We discussed a wide range of topics for the theme of Feb. 2022 issue of SNIPS: Women in HVAC.

The product development leader started at Honeywell after obtaining her MBA from Georgia Tech. She started as a manager in IT and took on cross-functional roles in engineering, supply chain, sales, marketing and product development while working for the industrial company for over 15 years. She then became the director of product management and marketing at Lennox International, expanding her product development experience in the HVAC industry.

Bellos continued to build on her experience taking on roles focused on strategy and marketing before eventually coming back to product development at Johnson Controls.

“Here I have the opportunity to lead product development across both the commercial and residential business. It is really exciting to be able to be creative and innovative new products for the industry,” Bellos says.

When asked what advice she had for women coming into the industry, she referenced her two mentors and how they advised her to one, always focus on customer innovation, and two, always keep an eye on the next step of her career.

“You need to make sure you’re adding on to your area of expertise, (filling) those gaps that you have that will allow you to get to that next level,” Bellos concludes.