ARI chairman Geraud Darnis, president, Carrier Worldwide, hosted the opening session on Monday, Nov. 14. He began by recognizing guests from nearly a dozen associations. Darnis surprised many in the audience with the latest ARI projection of unitary air conditioner and heat pump shipments that could top 8 million by year's end.
"Nine of 10 homes are made comfortable with products from our industry. Cities such as Las Vegas, Miami, Sao Paulo, and Singapore could not exist as they do today without our products," said Darnis as he reminded the audience of the important HVACR industry role in economic growth.
Industry Stalwarts Honored
Five HVACR industry leaders were honored by ARI. Darnis presented ARI's Lifetime Achievement Award to Tom Mikulina.The ARI Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor bestowed by ARI and is presented on special occasions to recognize people who throughout their careers have been leaders in the HVACR industry, making significant contributions to its advancement.
Mikulina was awarded the ARI Lifetime Achievement Award for his more than three decades of leadership in the HVACR industry, beginning in 1972, by participating in ARI's Compressor and Condensing Units Section. Throughout his career, Mikulina has participated in ARI's Air Conditioning and Heat Transfer Section, Liquid Chiller Section, Air Controlled and Distribution Devices Section, and Applied Packaged Section.
Mikulina was an active member of ARI's certification programs and policy committee since 1979, and served as a member of ARI's Communications Committee since 1985.
Mikulina's accomplishments were recognized in 1982 when he was presented with the ARI Schulze Award. He received a Special Recognition Award in 2001 from ARI for his work with school officials to re-establish an HVACR technician-training program in Milwaukee.
Before his retirement in 2005, Mikulina served as vice president of industry relations for Trane, where he began his career in 1963.
The 2005 Richard C. Schulze Distinguished Service Award for outstanding service to the air conditioning and refrigeration industry was also presented by Darnis to Jean Luc Caillat, Dan Ellis, Dick Lord, and Roger Pasch.
This award is given to recognize an individual's distinguished service and commitment to ARI and the air conditioning and refrigeration industry. While representing their company, each of the award recipients volunteered their expertise and time to serve on committees, task forces, and working groups; to participate in the certification programs; and to represent ARI and the industry at national and international meetings.
Jean Luc Caillat, vice president of research for the Copeland Corp., received the Schulze Distinguished Service Award for his exemplary leadership and commitment to ARI and the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Institute (ARTI).
Caillat has been active in ARI's research initiatives for more than 10 years, where he has served as member of the ARTI Energy Conservation Subcommittee, the ARI Research and Technology Committee, and the ARTI Steering Committee.
Through Caillat's leadership and direction, ARTI developed and executed 11 research projects to assess the state-of-the-art and future potential of several alternative cooling technologies.
Dan Ellis, president of ClimateMaster Inc., received the Schulze Distinguished Service Award for his untiring support and outstanding service to ARI. Since 1988, Ellis has been an active participant in ARI's Water-Source Heat Pump Subsection and the Applied Packaged Systems Section. He served as chairman of the Applied Packaged System Section from 1995 through 1997.
Ellis currently serves as a director-at-large on the ARI board, is a member of ARI's International Committee, and serves on two International Standards Organization Working Groups. His leadership on ARI's Water Source Heat Pump Subsection resulted in the development of ARI Standard 330 for ground source closed-loop heat pumps.
Dick Lord, director of engineering for the Carrier Corp., has been a true champion of ARI for more than 25 years. Lord has served on ARI's Liquid Chiller Engineering Committee since 1978. He served as chair of the committee in 1985 through 1987 and again from 2002 to 2005. Lord has also served as chairman of ARI's Liquid Chiller Section and Unitary Large Equipment Section.
Lord has developed 15 patents, through his technical contributions and his work with screw chiller and electronic expansion valve control systems.
Roger Pasch, president of Dri-Steem Humidifier Co., has contributed many years of outstanding service to ARI. Since 1981, Pasch served on ARI's Humidifiers Section and the Air Filtration and Ultraviolet Light Treatment Section. He played an instrumental part in a 1992 indoor air quality study at Pennsylvania State University regarding central station humidifiers. Pasch holds five patents and has published over 10 ASHRAE technical papers.
An ARI First
Deborah Hawkins, president of Superior Coils Inc., was elected chairman of ARI's board of directors. Hawkins' election represented a historic moment in the 52-year history of ARI, as she is the first woman to hold this position in ARI.Hawkins is chairman of the ARI Budget and Investment Committee and serves on ARI's Planning Committee, Nominating Committee, and Executive Committee. In addition to serving as ARI's past treasurer, Hawkins has been an active participant in ARI's Communications Committee for many years. She has served on ARI's board of directors and is a member of ARTI's board of directors.
Other ARI officers elected were: Robert Wilkins, president of Danfoss, first vice chairman; Geraud Darnis, president of Carrier Corp., immediate past chairman; Keith Coursin, president, Desert Aire Corp., treasurer; Scott Boxer, president & COO of Service Experts Inc., vice president; Steven Duerwachter, president of Baltimore Aircoil Co., vice president; John Ferguson, president of Tecumseh Products' International Division, vice president; Tim Kraus, president, Manitowoc Ice Inc.'s Food Service, vice president; David LaGrand, president & CEO of Nordyne Inc., vice president; Michael Lehman, president of Bard Manufacturing, vice president; David Myers, president of York International, vice president; John Reilly, president & CEO of National Refrigeration Products, vice president; and Eric Roberts, general manager of McQuay International, vice president.
Sidebar: New Look For ARI Pretzel
As part of a major marketing shift, the ARI board of directors recently approved an effort to redesign the ARI certification logo and tasked its communication committee to come up with a new design.One of the goals of the redesign is to better promote ARI by aligning the certification logo with the ARI logo.
The certification logo was approved by the ARI Certification Programs and Policy Committee and by the board of directors during the annual conference.
The former "pretzel" label (pictured upper right) was deemed not in keeping with the opportunity to take advantage of the ARI brand.
Member companies are expected to transition to the new logo during the upcoming year.
Publication date: 12/12/2005
