NATE Elects New Officers and Members to Board of Trustees

Oct. 15, 2013
North American Technician Excellence (NATE) elected a new Chairman as well as three new members to the Board of Trustees for the 2013-2014 term at its biannual meeting.

The NATE Board of Trustees named Wade Mayfield, president of Thermal Services, Inc. of Omaha, NE, as the 2013-2014 Chairman of the Board. Mayfield has been involved in the HVAC business for 13 years. Having started as a sheet metal apprentice, he learned the business from the ground up. He has been president of Thermal Services for seven years. Thermal Services has 130+ employees spanning three branches located in Omaha and O’Neill, NE, and Des Moines, IA. The company specializes in heating, air conditioning, and plumbing in both residential and commercial markets. Mayfield joined the NATE board in 2012 and has also served as Chairman of the Heating and Cooling Contractors Association (HACCA), a local contractor association.

“I am honored to be elected as Chairman of the NATE Board of Trustees,” said Mayfield. “As an HVACR professional and contractor, I know the value of NATE certification and am pleased to continue to work with NATE in this new role.”

Chris Baker, president of Virginia Air Distributors and David Swift, president and CEO of Goodman/Amana, will continue to serve as vice-chairman and secretary/treasurer, respectively for the 2013-2014 term. Donald Frendberg assumed the role of Immediate Past Chairman. NATE also recognized the dedication and commitment of retiring board members Mitchell Cropp of Cropp-Metcalfe, and Whit Perry of Northwest Mississippi Community College.

The newly elected members to the NATE Board of Trustees are Chris Nelson, president for Carrier Residential and Commercial Systems (RCS); Scott Goulet, president of M.E Flow, Inc. of Leesburg, VA; and David McIlwaine, president, CEO and Founder of HVAC Distributors, Inc. of Mount Joy, PA.

“I proudly welcome Wade and the new members of the NATE Board of Trustees and sincerely thank our retiring members for their service,” said NATE COO John Lanier. “NATE continues to set the standards for quality HVACR technicians and I look forward to working with the NATE Board and staff to advance its vision.”

The remaining 2013-2014 members of the NATE Board of Trustees are:

·         Dan Ashenden, Group Publisher, Mechanical Systems Group, Penton Media, Inc.

·         Spencer G. Atkins, President & COO, Weathertech Dist. CO., Inc.

·         Gary S. Bedard, Vice President & General Manager, Lennox Industries

·         Marc E. Bridgens, Dean of School of Construction & Design Technologies, Pennsylvania College Of Technology

·         Dan Foley, President, Foley Mechanical Inc.

·         Talbot Gee, Executive Vice President/COO, Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI)

·         Darrell Garrison, TAB/Service Specialist, International Training Institute

·         Donald E. Jenkins, Service Manager, Shapiro & Duncan, Inc.

·         Gerard "Gerry" Kennedy, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association (PHCC)

·         Harlan “Skip” Krepcik, CMS, Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES) Region 4 Director

·         Mark A. Lowry, Executive Vice President, Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES)

·         Mike Murphy, Publisher, The ACHR NEWS

·         Ed Purvis, Executive Vice President, Emerson Climate Technologies

·         Wayne R. Reedy, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE)

·         Paul Stalknecht, President & CEO, Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA)

·         Terry Tanker, Publisher, HVACR Business

·         Chandler von Schrader, Program Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

·         Stephen R.Yurek, President/CEO, Air-Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute (AHRI)

About North American Technician Excellence (NATE) Headquartered in Arlington, Va., NATE was founded in 1997 as the nation’s largest industry-endorsed, non-profit certification organization for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration technicians. NATE tests technicians while others train. Testing validates the technician’s knowledge and a training program’s instruction. NATE-approved testing organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada offer NATE tests. Candidates can earn installation and/or service certification in nine specialty areas: air-conditioning, air distribution, heat pumps, gas heating, oil heating, hydronics gas, hydronics oil, and commercial, light commercial, refrigeration and senior efficiency analyst. NATE also offers the International Ground Source Heat Pump test. For more information about NATE, visit www.natex.org.