2025 Region X President Elect Training (PET) Recap!

What a great time we all had together over on the beautiful island of Oahu -- it's always a blast to reconnect with the amazing volunteers in ASHRAE Region X! As expected, the turnout was exceptional and I'm certain that the passion and excitement that I feel heading into the next year of ASHRAE is shared not only by our amazing Regional Leadership Team, but the incoming Chapter Presidents from the 14 Chapters in Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada. Let's do some shout-outs now, shall we?

Colin Laisure-Pool, PE, LEED AP, CEM, Marites Calad, Cindy Moreno, Elise Kiland, PE, Jacob Brausch, David Roberts, C.E.M., Elyse (Johnson) McBride, PE, Sean Skiles, Karine Leblanc ❤️ ➕ 🧠, Don Brandt, Fellow ASHRAE, Life Member, CEM, Nikola Kravik, Tracey Jumper, CCP, Larry Hodgins, Robert Kunkel, Omar Rojas, Elise Backstrom, P.E., PMP, Alexander Armstrong, Juliana Velez, and Brian Chacon -- I'm lucky to have you all as friends and can't thank you enough for all the hard work you've been putting in for our Region and for all the support you've given me this past year. Our Region is what it is because you of all. Thank you!

Zehui Hong P.E., Sanjil Karki, Charles Chaloeicheep, PE, LEED AP BDC, Gino Grelli, Ryan Sibley, Spencer Empey, Louis Abbott, Logan Costa-Smith, Jacob Saxinger, Ken Morgan, Matt Sittel, Amber Aguilar, Gabriel Sahagun, PE, and Rachel Martinez -- I'm thankful to have you as your Chapter's leaders and greatly look forward to working with you in the coming year. It'll be my third and final year as DRC -- and with the enthusiasm you all have, I'm certain it's going to be a very productive (and extremely fun) one!

As per standard protocol, we started off the weekend right with a "Beer with Buzz" session, having some Mai Tais, enjoying the ocean breeze, and getting to reconnect with old friends while also meeting new ones. We then enjoyed some fantastic food, drinks, and entertainment at the Hilton Hawaiian Village's Starlight Luau, complete with a post-luau fireworks show!

The next day our incoming Presidents did the best they could to "drink from the firehose of information" our Regional Leadership Team sprayed at them during our full-day training session. And from the feedback I've received it went very, very well. Chapter Presidents: if nothing else you all know how much our Regional Leaders care about you, your Chapters, and we are more than willing to do whatever we can to help you have a year as your Chapter President that you can be proud of! Together, we are incredibly strong and the things that we will accomplish will be remembered for a long time.

That evening, we had another great time together over dinner. I stood back for a moment just to watch. The energy and excitement of this group is truly inspiring -- seeing friendships establish, hearing the sharing of ideas for the coming year -- it all reminds me of what makes this organization so special. It's overflowing with wonderful people.

The next day our Regional Leadership Team joined me in my room for an informal planning meeting where we discussed important issues and ideas to make this Region even better in the coming years. It's hard to imagine things getting much better but sure enough, a fantastic idea regarding Research Promotion Endowments and the expenses related to continued leadership development was brought up -- and I'm proud to announce that we acted swiftly to meet with the current Chapter Delegates and Alternates to hold a special meeting, discussing and unanimously approving a motion to establish the "ASHRAE Region X Leadership Travel Fund", ensuring exceptional success for Region X in the future. And that's just the beginning of the great things we're looking forward to for the 2025/2026 Society Year!

After our Regional Planning Meeting, we had the opportunity to tour the two final hotels the Hawaii Chapter is considering for the 2026 CRC they will be hosting. The Hilton Hawaiian Village and the Sheraton Waikiki both will without a doubt provide an amazing venue for that joint CRC, where our friends from Region XI will join us. Shoutout to Joshua McDonough, PE, MBA, the General Chair for that CRC who has already been working very hard to make sure that CRC will be one for the history books. Either hotel will be fantastic, and the selection will be announced soon.

Hey! Do you want to join us in Hawaii at an amazing resort hotel for an incredibly fun time and perfect opportunity to get some solid training on how to be an effective volunteer in this organization? If so, now is the time to reach out to your local Chapter and ask to get involved.

We could really use your help, and I promise, you will get way more out of it than you put it.

Buzz