Annual Conference Recap!
- David Roberts
- Jul 2
- 7 min read
(I refuse to use AI to help me write these. So, when you come across misspellings and incorrect grammar.... well, at least you'll know you're reading something authentic.)
Another fantastic conference is in the books! And this one was a hot one, but yes... if you were with us in Phoenix, you likely heard it more than a couple times: at least it was a dry heat!
As usual, a few days after returning from an Annual or Winter Conference, as I prepare to write up a quick recap, I'm reminded of just how much work gets done at these events... and how challenging it can be to put together these dang recaps, ha!
ASHRAE Region X had the honor of hosting this conference, and the ASHRAE Central Arizona Chapter did an absolutely fantastic job making it one to remember. Huge thanks to the host committee, which included our Regional Refrigeration Chair (Don Brandt, Fellow ASHRAE, Life Member, CEM), and to their amazing leader and recent recipient of the highly-coveted Region X Director's Cup, Kellie Huff, an absolute legend! Shout-out to our next Conference General Chair and current ASHRAE of Southern Nevada Chapter President, Amber Aguilar -- we are looking forward to joining you in Las Vegas in seven months!
I'm lucky to have Colin Laisure-Pool, PE, LEED AP, CEM by my side serving as our RMCR. the Planning subcommittee worked through multiple motions and the huge task of looking into Members Council restructuring ideas. A motion to move the Historical Committee to be under Members Council (instead of Pub/Ed) was considered but defeated. Shoutout to Sean Skiles, our Regional Historian -- thanks Sean for all that you do! Our friends over in ASHRAE Region XI decided to permanently move their CRC to be in the fall after they join us in Honolulu for our 2026 hosted by the ASHRAE Hawaii Chapter (shout-out to Joshua McDonough, PE, MBA our 2026 CRC General Chair). And a motion to give Chapters the option to require their Chapter Dues be paid by their assigned members was approved by Members Council (but ultimately defeated by the Board). Thank you, Colin for everything you do for our Region!
The Distinguished Lecturer (DL) program has seen a lot of success over the years, so the CTTC Committee brought a motion to increase their budget to allow for additional DL allocations for our Chapters. The Board approved a decreased amount in order to align with budget restrictions, but I suspect this program will see some solid growth in the coming years. Big thanks to Nikola Kravik for all the work you do as our CTTC RVC!
I'm very happy to report that our Regional Communications Chair, David Roberts, C.E.M., will now be serving on Society's Communications Committee. The Committee worked on some changes to Basecamp relating to storage and permissions and is continuing to look at ways to utilize AI to assist our members while also maintaining responsible control of ASHRAE's intellectual property. More good things coming in the near future -- thanks, David, for everything you do!
My good friend Erik Sanchez continues to serve on the Conferences and Expositions Committee (CEC). The conference in Phoenix had a total of 111 sessions and events scheduled (72 seminars, 22 paper sessions, 3 virtual paper sessions, 7 panel discussions, 2 forums, 1 debate, and 4 workshops. Upcoming conferences include two in Region X: the Women in ASHRAE Leadership Symposium in Los Angeles (April 13-14, 2026) and the Winter Conference in Las Vegas (January 31 - February 4, 2026).
The Government Affairs Committee reported that over 150 Government Outreach Events have been done during the 2024/25 Society Year (the goal was 100). Those events comprised of over 400 discrete meetings involving 375 ASHRAE members and 638 government officials. You can watch a "year in review" video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgOPazOMOmc. Huge thanks to Tracey Jumper, CCP for all your hard work these past years serving as our GAC RVC and we're excited to have Alexander Armstrong follow Tracey and continue these efforts for the next three years!
I can't report on much for the Nominating Committee or Honors & Awards Committee because much of the work they do is in Executive Session (for obvious reasons). But I can say that we appreciate greatly the work they do to placing amazing volunteers in positions where they are best utilized and then honoring their hard work with well-deserved recognition. Marites Calad, Cindy Moreno, and Elise Kiland, PE -- thank you all for what you do for Nominating! And Adam Davis and Karine Leblanc ❤️ ➕ 🧠 -- thank you for what you do on Honors & Awards!
The Membership Promotion Committee had a very successful MP Centralized Training in Phoenix, with over 70 attendees. A potential upcoming change (pending membership voting approval) will be a significant shake-up of our Membership Grades. A lot of work went into coming up with a new model and we owe a lot of thanks to the members involved in developing that. Thank you, Larry Hodgins, for your hard work with MP and thank you, Elyse (Johnson) McBride, PE, for serving as our Regional DEI Chair!
The Research Promotion Committee decided to raise the goal around 2% overall for the upcoming campaign year, bringing the total campaign goal to $2,720,000. The goal for Region X will be $230,000 and I have no doubt that with the incredible support we have from Kevin Baldwin (Vice Chair of RP) and Robert Kunkel (our RP RVC), we will crush this goal. I'm also incredibly excited to see us continue to grow our newly-established Region X Leadership Travel Endowment Fund. Kevin and Robert: thank you both, you guys are awesome!
I loved serving on the Student Activities Committee, so I'm grateful to continue my service as Board ExO to that committee, getting to see first-hand the hard work Omar Rojas has been doing. So successful he has been, that he was asked to step up into the role of Vice Chair. So, our Region had the proud task of finding a replacement for him a year early -- and we of course had a rockstar at-the-ready. I'm so happy to have Juliana Velez continue the strong Region X representation we have in the area of Students. There were 68 Design Competition projects submitted, and winners will be notified in August. Five Chapters earned the K-12/STEM Leadership Award. And the Post High subcommittee is now starting the planning for the Student Program, which will be at the Winter Conference in Las Vegas.
The Young Engineers in ASHRAE (YEA) Committee has done a lot this past year, including Leadership Weekends, webinars, the Leadership U program, Decarb Challenge, and the newly established ASHRAE Connect program, which connects Technical Committee (TC) members with YEA members. Huge thanks to both Elise Backstrom, P.E., PMP (our YEA RVC) and Elise Kiland, PE (YEA Vice Chair) for everything you do for YEA and our Region!
During the DRC/RMCR Forum, the topic of Chapter Treasurer training was brought up (again). We will see what develops from these discussions; but in the meantime, I know that our Region will continue to provide very valuable training to all our Chapter Treasurers during the Finance Workshop at our CRCs, led by our Regional Treasurer, Jacob Brausch. Thanks, Jake, for not only helping our Chapter Treasurers, but for all your assistance keeping us aligned with the Region budget.
During the Plenary, it's always a blast to cheer for the amazing volunteers as they receive recognition for their accomplishments. We had several Region X members walk across the stage to some rowdy applause: Juliana Velez received the Youth Outreach Award. Max Sherman received the Journal Paper Award. James Del Monaco, Joe Kilcoyne, Stephen Roth, and Erik Sanchez received the Distinguished Service Award. Don Brandt, Fellow ASHRAE, Life Member, CEM and Jack Zarour received the Distinguished 50-year Membership Award. And Stet Sanborn, AIA FASHRAE received the Eunice Foot Decarbonization Award.
I was joined by two incredible Chapter volunteers, shadowing me during the conference as part of the LeaDRS program. Alexander Larson from the ASHRAE Southern California Chapter was my "official" LeaDRS participant, and Martin Eseverri from the ASHRAE San Diego Chapter was my "rogue" participant (funding support provided by his Chapter). We've seen incredible success from the LeaDRS program in recent years, with three of our current Regional Leaders being former shadows of mine. I have no doubt we'll see Alex and Martin doing great work continuing to serve this organization in the future. Thanks for joining me, fellas!
Our Region is fortunate to have really solid representation on ASHRAE's Board of Directors. I'm honored to serve alongside Carrie Brown from the ASHRAE Golden Gate Chapter and Heather Schopplein, PE, DBIA, CM-Lean from the ASHRAE San Diego Chapter. Carrie and Heather: thank you both for everything you do for your Chapters, our Region, and Society!
We had a great time joining our friends from ASHRAE Region IX, led by my buddy Jonathan Smith PE, CEM, LEED AP for our Sunday night Regional Social. Thanks to Colin and Dan Russell for getting that organized! We're going to have a great time in San Francisco in August when we join up for the 2025 CRC (shout-out to Brian Chacon and Berenice Saucedo, our 2025 CRC General Chairs).
And last but certainly not least, I want to thank my beautiful wife, Alina Wright, for her constant support as I serve in this organization. She brought our two 5-year-old boys up from Tucson to attend the Plenary and cheer for me as I received the Distinguished Service Award. It's a lot of fun attending these conferences and catching up with so many friends. But my favorite part is coming home to you. I love you, sweetheart.
Buzz
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