By Buzz Wright, Region X DRC 2023-2026
It is with gratitude for the many amazing volunteers in ASHRAE Region X that I announce proudly that my first CRC serving as DRC is in the books! It was surreal to be leading a CRC in the Peppermill Hotel & Casino in Reno, Nevada – the same hotel where I attended my very first CRC as the Delegate for the ASHRAE Tucson Chapter. That year (2010), I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It turns out, what I was getting into was a large number of strong friendships with some really awesome people. And thirteen years later, Region X is still in the business of building strong friendships.
We had a great time at our Welcome Party and Tradeshow with some fantastic vendor displays and some delicious food. Huge thanks to our main Sponsors: Flo Tite, R.F. MacDonald Co., DMG, Norman S. Wright, and EMCOR Services. The amazing work our volunteers in Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada are made possible with the financial support from you, and we truly appreciate it. Thank you.
Our Business Sessions started off with a bang due to the insistence of Devin Abellon, P.E. that Region X has a long-standing tradition of passing the DRC gavel via a relay-race-style lap around the room. We had a jam-packed agenda and were fortunate enough to finish all our work within the time constraints, which included nine (9!) motions from our amazing Chapters. I really enjoyed the Chapter Presentations, hearing about how well they are doing was great, but even better was to see the excitement from this year’s Chapter Presidents about how they are going to see even greater success in the coming year. Chapter Presidents: I am enthusiastically ready to be one of your teammates this year and look forward to visiting your Chapter in the coming months.
I was able to wander around and visit each of the 10 workshops that our Regional Leaders led, and it was really nice to not only see that our Leaders are knowledgeable and passionate about helping Chapter Chairs fulfill their roles, but that the workshop attendees were engaged and contributing actively in the workshops. Colin Laisure-Pool, PE, LEED AP, CEM, Jacob Brausch, Greg Schnable, Sierra Spitulski, PE, Tyler Bradshaw, PE, LEED AP, Tracey Jumper, CCP, Nicolas Rosner, P.E., Kevin Baldwin, Omar Rojas, Elise Backstrom, P.E., PMP, Robert Kunkel, Marites Calad, and Cindy Moreno: thank you all so much for putting so much effort into your role as Regional Leaders. Together, you are the main reason that our Region is so strong.
Now, to be completely honest, I was more than a little nervous about a Burning Man themed Awards Dinner, but I can say that without a doubt, that was one of the best Awards Dinners I have ever attended. We not only had more people dressed in Burning Man attire than not, but the estimate is that around 80% of the attendees were “Burners”. If you were not there in-person to experience that dinner, you have got to do whatever you can to join us in 2024 for the next one. It was an absolute blast!
We had so many deserving people receive awards, but I want to point out just a couple: David Roberts, C.E.M. received the Golden Gavel Award, Cindy Moreno received the Regional Award of Merit, and Tracey Jumper, CCP received our Region’s highest honor: the Director’s Cup.
I want to thank William McQuade, Wade H. Conlan, PE, CxA, Heather Schopplein, PE, DBIA, CM-Lean, Joslyn Ratcliff, and Don Brandt, Fellow ASHRAE, Life Member, CEM for their guidance, support, encouragement, and kind words throughout the CRC. I have much to learn about running a CRC, but due to their assistance I think things went pretty well.
I also want to thank the man that helped make it all happen. Mark Rawson, P.E. had a great team supporting him in the Northern Nevada Chapter, but he really did a fantastic job as the General Chair, and I am very grateful that he was at the helm. Thank you so much, Mark!
And lastly, it was an honor and distinct privilege to be the one to represent tens of thousands of ASHRAE members in thanking Devin Abellon, P.E. for everything he has done for us. The guitar we gave him was pretty cool, but we are sure that the signatures -- or more accurately, the people behind the signatures -- are what made the gift special for him. As he has put it in many presentations he gave: when all our individual voices are combined, we can make some really beautiful music together. Thank you, Devin.
