HVAC Subcommittees Help HARDI Members Dig Deeper

Sometimes looking at the “bigger picture” isn't always the answer. There's too much information involved in the larger sphere, and the only way to really gain insight is to dig deeper and simplify matters. When that happens, it's a lot easier to become more effective and more efficient. That's why HARDI offers different councils for its members to join. Originally, there were four main councils for wholesalers and distributors to choose from: HVAC Systems & Equipment, Controls Distributors, Refrigeration Systems and Hydronic Heating and Cooling. But HARDI has been looking at ways to improve this system and has found that adding subcommittees will benefit its members.

HARDI focuses on four essential subjects for its members that make the organization what it is today, says Talbot Gee, executive vice president and chief operating officer. They are: education and professional development, advocacy, benchmarking and networking. “Ever since we identified those four main pillars, we've been continuing to hone in more on our service initiatives, projects and efforts very tightly. That required looking at the committee and council structures as well,” Gee explains.

The main concern was the HVAC Systems and Equipment Council. Gee told HVACR Distribution Business magazine that the HVAC Council has been growing tremendously in recent years. During that period, HARDI also started a Hydronics Heating and Cooling Council. “The problem was, after a couple years of the evolution and development of the Hydronics Council and the HVAC councils' rampant growth, we started to see more and more overlapping of what an HVAC council would focus on and what the hydronics council would focus on,” Gee says. “It had so many of the same members because they sold those same products. They were having a tough time trying to figure out how to reconcile the two. So, we rolled the hydronics council into the HVAC council as a subcommittee for hydronics.”

Last fall, the HVAC committee approved the creation of four subcommittees. The HVAC systems and equipment council is now comprised of: the unitary ducted subcommittee, the ductless subcommittee, the renewables subcommittee, which includes geothermal and the hydronics subcommittee.

Gee explained that it was a better way to add order to the group and still keep them under the umbrella of the HVAC Systems Council. “It's a way to help organize the topics and focuses of these various aspects of these committees and councils, and it makes it easier for members who have very singular needs or focuses to find their niche,” he says.

HARDI introduced the new council subcommittees and its leadership at its annual meeting last fall. Each council has a chair and a vice chair; each subcommittee has a chair and vice chair, too.