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Message from DRC July 2017


Senior Moments

Hello, everyone in Region VIII. First of all, I want to thank everyone who has volunteered their time to create a better ASHRAE either for your chapter, your region or for society. If you aren’t active, please become an active participant. We can only get better if everyone who is a member, associate member or student member volunteers their time and resources to making our organization more meaningful to all of our members.

As some of you may or may not know, I am your “new” Director and Regional Chair for Region VIII (consisting of chapters in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas (sans El Paso), Northern Louisiana and Mexico). I am a Houston Chapter member and have been an ASHRAE member since 1974 and active since 1995. My ASHRAE resume consists of stints as Chapter officers, regional RVCs of Programs & GGAC, Regional Newsletter Judging Chair, Regional Treasurer, Regional Members Council Representative, Regional Nominating Committee Member and Assistant Regional Chair.

Periodically, (after Annual & Winter meetings, President Elect Training, CRC and any Special Occasions) I will address the Region through this Regional Website to give you, the members, updated Society, Regional and Chapter information so that you are more informed about the goings on with ASHRAE.

ANNUAL MEETING UPDATES

The society held their annual meeting in Long Beach, California from June 23 to June 30th and, as usual, there were a number of new and exciting items to share with you. Here are the highlights:

  • Motions from 2017 CRC. The motions passed at the CRC in Oklahoma City were introduced at Members Council. Here are the results:

  • Motion 2 (Monterrey Chapter) regarding ASHRAE extending membership for low income countries to upper middle income countries as defined by the World Bank was referred to Finance Committee for further review-Randy Schrecengost will follow up at the Winter Meeting

  • Motion 5 (Monterrey Chapter) regarding Standard 180 to include a recommendation to determine the condition of compressor oils to assure proper system operation was referred to Tech Council for further review-Randy Schrecengost will follow up at the Winter Meeting .

  • Motion 6 (Central Oklahoma Chapter) regarding Research Promotion Online Contribution Form link be moved to the home page of www.ashrae.org was defeated because the website is in the process of being re-designed and this will be incorporated into that design.

  • Motion 7 (Ft Worth Chapter) regarding publishing the slate of nominees for Society Office on the website during the Winter Meeting and having it released as a meeting update to members via email was passed as an amended document stating that the timeline was two weeks before the Board of Directors meeting

  • Motion 8 (Ft. Worth Chapter) regarding the Draft Minutes of meetings (open session) of ExCom, BOD and Councils be published online via the website 30 days after the meeting was defeated. The minutes need to be approved before being published.

  • ASHRAE Learning Institute had 233 registrations which is a record

  • There were 1609 registered attendees at the Annual meeting which is less than St. Louis in 2016 by 23. 80 spouses registered.

  • Only 7% of the global membership voted for the Slate of officers. Kinda tells you there is a disconnect between membership and society.

  • ASHRAE is providing a new Certificate of HVAC Design which could have an impact on future registration and professionalism beyond a Professional Engineers license.

  • BEQ is now Building EQ

  • New flyers will be available

  • Fall Video intro

  • Building EQ course intro in Fall

  • I met with the APPA President and they are getting very active with Building EQ.

  • APPA has meeting schedule (first time) in Guadalajara in November

  • APPA is also going to be translating Building EQ into Spanish

  • ASHRAE RP chairs raised $2,691,673 which is 4.6% higher than last year's record high and represents tremendous support of ASHRAE’s mission! Nine regions and 118 chapters met or exceeded their goals for this year.

  • Women in ASHRAE (WIA) held a Happy Hour Monday Night

  • WiA will hold a breakfast during the winter conference

  • Future Annual and Winter Conference Sites:

  • Winter, January 2018 – Chicago

  • Annual, June 2018 – Houston

  • Winter, January 2019 – Atlanta

  • Annual, June 2019 – Kansas City

  • Winter, February 2020 – Orlando

  • Annual, June 2020 – Austin

  • Winter, January 2021 – Chicago

  • Annual, June 2021 – Phoenix

  • Winter, January 2022 – Las Vegas

  • Annual, June 2022 – Toronto

  • Winter, February 2023 – Atlanta

  • GGAC is starting a pilot project with an interactive map highlighting Regions, Chapters, Chapter Officers and Chapter Priorities. Four Regions will be part of this pilot project that will assist members in identifying Chapter members needed for engagement with Day on the Hill visits and other advocacy activities.

  • The H&A Committee, with input from the College of Fellows, created an informational PowerPoint on the Fellow Nomination process. The PowerPoint is currently posted on the H&A webpage and will be distributed to Chapter and Regional leaders prior to the CRCs.

  • The Committee is currently working with ASHRAE Marketing Staff to create a series of informational videos to help Members navigate the nomination process and recognize deserving members. The videos will be posted on the H&A webpage as well as the ASHRAE YouTube Channel.

  • Marketing now has a “Day on the Hill” kit

  • Marketing is also in the throes of re-designing the ASHRAE website with the launch date of January 2018. Improvements include an upgrade to the infrastructure, better search functionality and launching a mobile and tablet version.

  • The Electronics Communications Committee is creating Basecamps for all Chapters and assigning clients to each Chapter Basecamp.

  • ELearning has a High School course through Student Activities

  • The Leadership Academy will continue next year and be in Atlanta in May. More information will be given to your chapters from the Regional Development Committee. There is an allotment for this region and the committee will be contacting the chapter presidents on availability.

  • Opening of ASHRAE Global Training Center in September in Dubai

  • There is a *New* Society Snapshot flyer created for 2017-great tool to introduce members to global ASHRAE

REGIONAL HONORS & AWARDS

Many of our Region VII members received awards during the Plenary Session at the Annual meeting. Many Kudos and thanks from our Region for all that they have done for ASHRAE:

  • Distinguished 50-Year Member Award:

  • Emil E. Friberg, P.E., Fellow/Life Member ASHRAE- Ft Worth Chapter

  • Rodney H. Lewis, P.E., Fellow/Life Member ASHRAE- Houston/Austin Chapter

  • Exceptional Service Award:

  • Samuel D. Cummings, Jr., P.E., Fellow/Life Member ASHRAE- Arkansas Chapter

  • Distinguished Service Award:

  • Larry O. Degelman, P.E., Life Member, Professor Emeritus of Architecture, Texas A&M University- Houston Chapter

  • Alan Neely, Regional Manager, Pittsburgh Corning-Foamglas Insulation-Houston Chapter

  • Lee Riback, Commissioning Manager, South Region, McKinstry Co.-Dallas Chapter

  • Thursten D. Simonsen, P.E., HBDP, Business Development Manager, Performance Services, Inc-Alamo Chapter

  • ASHRAE Technical Paper Award

  • Dennis L. O’Neal, Ph.D., P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, Life Member Dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Baylor University- Dallas Chapter

  • Carl Lewis Reid-Austin Chapter

  • Willis H. Carrier Award

  • Carl Lewis Reid-Austin Chapter

  • Lou Flagg Historical Award

  • Dusty Stoabs, P.E., CPMP Mechanical Engineer for Streets, LLC, Mechanical Contractors- Central Oklahoma Chapter

REGIONAL NEWS

  • A new Regional Committee has been formed. The Regional Development Committee (RDC) headed by Leo Stambaugh will be charged with:

  • assisting with the LeaDRS program to select candidates for both the Winter meeting and Annual meeting

  • assisting with the Leadership Academy to select candidates for the May program

  • working with chapters to ensure honors & awards are given to those members who have earned the required points to qualify

  • working with nominating to get members on standing and technical society committees

  • Our region again has broken all kinds of records in collecting $535,000+ in RP contributions. This makes Mike Donavan, our RVC RP chair, the newest Million Dollar Recipient like Fred Gleason and Rhamy Morrison only he did in two years not three. Kudos to Mike!

  • ASHRAE has developed ability for Regions to use Basecamp as a communications tool. We are using Basecamp for our Regional Officers to communicate effectively as well as a separate Basecamp for use by Chapter Presidents, Chapter Delegate and Alternates to communicate and provide the correct information at CRCs.

  • Basecamp usage can also be available for Chapters as I alluded to previously. The Austin Chapter, for example, has been using this tool effectively already.

  • Just as a reminder, ASHRAE is coming to Region VIII..the Annual Meeting will be held in Houston next June.

CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS

  • Chapter Planning sessions with RVCs, Regional Leaders and myself have been ongoing and we have set the bar high for your chapter leaders to provide information, technical sessions, program and social events to make 2017-2018 an exciting ASHRAE year.

  • Many chapters have their Board of Governors planning session as many also have their first chapter meetings in August.

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