Contributed by 2022 WHVACR President Colleen Keyworth
The Women in Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (WHVACR) 19th Annual Conference took place in Phoenix, AZ on November 2 – 4, 2022 at the Arizona Grand Resort. Themed “Enjoy the Ride”, this was their largest event to date, breaking attendance records with 405 registered attendees and 45 exhibiting sponsors. WHVACR also celebrated an important milestone, its 20th year anniversary as an organization.
This year’s WHVACR conference sold out a month before the event. One of the most surprising and exciting things that immediately stuck out to everyone was the complete shift in age demographic in the majority of the attendees. Not only did they see the return of their long time members in attendance but there was an entire new group of women under 30. It was incredibly encouraging to see this wave of young women and even more encouraging to know that their companies made it a point to support them through sending them to this event.
To celebrate it’s 20th year anniversary WHVACR held their Ignite Gala on Thursday evening. The theme was fire with all attendees dressed to impress in their fire colors. At the Gala, Women in HVACR recognized its 2022 scholarship winners which included: Nicole Boyette, Nicole Brown, Syreeta Greer, Glenda Lane, Becki Maitland, and Rebecca Thorstad. They also recognized the Top Women in HVAC 2022 recipients sponsored by the ACHR News.
Also recognized was Service Nation’s Women of the Year, Lori Tschohl and their founder Ruth King. Ruth was recognized as the spark that ignited the blaze of Women in HVACR and presented her with a crystal flame award for her visionary guidance and exceptional leadership over the last two decades.
WHVACR had a very special guest, Mr. Stephen Gill from their partner organization INWIC (The International Network of Women in Cooling). Stephen took the gala stage and reminded attendees of just how much Women in HVACR has accomplished in comparison to other countries women’s initiatives in this industry.
20 years and WHVACR hit 900 memberships this year. This is no small feat for their women’s industry group. As membership continues to grow, Women in HVACR announced their new Endowment Fund initiative. Through the Endowment Fund, Women in HVACR awards scholarships to deserving women each year. The organization is building the Endowment Fund to be able to award multiple scholarships each year. Currently the organization awards six $5,000 scholarships. WHVACR hopes to increase that offering and ensure the organization’s legacy with the installment of its endowment fund. You can learn more about the Women in HVACR Endowment Fund here: https://www.womeninhvacr.org/endowment.
During this year’s conference they also started a new form of partnerships with some very special podcasters. Service Business Mastery Podcast, The HVAC Jerks, From the Yellow Chair, Blue Collar CEO, Rival Digital, HVAC Tactical, Evan Hoffman and Thaddeus Tondu. During the conference, podcasters collected interviews from some of the incredible women in our industry.
This event would not have been possible without the help from many different volunteers, sponsors and the WHVACR Board of Directors. The sacrifice of time and resources did not go unnoticed.
WHVACR would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend the conference and hope to see current and new members at future events. Great and incredible things are happening with Women in HVACR. For more event photos and the anniversary slideshow that played at the gala visit: https://www.womeninhvacr.org/enjoytheride#conferencephotos.
