As your new Chairman, my first priority this year is to extend a warm welcome to all our new IIAR members. You are joining a community passionate about its work. Your participation and spirit of volunteer leadership is essential in creating the growth and change that will help our natural refrigeration industry meet the new challenges ahead.

There’s a lot going on both in our business environment and within our organization. Whether you are a new, or longtime IIAR member, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about how your membership in this organization is making an important contribution to our everyday lives and the lives of others. Our mission together is one of safety and advancing the application of natural refrigerants in our industry.

Embracing the many applications of natural refrigerants means we’re making the environment safer for ourselves, our communities, and future generations. Because of their low environmental impact and high efficiency, natural refrigerants are the best answer for refrigeration technology going forward.

Addressing climate change by promoting the use of natural refrigerants in ways that are energy efficient, and to develop safety standards and training programs that insure the safe application of natural refrigerants is paramount to our industry. My tenure on the IIAR Executive Committee has made me increasingly aware of this mission and has allowed me to help foster these initiatives.

Another part of our mission is to extend the reach of natural refrigerants to many kinds of refrigeration applications. That’s a goal that our membership and our board is really embracing, as evidenced by our focus on producing safety standards for not only ammonia but now carbon dioxide and soon hydrocarbons. I am committed to pushing forward this industry outreach as your Chairman this year.

We have very active committees and task forces that are currently working on producing a CO2 safety Standard, and a task group investigating how we can begin to develop best practice documents for hydrocarbon refrigerants. Our industry has a long record of safety to be proud of, and our standards activity is at the core of that accomplishment. We continue to make refrigeration facilities safer through the development of safety guidelines such as PSM, RMP, ARM and the new ARM-LC, as well as the Academy of Natural Refrigerants certificate credentialing program.

All of that work starts with your IIAR membership. So how can you participate in this great mission of ours? Get involved! If you aren’t already a member, become one. And if you are already a member but haven’t yet found a place to take an active role within the association, please consider getting involved in volunteer leadership on one of our many committees.

The work of our committees is really the cornerstone of our institute and activities, I encourage you to find a committee whose work you can participate in and become passionate about.

As dedicated as our members are to making this organization a success, we also count on our talented and dedicated staff lead by our president Dave Rule. I encourage you to get to know them and connect with them at our conferences and meetings, and whenever you need support as an IIAR member.

The IIAR staff does a lot of “behind the scenes” work, and it is their hard work that allows us to continue to support a dynamic, growing, association. Our organization’s strength also lies in the enthusiasm of each one of our members when it comes to sharing knowledge and new ideas. I’d like to take this opportunity to call for your increased participation and leadership in IIAR’s committees and development of technical papers. Our publications are second to none, addressing new trends and introducing new technologies, and you, as an IIAR member have the opportunity to contribute to them directly.

That sense of volunteer leadership just keeps growing every year. IIAR’s 2018 annual conference was one of our best events yet, exceeding and surpassing expectations, primarily because of the support and hard work of our members, so I’d like to extend special thanks and appreciation to all who contributed their time and financial support to this year’s event.

I’m looking forward to working together with you as your chairman this year. As members, your ongoing work and participation make all our activities possible. Thank you for enriching our industry with your support.