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HVACR
T • O • D • A • Y
Serving the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry in Arizona
Volume 26, Number 8
www.HVACRTodayAZ.com
April 2019
Simon will be first women SMACNA national president
Katie Mayer
HVACR Today
Paving the way is nothing new for Angie
Simon, president of Bay Area-based Western
Allied Mechanical. Whether it’s on a construction
site or the baseball field, she’s
always worked and played alongside the
guys.
“I’ve always been a team-player,” Simon
said.
In October, she will become the first
female president of the Sheet Metal and Air
Conditioning Contractors’ National Association
(SMACNA).
In college, at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo,
Simon played NCAA softball and was one
of only two women out of 100 environmental
engineering students. After earning her
degree and becoming a mechanical engineer
, she began working at Western Allied
Mechanical as a project manager. At the
time, the company had three women working
in the technical side, which was progressive
for more than 30 years ago.
Still, Simon bumped up against obstacles
in the field. Once, in her early career, Simon
recalls a particularly challenging design
meeting that took place with steel workers
in the field.
“I would go to job sites where there were
very few women in the subtrades,” she said.
“About a year into working at Western
Allied, we were doing a big project—an
eight-story building in San Francisco—and
they had a very first meeting.”
She added, “I was walking into the trailer
with my foreman and it was packed with
steel workers…a guy told me he ‘doesn’t do
girls in the trailer. We are not having this
meeting until you leave.’”
Simon stepped out with her foreman and
navigated the situation, but at the time said
she didn’t know she was breaking the glass
ceiling.
“During my first board meeting with
national SMACNA in 2007, I did not ask or
know that they had never had a woman on
their board,” she said. “After the first meeting
, three other guys came up to me and
said, ‘I didn’t know a woman could know
Angie Simon
that much about air conditioning.’”
She added, “That’s when it started hitting
me that I need to go out and start educating
people.”
Today, thanks to Western Allied
Mechanical’s policy of “hiring the best person
,” the company has nearly 40 percent
women on its technical side. And Simon is
a huge proponent of reminding women how
rewarding and profitable a career in the
trades and engineering can be.
“It has awesome opportunities,” she
said. “It’s a great place to be, and you can
do this job if you want to.”
Simon said it has been “really neat” to
see how excited her peers at SMACNA
have been about her election to president.
She said since she first got involved with
the organization at the local level nearly 20
years ago, SMACNA has offered value.
“I’ve learned so much from all the contractors
,” she said, “and it assists us in our
negotiation with labor partners.”
Although still president elect, one of her
broad goals for the organization is helping
local areas address workforce development,
recruitment and retention.
“We want to put together some toolkits
to help the local levels with recruiting both
See ‘SMACNA’ page 16
APS holds ceremonies to award its top program contractors
A total of 15 contractors recently
received awards and recognition from APS
for their excellence in two programs—the
APS Home Performance with ENERGY
STAR program and the APS Qualified Contractors
program.
AC by J in Scottsdale, Hays Cooling,
Heating & Plumbing in Phoenix, Scottsdale
Air Heating & Cooling in Tempe, Day &
Night Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing
in Phoenix, Bell Air Conditioning in
Sun City, SMW Refrigeration and Heating
in Tempe, ProSkill Services in Anthem,
Parker & Sons in Phoenix, Howard Air in
Phoenix and Desert Diamond Mechanical
Heating & Air Conditioning in Phoenix
received APS Qualified Contractors Top-10
awards on March 15 at the Electric League
of Arizona (ELA) offices in Phoenix.
See ‘APS’ page 10
From left, Rachel Chavez (APS Senior Marketing Coordinator), Troy Lees (Day & Night Air Conditioning), Adam
Slucher & McKenna Owens (Bell Air Conditioning), Chris Hays (Hays Cooling & Heating), Keith Kittrell (Parker &
Sons), Chris Baker (APS Program Manager), Kelly & Bryce Johnson (AC by J), Mahlah Armenta (Howard Air),
Stacy & Carlo Cardella (Desert Diamond) and Forrest Bevacqua (FSL HVAC QA/QC Manager).
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Inside
Troubleshooting Question: Heat pump issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Veteran receives donated system in new home . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Aeroseal launches commercial component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
PHCC of Nevada holds apprentice competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Baker hosts contractor meeting at Wild Horse Pass Casino . . 8
Construction contractors gain confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
CSN opens AC Technology Center of Excellence . . . . . . . . . . 12
Tech Tips: Triple evacuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
It’sOn My Heart: A penny saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
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