One of the high points of the ACCA 2022 Conference & Expo will be the announcement of this year’s award winners. The conference is set for March 28-30 in St. Louis, MO.
“The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) awards programs are the most prestigious in the industry as they recognize the best of the best,” said Brian Stack, ACCA board chair and president of Stack Heating & Cooling, LLC. “Last year, the conference was canceled due to COVID-19, and the awards were instead announced virtually during the winter Board of Directors meeting. We’re looking forward to presenting the awards in person this year.”
Awards to be announced in March include Contractor of the Year (Residential and Commercial), sponsored by Honeywell; the ACCA Community Leadership Award sponsored by Jackson Systems; the Distinguished Service Award sponsored by Honeywell; the ACCA Federated Insurance Super S.T.A.R. Award, sponsored by Federated Insurance; and the Marketing Masters Award, sponsored by RYNO Strategic Solutions.
Last year’s award winners:
ACCA Contractors of the Year
HB McClure, Harrisburg, PA, was recognized as the 2021 Commercial Contractor of the Year. With over a century of service, HB McClure’s commitment to empower and invest in their employees helps set them apart from their competition, with a unique style of leadership that is helping move the HVACR industry forward.
The award is a major source of pride to the employee-owned company.
“We celebrated by having shirts made for everyone,” said Shelly Matter, Director of Business Development at HB McClure. “We also made hats with the Contractor of the Year emblem on them for people working in the field. I see everyone wearing them proudly.”
Every year since becoming employee-owned in 2010, HB McClure has grown by 40 percent. It is estimated that employees who have been with the company since 2010 will now have an average of $200,000 in their retirement account simply by being an employee-owner. HB McClure also provides training for their employees through HB University, an in-house university that provides technical, essential, and leadership training.
“The culture here is open-door and open-book. We own shares in the company, so all of us think like owners and entrepreneurs,” Matter said. “People are here because they want to be here. We have a lot of longtime employees. One of them has been here for 47 years!”
While the awards are one of the highlights of the ACCA Conference & Expo, Matter said people should attend because it’s a chance to experience the benefits of ACCA membership first-hand.
After attending the fall conference, she said, “I was just blown away by all the opportunities—and I met so many good people. There is a sense of camaraderie in the trades. We’re building things, and there is a huge sense of pride that goes with that. I’m so impressed by the peer groups and the advocacy and the educational opportunities ACCA offers.”
Don’t miss Shelly Matter’s conference session, “Key Relationship-Building Strategies.” She will focus on the idea that people matter—and building relationships with employees and customers is critical to building a successful business.
Rosenberg Indoor Comfort, San Antonio, TX, was named the 2021 Residential Contractor of the Year (sponsored by Nortek). Owners Michael, Lee, and Betsy Rosenberg have been in the HVACR industry for over 40 years and the family-owned company has been a member of ACCA for nearly as many. Their dedication to building customer trust and investing in their employees sets the company apart from its competitors.
“Our customers know that if we mess up, we will take care of them and we won’t turn our heads away from the problem,” said Michael Rosenberg, President, Rosenberg Indoor Comfort. “We will go 100 percent in and make sure that all our clients are happy at the end of the day.”
Employees are treated like family. “We always take care of our employees,” he said. “Whether they need help financially or they need advice, we are always there for them and treat them like they are a part of our family.”
Distinguished Service Award
Martin Hoover, President, Empire Heating & Air Conditioning, Decatur, GA, is the most recent recipient of the ACCA Distinguished Service Award (sponsored by Honeywell). He was honored in 2021 for his high-energy and enthusiasm to help ACCA and its members become better businesspeople by becoming more active in the industry.
He currently serves as vice-chair of the ACCA Board of Directors. Before joining the ACCA Board of Directors, he was active in several committees including; the Government Relations Committee, Membership Committee, and the ACCA-PAC Committee. He is also a vocal proponent of ACCA’s MIX Group® program.
Each year, ACCA depends on the dedicated efforts of hundreds of volunteers who devote thousands of hours to committee service, providing leadership and guidance on everything from standards development to membership programs. All volunteers are incredibly valuable and deserve a debt of gratitude from the rest of the industry.
Occasionally, one volunteer distinguishes themselves in a manner that calls for even more recognition. We present those individuals with a Distinguished Service Award.
Federated Insurance ACCA Super S.T.A.R. Award
United Mechanical Corporation, Charlotte, NC, received the 2021 Federated Insurance ACCA Super S.T.A.R. Award (sponsored by Federated Insurance), for standing out as a prime example of a workplace that understands the reasons that prioritizing a personal connection to safety improves work quality and shapes a healthy, safe culture.
ACCA Corporate Partner Federated Insurance presents the ACCA Super S.T.A.R. Award annually to an ACCA member whose commitment to employee safety is particularly outstanding. Contractors who receive the award demonstrate four important components: Safety, Teamwork, Accountability, and Responsibility. In order to be eligible, the contracting company must be an ACCA member and a Federated Insurance client.
Federated Insurance has been an ACCA Corporate Partner since 2009, providing ACCA’s member’s business insurance and risk management.
NEW in 2022!
Marketing Masters Awards
The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) is launching its New Marketing Masters Awards Contest, sponsored by RYNO Strategic Solutions, to honor and recognize the best marketing programs developed and implemented by ACCA contractor members. A panel of judges will determine the winners in each marketing category, based on creativity, clarity, and the effectiveness of each program/promotion entered.
Each category will honor three contracting companies — with a gold, silver, or bronze designation — that exhibit creativity, clarity, and effectiveness of each of the programs/promotions. The companies that receive the gold designation in each category will compete head-to-head for the Elite Marketing Master Award, which will be selected by ACCA Conference attendees. Categories are:
- Traditional Media—Print
- Traditional Media—TV or Radio
- Connections through Social Media
- Connections through Digital or Mobile Marketing—sponsored by Scorpion
- Rolling Marketing—Vehicles – sponsored by Adrian Steel
Register today! Register for the ACCA 2022 Conference & Expo March 28-30, at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel, St. Louis, MO.