KANSAS CITY, MO — Morris Eisert’s ascension to the 2002-03 chairmanship of the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration began by climbing the podium at an IIAR conference in 1985.

He was a nonmember speaker at that conference, where he presented a technical paper on ice cream plants. But he remembers seeing the benefits of joining IIAR, including a wealth of technical information and the ability to develop relationships with peers and manufacturers. He signed on.

Eisert is vice president for System Design and Sales for American Industrial Refrigeration of Excelsior, MN. The company performs design-build work in a number of states; 32 full-time employees are augmented by 60 to 70 union workers, depending on the size and number of projects under way at any one time.

During his year in the elected IIAR office, he wants to focus on education, globalization, and membership.

The education aspect will find IIAR developing affiliations with other associations, vocational schools, and colleges, “to put together a program to fulfill the needs of our industry,” Eisert said.

The IIAR board meeting in 2001 during the IKK trade show in Hannover, Germany, was part of the association’s effort to respond to the need of members — including contractors and manufacturers — as to the increasing importance of global interaction.

Eisert said he expects such efforts to continue to grow. The 2005 annual conference will take place in Mexico. (The 2003 conference will be held March 16-19 in Albuquerque, NM, and the 2004 conference will be held March 28-31 in Orlando, FL.)

Eisert said the membership issue includes a push to encourage young people to consider vocational careers such as industrial refrigeration. The effort should start at the high school level, he said.

The ambitious agenda will put demands on the new chairman. But he said it comes at a time when a succession plan has been put into place at American Industrial Refrigeration. “But I still want to be involved” for many years to come, he said, referring to both American Industrial and IIAR.

HONORS AND RECOGNITIONS

In other news from the IIAR Conference, four members of the board of directors were honored for three years of service: Dennis Carroll of Engineered Refrigeration Systems, Mobile, AL; Jeffrey Graby of FES Systems, York, PA; James Shepherd, Toromont Process Systems, North Salt Lake City, UT; and Ronald Strong of R.H. Strong & Associates, Delta, BC, Canada.

Voted Member of the Year was Holm Gebhardt of Nestl¿.A., Vevey, Switzerland.

Honorary Life Member honors went to Larry Kelly of Kelly Refrigeration Systems, Orlando, FL, and Ron Cole of R.A. Cole & Associates, Seattle, WA.

Publication date: 06/03/2002